Winners and losers of MLB’s winter meetings
Besides the Yankees, Angels and Scott Boras, jere’s a look at who came out ahead (and behind) at MLB’s winter meetings:
Winners
Mike Trout – Baseball’s best player has only been to the playoffs once in his career, and the Angels seem to recognize that. They still need pitching, but they got Anthony Rendon to protect Trout in the lineup.
Phillies – They added a frontline starter in Zack Wheeler, and the signing of shortstop Didi Gregorius filled one of the infield holes. Gregorius’ 2019 campaign was doomed before it even began as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and he is a candidate for a big 2020.
Mets – They were never going to be in on the marquee guys and losing Wheeler to a division rival was bad, but the Mets should be satisfied with their work. Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha give depth to what was already one of baseball’s top rotations. That is, of course, if management doesn’t use this sudden depth to justify trading one of the starters the Mets already had.
Losers
Dodgers – Yes, they’re probably going to win the National League West in 2020 for the eighth consecutive season and will almost certainly upgrade via trade in the coming months. That said, the Dodgers didn’t do much to improve their chances of finally ending a World Series drought that dates to 1988, striking out on free agency’s Big Three in Gerrit Cole, Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. They added Blake Treinen to the bullpen, but he’s coming off a down year and will be a question mark in an already anxiety-inducing bullpen.
Rangers – Hoping to make a splash with a new ballpark opening in 2020, they struck out trying to bring Rendon “home” to Texas. Not only that, but he went to a division rival and they’ll have to be reminded of their failure 19 times a year for the next seven years.
Pitchers who complain about the baseballs – MLB’s study on the uptick in home runs and/or “juiced” balls found just about nothing, focusing on the obvious fact that “the baseball is going to vary. The baseball has varied in its performance probably for the entire history of our sport.”