Five storylines to kick off the season
The cold stove
Instead of a single frenzied moment, this offseason’s transactions were reduced to a slow drip.
It took until the days shortly before spring training for the top free-agent pitcher, Yu Darvish, to land a six-year deal with the Cubs. Darvish’s $126-million deal is one of the few $100-plus million contracts signed this offseason, one of two signed by free agents. The top free agent, J.D. Martinez, signed a $110 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.
The dirty word, “collusion,” has been tossed around. So what gives? Why the sudden stalemate? Will the lack of signings carry over to the monster 2019 freeagent class, which includes the likes of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado?
“The clubs have conducted themselves in a manner that’s completely consistent with the agreement with the MLB,” commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters early in spring.
Derek Jeter fire sale
The one team that led the movement of the 2018 offseason and stayed in the headlines was the Miami Marlins. The new ownership group, including new organizational face Derek Jeter, shipped off 2017 National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton in a mega-deal to the New York Yankees and followed the move by sending Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals and Christian Yelich to the Brewers.
Dee Gordon also found himself shipped out, moving from second base in Miami to the Mariners’ outfield. More moves may be on the horizon, with catcher J.T. Realmuto reportedly on the trading block.
According to data from Fangraphs, the Marlins sans Stanton, Yelich and Ozuna already are projected to join the 2015-16 Diamondbacks as just the second outfield ever to go from first to last in combined Wins Above Replacement (WAR).
The Marlins are shedding salary, and potentially their notable home run sculpture in the outfield, but they are at least getting prospects in return. Miami’s once-barren farm system now has a pair of prospects in MLB Pipeline Top 100 in Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison.
Digging the long ball
The Fall Classic certainly lived up to its billing this past October, with Games 2 and 5 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Astros becoming instant classics. Part of what made it so was a series-record 22 home runs over the seven games, a perfect cap for a record-smashing home run season across baseball.
Stanton rode a career-high 59 homers to his first-ever MVP award as the league set a record for total home runs. The youngsters provided the pop, as well, with Rookie of the Year winners Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger each breaking the rookie home run records. The balls are flying out of the park at an astronomical rate, as more emphasis has been placed on pitchers striking batters out and on batters employing a higher launch angle to keep the ball in the air.
The “juiced ball” theory generated some hype too, though Manfred told reporters early in spring that offseason studies showed no fundamental difference between the baseballs used in 2017 and in previous years.
The home run surge should continue into 2018 — at least in the Bronx, where Stanton and Judge are now teammates after pairing together at the top of the home run leaderboards in 2017.
Pace of play
Pace of play continues to be the buzzword of the baseball world, and change is coming — against the players’ will.
Multiple reports surfaced in January that MLB will implement a 20-second timer in between pitches and place a limit on mound visits. The players rejected a proposal for 16 seconds between pitches, forcing Manfred to make a unilateral decision to implement the new policy. Manfred confirmed that there would be changes to the policy in 2018.
Game times in 2017 averaged three hours and eight minutes each, the longest in history. Even if the players don’t all like it, something had to be done.
The Shohei Show
Few free agency storylines have been as complex or unique as that of the “Japanese Babe Ruth,” Shohei Ohtani. The twoway Japanese star officially was posted this offseason — two years before the new collective bargaining agreement would allow him to fully profit off his abilities.
For the first time, a top-level, 23-year-old hitting and pitching prospect was made available at a fully affordable cost to each and every single team in baseball. Over a week span, Ohtani narrowed his search to a handful of teams, ultimately joining forces with Mike Trout and the Angels.
Manager Mike Scioscia said his club will likely employ a six-man starting rotation and that the priority will be placed upon what Ohtani can do on the mound rather than the plate.
“He’s going to get the most looks as a pitcher,” Scioscia said. “If he can pitch to his capabilities, that will always influence your team more than what he would do hitting.”