AL story lines: Teams emulate Kansas City,
As World Series champions, the Kansas City Royals could say their o season qualified as a win when they retained one of their biggest stars, Alex Gordon.
Many of the Royals’ American League counterparts, however, felt the need to shu e their decks more significantly, while others will be counting on new stars to hit new heights in 2016.
Here are a few of the top AL story lines:
Will they be Royals?
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but is it the shortest path to a championship? Several teams seem intent on finding out.
After seeing the Royals ride a devastating bullpen to a championship, a few AL teams have beefed up the back ends of their bullpens, importing closers from the National League while retaining their 2015 save leaders.
That list is headed by the New York Yankees, who will hand the ninth inning over to Aroldis Chapman (1.63 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 33 saves in 2015). Chapman will be supported by left-hander Andrew Miller (2.04, 0.86, 36 saves), along with right-hander Dellin Betances (1.50, 1.01, nine saves). With talented but brittle members of their starting rotation such as RHP Masahiro Tanaka and RHP Michael Pineda, the strategy to shorten the games makes sense.
Not to be outdone, the Boston Red Sox brought in a top-flight closer in right-hander Craig Kimbrel (2.58, 1.04, 39 saves) and welcome back Koji Uehara (2.23 ERA, 0.92, 25 saves) from the broken wrist that brought his 2015 to a premature end. The Red Sox also added Carson Smith (2.31, 1.01, 13 saves) in a trade with the Seattle Mariners to give them a triumvirate perhaps just a rung below that of the Yankees.
Also in on the two-headedcloser plan are the Houston Astros, who added Ken Giles (1.80, 1.20, 15 saves) while bringing back Luke Gregerson (3.10, 0.95, 31 saves).
Whether the Toronto Blue Jays follow suit and hand their closer’s role to newcomer Drew Storen (3.44, 1.11, 29 saves) or keep Roberto Osuna (2.58, 0.92, 20 saves) will be determined in spring training, according to media reports. Either way, Toronto also should have a pair of power arms at the end of games — unless the Blue Jays accelerate plans to give Osuna a look in a starting role.
Getting right to work
Four AL teams have new heads of baseball operations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those teams were among the most active this o season as those leaders look to put their stamps on their franchises.
For sheer transaction volume, none of his peers can hold a candle to Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto, who overhauled both ends of his team’s pitching sta , adding right-hander Nathan Karns (7-5, 3.67, 1.28) and lefthander Wade Miley (11-11, 4.46, 1.37) to the rotation and Steve Cishek (3.58, 1.48, four saves) and Joaquin Benoit (2.34, 0.90, two saves) to the bullpen. In 2015, the Miami Marlins lost faith in Cishek, ultimately shipping him to the St. Louis Cardinals. But he should get a new lease on life in the closer’s role in Seattle.
Dipoto more than tinkered with the Mariners lineup as well. Newcomers in first baseman-DH Adam Lind (.277, 20 home runs, 87 RBI), left fielder Nori Aoki (.287, 14 stolen bases) and catcher Chris Iannetta (.188, 10 home runs, 34 RBI) figure to have prominent roles. Center fielder Leonys Martin will get a shot a redemption after struggling (.219, 14 stolen bases) with the AL West rival Texas Rangers.
Besides adding Kimbrel and Smith, the Red Sox’s new president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, added an ace in David Price (18-5, 2.45, 1.08) and outfield depth in Chris Young (.252, 14 home runs), a righthanded hitter who has posted a 1.054 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 73 plate appearances at Fenway Park.
Dombrowski’s successor in Detroit, Al Avila, has brought in a new frontline starter of his own in Jordan Zimmermann (13-10, 3.66, 1.21), a new closer in Francisco Rodriguez (2.21, 0.86, 38 saves) and two new outfielders, left fielder Justin Upton (.251, 26, 81, 19 stolen bases) and center fielder Cameron Maybin (.267, 10, 59, 23 stolen bases).
By comparison, the moves of Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro have been more modest. Besides Storen, the team reunited with left-hander J.A. Happ (11-8, 3.61, 1.27) and will hope that his strong finish (8-2, 1.37 ERA, 63/9 K/BB in 59 innings pitched over 10 starts) represents a true breakthrough rather than fool’s gold.
Doing something for more runs
The AL’s two lowest-scoring teams in 2015, the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, took steps to address that deficiency in the o season.
The White Sox have a new third baseman in Todd Frazier (.255, 35 homers, 89 RBI, 13 stolen bases) and second baseman in Brett Lawrie (.260, 16, 60), two righthanded hitters who should benefit from the move to U.S. Cellular Field, which has boosted righthanded home run totals by 13% above league average over the last three years.
The same can’t be said for left fielder Corey Dickerson (.304, 10, 31) leaving Coors Field. But Dickerson at least appears to be healthy after a foot injury curtailed his 2015 season. Joining him on the Rays will be shortstop Brad Miller (.258, 11, 46, 13 stolen bases). Tropicana Field (9% boost in home runs by left-handed hitters) should help both.
Encore, encore
Rather than bringing in new stars, some teams will hope that players who emerged as part of a bumper crop of AL rookies can build on that success or at least provide solid encores.
That list is headed by Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (.279, 22, 68, 14 stolen bases), the reigning AL rookie of the year, whose ground-ball rate and slowdown on the basepaths in last year’s second half might prevent a quantum leap forward. Nonetheless, Correa is poised for another very good year.
The Cleveland Indians’ Francisco Lindor (.313, 12, 51, 12 steals) is another up-and-coming shortstop. His stolen-base e orts, at least, might prove to be a bit more enduring.
The true power source of the AL rookie class of 2015 is the Minnesota Twins’ Miguel Sano, whose 18 home runs came in 279 at-bats.
One need not look far to find who might follow in the footsteps of Correa, Lindor and Sano as 2016’s top rookies, as Minnesota has not only one of the league’s top pitching prospects in Jose Berrios (14-5, 2.87 ERA, 1.05 WHIP in 27 starts across two levels in 2015) but also has imported first baseman-designated hitter Byung Ho Park, who hit 105 home runs over the last two seasons in South Korea.
The degree to which Park’s numbers translate to American baseball remains to be seen, but the successful transition of Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang (.287, 15, 58) in 2015 is encouraging.
The Twins have a third rookie of the year candidate in center fielder Byron Buxton. Things did not click for Buxton in 2015 (.209, two homers, six RBI, two steals in 129 at-bats) as he was rushed from Class AA to the majors in June. But once he can settle in at the big-league level, the sky is the limit.