4 moves to improve the MLB Offseason

This year’s MLB free agency started off wild to say the least. Starting at the Winter Meetings, December has created some fantastic storylines that kept baseball fans on the edge of their seats. Recently, teams have calmed down and moves are coming in slower and slower.

From the high profile signings/trades of Stanton & Ohtani, to the potential franchise changing acquisitions of Carlos Santana and Marcell Ozuna, deals have been coming in fast and are sure to continue.

With plenty of other talent left in the free agency pool (and in the trade market), there is sure to be a ton more moves that will shift the MLB landscape for years to come.

There have been some crazy rumors that only add to the drama surrounding the league; Gerrit Cole to the Yankees? Are Yelich and Realmuto next to go in the Marlins fire sale?

Here are 4 possible moves that I personally find extremely interesting (whether they actually happen or not), and why they work. Please note: these are not predictions (although I’m not inventing rumors out of nowhere), just me having some fun with what could happen.

1. Manny Machado to the Cubs

I’m going to start this one off by saying I do not want Manny Machado to leave the Orioles nor do I expect Manny Machado to get traded, at least for the time being. That being said, I do recognize that the rumour is there and it does make sense why the Orioles would trade Machado now.

Machado has one year left of arbitration before he would hit the open market has a free agent (after next season) and this is the time where Baltimore would be able to get the most value out ofhim in a trade before they potentially lose him for free.

Last season was Baltimore’s first season finishing under .500 since 2011, finishing 75-87 good enough for dead last in the AL East. This could mark the end for this current Baltimore roster, as I feel like a rebuild should be coming in the near future.

Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo, 3 of their best offensive players, are all 32 years of age and all have probably under 5 years of productivity left in them. Not only are their best batter aging, but great relievers like Darren O’Day, oft-injured Zach Britton and Brad Brach are also on the wrong side of 30.

Compare this roster with the rosters of the Yankees and Red Sox and you’ll see that the Yanks and Sox are destined to dominate the AL East for another 5+ years after all the retooling they’ve done in the past couple of off-season’s. Now ask yourself this question, if you’re Dan Duquette and the Orioles front office, would you rather keep your current roster and hope to luck your way into the Wild Card for the next 5 years, or endure a couple years of losing and gain a ton of talent for the future in order to surpass the other AL East teams when they become vulnerable?

Enter Machado, the current face of the Orioles franchise. If he goes, its for a very high price, and it seems like the Chicago Cubs are in the running for the 25-year-old superstar.

Only 2 years removed from breaking the curse, the Cubs continued their strong play last season, finishing once again atop the NL Central with a 92-70 record. After losing in the NLCS to the LA Dodgers, the Cubs are looking to renovate a bit, hoping to come back stronger next season. What better way to announce yourself as threats to the Dodgers than adding a player who’s ‘down year’ included a .259/.310/.271 batting line with 33 home runs and 95 RBIs.

Adding Machado to a lineup that already has Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez and Jason Heyward is absolutely scary to think of. (Note: ALL those players just listed are under the age of 28).

While looking more unlikely day after day, a Machado deal would really benefit both sides. The Orioles could easily acquire young players, like Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. (both clear outcasts from a loaded Cubs lineup), and young pitchers from Chicago’s farm system, 8 of their top 10 prospects are pitchers, to jumpstart their rebuild while staying partially-competitive at the same time.

2. Andrew McCutchen to the Blue Jays

In an off-season where so much talent has changed jerseys, I could easily see Cutch as the next superstar to change team colors before next season.

The Pirates could be another team to go through a fire sale, as Gerrit Cole to the Yankees talks have been heating up every day and Andrew McCutchen trade rumours have also been buzzing for weeks now.

2 teams I’ve heard to be his likely destination, the San Francisco Giants and the Toronto Blue Jays. It seems after losing out on Giancarlo Stanton, the Giants secured their much needed middle-of-the-lineup power hitter in Evan Longoria and I’m unsure they’ll be willing to make another deal for an aging star (even though they do have an opening at CF now).

The Pirates were very unlucky last season to be without two of their most talented hitters, Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang, for half of the season and the entire season respectively. That being said, their #1 overall prospect Austin Meadows is knocking at the door of the majors and makes 31-year-old Cutch very expendable, before they also lose him to free agency at the end of next season.

The Blue Jays are ready to move on from the Edwin Encarnation/Jose Bautista era, and it seems they feel Andrew McCutchen may be exactly who they need (although I don’t agree).

With an aging core of talent and seemingly no exciting prospects beside Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, its clear to me the Blue Jays probably should not pull off this move. Mark Shapiro, Ross Atkins and co. all seem to have other opinions on the matter.

Pulling off a move for McCutchen would probably require the Jays to give up Bichette. I don’t see any other high-profile prospects below him in their farm system and I don’t understand why they’d give up any other integral part of their roster that they’d desperately need to capitalize on the couple years of Donaldson they have left.

While I don’t completely understand the potential move from the Blue Jays perspective just yet, this deal has some traction to it and may happen. It certainly would be interesting if another star outfielder made his way to the AL East.

3. Jake Arrieta to the Twins

Let’s look away from trades for a moment and focus on the current free agency class of 2017. If you’re a team looking for a pitcher, this class has some talent (top-end of the rotation down to bottom-end of the rotation)

You’re probably had to take a double-take when you saw that Jake Arrieta could go to the Minnesota Twins, but before you say I’m nuts hear me out. Going into last season, I did not expect the Twins to go 85-77 and make the playoffs. I guess everything just worked for the Twins and this year they’re looking to build on last seasons success and prove everybody who thinks their season last year was a ‘fluke’ wrong.

I officially consider them a contender in the AL Central for this upcoming season. With the Royals getting all their talent gutted and the Indians also losing some key pieces, all the Twins need to do is continue developing their budding stars and gain a couple more pieces in the pitching department.

They’ve already signed Michael Pineda to a 2-year, $10 million dollar contract but are only able to use him after next season, since he’s currently recovering from Tommy John Surgery. With Ervin Santana 34-years-old and extremely unlikely to repeat his success from last season, the Twins are looking for a top-of-the-rotation like pitcher to pair with Jose Berrios as a 1-2 punch for the near future.

Even thought Minnesota aren’t usually big spender in free agency, being a smaller market team and all, I feel it would be extremely interesting if they beat out big teams like Houston, Texas and Washington to the former Cy Young winner.

If Minnesota manages to sign Arrieta, he would join a very talented and underrated core players who are young and hungry. Sanu, Buxton and Berrios seem like future stars and the Twins have some intriguing prospects that could make a real impact on the MLB in the years to come.

His age 32 season may continue his trend of regression from his age 31 season, but he could still corral in a raise from his Cubs contract (in the 6-7 year range with over $100 million), just because he’s still one of the best available on the market.

4. JD Martinez to the Giants

This would be the conclusion to a feel good story in my opinion. Remember that after spring training in 2014, Martinez was actually released by the Houston Astros (one of the few wrong decisions they made during their rebuild) to make room for, wait for it, L.J. Hoes and Robbie Grossman.

How does he come back from that? By slashing .315/.358/.553 with 23 homers and 73 RBIs. Other than his injury plagued 2016 season, JD has set career highs year after year, culminating in an absurd 45 home runs and 104 RBIs this past season.

He absolutely destroyed NL pitchers, hitting 29 home runs and 65 RBIs in only 62 (!!!) games as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He literally hit more home runs (29) as a D-back than he did during his entire 2016 season (22) in just over half the amount of games (62 games in 2017 and 120 games in 2016).

JD has gone from $23 million est. earnings in his ENTIRE CAREER to meriting $23 million a seasonfor the next 5-6 years. At the age of 30, JD is clearly in the prime of his career, and is going to be a game changer for any franchise that signs him (assuming he stays relatively healthy).

Martinez would change the fortunes of any franchise that needs his power and can afford his market value. Among interested teams (Red Sox, D-backs, Giants, Blue Jays, Rockies, etc.) I feel like Martinez going to the Giants would probably benefit both parties the most.

After coming close but losing out on Giancarlo Stanton, the Giants still find themselves in need of a 3^rd/4^th batter in their lineup that will strike fear in the eyes of pitchers.

Albeit in a very short sample size, Martinez raked against NL west pitchers. Give him more opportunities and, although regression will come with having a larger sample size, he will continue to dominate the pitching that just can’t solve him.

Even after acquiring Evan Longoria, the Giants still need power in their lineup. JD is probably one of the best acquisitions they could make to capitalize on their roster now before their core players are past their prime, as previous explained in my last article “The Stanton Sweepstakes”.

I recognize that this may not be the ideal fit, but it would surely be an entertaining one. With Hunter Pence manning right field for the Giants, Martinez would probably be forced to shift out to left field, a position he hasn’t played since 2014 (his first season in Detroit).

Also, considering the majority of JD’s power drives the ball into right-center field, the deeper area in the right-center of AT&T Park will take away from JD’s home run total, but even the ability to drive the ball that far will force opponent outfielders to be prepared to cover more ground, opening up more opportunities for the slugger to expand his game.

This move has less traction in the media than the others I’ve spoken about, but it would be entertaining to say the least. With 3 teams making the playoffs last season, the NL West is probably one of the most competitive divisions in baseball, leaving the San Francisco Giants having to adjust and improve their roster just to compete with the other teams.

I’m rather certain that most of these scenarios will not play out, but at least the possibility is there. These are moves that are plausible and sure to bring more excitement to the 2018 MLB season.