PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Add to the rotation: The unit, though possessing
of four proven MLB arms, is undoubtedly one of the league’s thinnest – after
the 3-4 of Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams, the latter of whom has posted consecutive
shaky-peripheral (4.54 xFIP, 6.64 K/9 in ’18) seasons, the club has little on
which it can depend. Chad Kuhl, dreadful anyway in ’18, had Tommy John surgery in
September, and youngsters Nick Kingham and Clay Holmes showed little in their scattered
opportunities. Top prospect Mitch Keller is close, but the team would be well-served
to add a couple proven, back-end arms (in addition to the newly-signed Jordan Lyles, who’s spent much of the last three seasons as a
reliever) to cover their backs.
Find a shortstop: Following the departure of
longtime Pirate Jordy Mercer, the club is left with just a combination
of Kevin Newman and newly-acquired Erik Gonzalez at the position, neither of whom inspire
much confidence on the offensive side. The Buccos have long prized defense at
the position, and may indeed be content with a combination of the two, but a
sub-70 wRC+ anywhere on the diamond is a gaping hole, regardless of defensive
prowess.
Assemble more depth on the bench: If one
of Starling Marte or Gregory Polanco (who will likely miss the season’s first
few weeks) finds himself on the shelf for an extended period this season, the
Pirates will be in trouble. If both go down, the club will almost surely find
itself in the cellar. Positional versatility, a hallmark of the successful
Pirate teams of the mid-decade, is in short supply on the current version, and
the club will need to bolster its unit significantly if it harbors any real
hope of contending.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Address second base: The keystone was a black
hole for an otherwise prodigious lineup last year, with midseason
acquisition Jonathan Schoop performing so badly at times that 6’4,
230 pound Travis Shaw was asked to learn the position. With the
likely departure of 3B Mike Moustakas, Shaw will slide back across the diamond,
leaving a gaping hole at second. Top prospect Keston Hiura is on the way, but may still be a year or so
off, and the options at hand are, in the interim, woefully insufficient. The
club has been connected to free agent Jed Lowrie, but may prefer a short-term stopgap to keep
Hiura’s spot warm.
Add a proven arm to the rotation: Milwaukee’s
rotation consists, at current, of three arguable number-five starters, three
rookies vying for the fourth and fifth spots, and a rehabbing Jimmy Nelson set to make his return at some point early
in the season. Ideally, the club would be a perfect fit for a top-end hurler,
but seems to have neither the financial nor the prospect capital to make such a
deal happen. Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta all had promising debuts last season, but
the Crew would do well to somehow slot in a proven commodity to the mix.
Find a legitimate backup shortstop: Former top
prospect Orlando Arcia’s 2018 season was, to put it mildly, not a good
one. The purported defensive wiz was anything but magical on that side of the
ball last season, to say nothing of his league-worst 54 wRC+. If he again
slumps out of the gate, the club can’t exactly look to Tyler Saladino or Hernan Perez to hold down the fort, especially given its
question marks at second. A veteran backup capable of handling the bat against
both sides (and, perhaps, handling second-base duties in a pinch as well) would
be a perfect fit for the reigning division champs.
CHICAGO CUBS
Solidify the back end of the bullpen: An aging
Cubs pen that struggled with the free pass last season faces further
uncertainty at present, what with the loss of Jesse Chavez and the hazy future of closer Brandon Morrow, who’s found it nearly impossible to stay
healthy for a full major-league season. Upper-minors reinforcements are scarce,
so the club will likely have to dip into what little reserves it has or scour
the fringes of the market for a bargain pickup.
See if Jason Heyward’s albatross can be moved
(with cash incentive): This is speculative, at best, but the Cubs have
as few holes as any team in baseball, and still lurk at the edges of the Bryce Harper market. Finding a team willing to take at
least some of the $118.5M still owed to Heyward could be just
enough to lift the free-spending Cubbies to the Harper sweepstakes’ fore. After
all, the club already boasts numerous right-field options for the upcoming
campaign even if they were to miss on Harper, and about half of which already
project better than Heyward.
Add depth in the upper minors: Star-caliber
graduations from 2015-17 have decimated a farm that was once the jewel of the
National League. At current, the system offers little in the way of high-impact
talent, which could be a major impediment to a big mid-season acquisition,
should the Cubs be hit by injuries and/or ineffectiveness. Both Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber could be leveraged in this way – with
multiple years of team control remaining for each, the prospect capital
acquired could be, come July, the lone bullet(s) in the Cubbies’ gun.
ST. LOUIS
CARDINALS
Find a taker for Jose Martinez: Martinez has
raked to the tune of a 130 wRC+ after years of uneven performance in the minors
since debuting for the club in late 2016. The acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt, however, and the 30-year-old’s frightening
defense in an outfield corner, make him a much better fit elsewhere, ideally on
an AL club. Though the return might be insubstantial, even with his four years
of team control remaining, it’ll likely add more value to the club than
Martinez will as a part-time fill-in and occasional pinch-hitter.
Continue to add to the bullpen: Despite
possessing a hothouse of flame-throwers in the pen, the 2018 unit was arguably
the NL’s worst (4.50 xFIP, 4.34 BB/9). The club took a major step to address
the issue with last week’s signing of Andrew Miller, but it’s still a unit light on track record and
heavy on control issues. The Giants’ Will Smith and Tony Watson, both former Central stalwarts, have each been
linked with the Redbirds this month, and either could catapult the club to a
place very near the projected top of the division.
Add a lefty bat: In addition to the
perennially-awesome Matt Carpenter, the Cards’ only other left-handed regulars are
the mercurial Kolten Wong and the will-be 33-year-old Dexter Fowler, who often struggled to hit the ball out of the
infield last season. The bench, too, is stacked mostly with solid right-handed
hitters of all types. It seems that there's scarcely a club out there in more
dire need of left-handed infusion, and this one might need a couple.
CINCINNATI REDS
Make another impact acquisition: The club, which
for years has been an absentee on the free-agent market, and hadn’t made an
industry-shaking acquisition since 2011’s trade for Mat Latos, has moved most of their chips to the middle already
this offseason, jettisoning far-away talent for short-term impact. But given
the quality of the division, it isn’t nearly enough; the Reds are still at
least seven, and perhaps closer to ten, wins away from seriously challenging
for the division. The farm is ripe, and the holes are many – will the club
finally go all-in?
Shore up center field: Following last week’s
procurement of Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig, the Reds are flush with outfield thump from both
sides, but are still left without a true center-fielder in their midst. It’s
true that Great American Ballpark has less space in the outfield than most, and
that the club has been successful with an aging Shin-Soo Choo manning the position for much of a season,
but the rotation is a contact-heavy one that will undoubtedly suffer with a
subpar defender left free to roam. Top prospect Nick Senzel could be an option, but the club will likely
be best-served to pluck its feast from outside the division.
Add depth to the bench/pen: Both units here are
severely undernourished – an infusion would require perhaps three 85 FIP- or
lower bullpen arms, and bench bats capable of handling multiple positions and
offering adequate output at that plate. It’ll be a tall task to imbue the club
with this much reinforcement, but a necessary one if Dick Williams, Nick Krall,
and Co. hope to contend next season.
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