Over the course of the MLB offseason, teams had the opportunity to improve their rosters. Many teams, such as the Dodgers and Yankees, successfully did so. However, a few teams did the exact opposite and ruined their teams. With that said, here are my biggest “Losers” of the 2023-2024 MLB offseason:
3. BOSTON REDSOX:
The 2023 Boston Red Sox went 78W-84L and placed 5th in the American League East. Boston recently parted ways with Chaim Bloom and are looking to build their roster with a different approach going forward. I don’t understand what they did this offseason or why they did it.
Boston paid Lucas Giolito 38.5 million dollars for only two years after he put up a miserable 4.88 ERA in 2023. That’s 1.5 million dollars more than the Yankees paid Marcus Stroman, who put up a 3.95 ERA in 2023. Furthermore, they traded for outfielder Tyler O’Neill from the Cardinals. One of Boston’s only upsides in 2023 was their team batting average of .258, 6th in the MLB. Adding O'Neill, who’s only batted above .231 once in the last 4 years will ruin their biggest strength. Meanwhile, they let Justin Turner and Adam Duvall walk in free agency and traded away Alex Verdugo. Between those three hitters, Boston lost 208 out of the 734 RBIs their lineup put up last year. The Sox also hurt their pitching staff by trading away their ace, Chris Sale to the Braves. All they got in return was infielder Vaughn Grissom, who wasn’t good enough to start for the Braves. Hypothetically the objective of the trade could’ve been to get rid of Sale’s high 27-million-dollar salary because he’s injury-prone, but the Sox agreed to pay 17 of the 27 million owed to Sale. In conclusion, the Red Sox weren’t good to start with, lost good hitters, overpaid for mediocre replacements, and traded away their best pitcher. I don’t see the vision, but I’m only a 19-year-old kid, so maybe they know better.
2. LOS ANGELES ANGELS:
Approaching the 2023 trade deadline, the Angels stood at a crossroads. They had to choose to either invest in their future by parting ways with Shohei Ohtani or go all-out in their last year with the superstar. They chose the latter option and traded away a lot of their young prospects, and it backfired. The Angels missed the playoffs, Ohtani left town, the deadline acquisitions left town, the farm system was dry, and the front office was faced with the task of saving the franchise.
They didn’t do so at all. In addition to losing Ohtani, the Angels failed to resign several key pieces, such as Hunter Renfroe and Gio Urshela. Furthermore, they refused to part ways with the few valuable players they still have. Since they went 73W-89L last year and got significantly worse, there’s no chance they accomplish anything this year. Therefore, they should trade the few valuable players they still have for prospects who can help accomplish things in the future. Furthermore, unloading Mike Trout’s and Anthony Rendon’s 62.6-million-dollar combined salary wouldn’t hurt. Nevertheless, they refuse to do anything logical. The Angels don’t have a good roster at all and “The Athletic” ranked their farm system 29th out of the 30 MLB teams. There’s no way they’ll be good anytime soon, and this time, unlike with Boston, I’m not even concerned that they might know better.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS:
In 2023, Milwaukee won 92 games and the National League Central despite not being an amazing team. They got exposed in the playoffs when they were eliminated by the 6th seed in the wildcard round. With young teams in the division, such as the Reds and Cubs on the rise, the Brewers had to have a good offseason to avoid being exposed even more in 2024. However, that is far from what happened.
A large reason the Brewers were able to overachieve last year was their manager Craig Counsell. Counsell deployed and managed Milwaukee’s bullpen to perfection, allowing them to put up a league-best 3.71 team ERA. Not only did Counsell abandon the Brewers this offseason, but he decided to manage their division rivals, the Chicago Cubs. In addition, their pitching staff won’t be nearly as dominant in 2024 because they traded away their ace, Corbin Burnes. Burnes has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball over the past couple of years, starting over 25 games with ERA’s under 3.4 in each of the last 3 seasons. Excluding Burnes’ stats, Milwaukee’s 2023 team ERA would've been 3rd in the league.
The Brewers can still be an average team in 2023, but they’ve lost their identity this offseason. The Brewers lost what made them good and the competition in their division will most definitely be tougher in 2024. While, unlike the RedSox and Angels, the Brewers aren’t actively hurting themselves, I expect them to have the biggest fall-off in baseball this season. Milwaukee had the 5th best record in the MLB in 2023 and they will most likely be in the 15th-20th range in 2024.
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