MLB offseason update: Lindor to Mets, Dodgers stay quiet so far, and the White Sox keep getting better
With many big signings still to come there is much more excitement that awaits this offseason.
Some big offseason moves have already occurred even though the most coveted free agents have yet to sign including George Springer, Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto, Marcus Semien, Michael Brantley, and Masahiro Tanaka. While it’s presumed that J.T. Realmuto will re-sign with the Phillies, where Trevor Bauer, Michale Brantley, George Springer, Marcus Semien, and Masahiro Tanaka will sign is still up in the air. As these big free agents will make their decisions in the coming month or so, it will be interesting to see where they decide to sign.
In the last MLB offseason update that I published, I discussed the importance of the San Diego Padres’ acquisitions of Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, catapulting them into the mix for NL supremacy. Now the biggest offseason move since has been the Mets’ acquisition of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. The Padres, Braves, and White Sox have all gotten better, but because of how game-changing the Lindor trade is, the Mets won the offseason. They gave up virtually nothing(middle tier prospects at most and Ahmed Rosario) for a perenial MVP candidate in Lindor and a front of the rotation star in Cookie Carrasco. This couldn’t have been a bigger stamp on how the newly minted Steve Cohen Mets will operate.
Many say that Lindor is overrated, attributing this statement to his lackluster 2020 MLB season. These people are forgetting Lindor’s MVP type production in the previous three seasons, where he hit over .270 with 30 home runs each of those three seasons. Just because a guy couldn’t get going over a 60 game span in one season doesn't mean that we should undermine his proven MVP type production throughout his career. With a lineup surrounded by Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto, and now Francisco Lindor, the Mets should immediately be a feared lineup even with their weaknesses through the rest of the order. Carrasco joins a rotation with two front of the rotation guys already in Jacob DeGrom and Marcus Stroman. When Noah Syndergaard comes back healthy from Tommy John, this rotation will be even scarier. This deal completely took the league by storm and catapulted the Mets into contending in the best division in baseball.
Are the Mets the Braves? No. Will the Mets be better than the Braves? No. But, this big-time move added at least 10-15 wins on the Mets record for this upcoming season, which should put them in a good position to secure one of the Wild Card spots in the National League. Again, the Mets still aren’t better than the Braves, Dodgers, or Padres, which likely puts them as the second Wild Card team in the National League even though they are ten times better than any NL Central team.
Who are the biggest losers of the Lindor trade? The Phillies, Nationals, and Marlins. Any of those three teams were looking to compete for second place in this stacked division but after this deal, it seems as that fight will be for securing third place in the division and hoping that is good enough for a Wild Card spot.
The Nationals are hit or miss. They have the bones of a very good team but heavily underperformed last year. A healthy Stephen Strasburg should help them be astronomically better than their embarrassment of a season last year. Kyle Schwarber is good but I don’t know if that will be enough for them to finish third in this division.
After the Lindor trade, the Phillies MUST re-sign J.T. Realmuto to even have a chance at competing for third place in the division this upcoming season. They have started to bolster the bullpen with Jose Alvarado, and they should continue to sign more arms in the rest of the offseason. Brad Hand would help them a lot. They also have the bones of a very good team, but until their bullpen is better and they secure Realmuto long-term, there are too many question marks to call this a third-place team in the NL East even with all of their talent lead by Bryce Harper and Aaron Nola.
The Marlins always seem to outperform. They really have no All-Star caliber players besides ace Sixto Sanchez, but last season proved that team camaraderie and a good manager can lead a team to a playoff series win(and of course that series win was against an NL Central team). This team is still in a rebuild, so the Lindor trade doesn’t really affect them as much as it does the two other organizations with way higher payrolls and win-now teams that are listed above. This team should finish last, but who knows.
Let’s talk about how the Mets trade affects the Dodgers. The answer is not at all. The Dodgers are still a superior team. However, they haven’t done anything to counter the Padres moves yet which is weird, considering they usually move pretty fast in countering big deals. Maybe they already have sent in their final offer for Bauer and he is waiting to sign? This must be it, and I think the Dodgers are also waiting to re-sign Turner until they see where Bauer sings and how much money they have. Since they are so quiet though, I think that the Dodgers are 80-90 percent sure Bauer will sign with them, but if he doesn’t, they need to act very quickly similar to what the Lakers had to do in the 2019 NBA offseason after Kawhi Leonard led them on all offseason only to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers instead.
The Dodgers might be scared that another west coast team will secure Bauers services. The Angels have a lot of money to spend still and have been openly adamant about giving Bauer what he wants, especially when you consider they brought in a new GM to bring pieces in to help Mike Trout compete for a title ASAP. Unfortunately for Trout and the Angels, even if they do end up with Bauer, they will need much more help in their rotation and bullpen to compete for a World Series anytime soon. But hey, if they do sign Bauer, this will be a huge step in the right direction for an organization that has underperformed for over 10 years.
The Giants are another team I am hearing that could be all in on Bauer with mutual interest. The Giants have the money to pay Bauer even though they are not extremely close to competing and Bauer is into the silicon valley based environment that could provide him with technology to further improve his baseball career and investments in many businesses that could help Bauer in the longterm even after baseball. Who knows, the Giants seem like a longshot since they aren’t competitive, but if Bauer signs a long-term deal, maybe he is willing to wait a couple of years to compete.
Lastly, I want to continue to discuss the White Sox’s domination of the offseason in the American League. Already trading for Lance Lynn earlier in the offseason, the White Sox were off to a great start. The Yankees haven’t done much of anything yet, especially after focusing their whole offseason on re-signing D.J. Lamahieu(which they finally were able to accomplish). Maybe the Yankees become more active and try to re-sign Tanaka and maybe even George Springer or Michael Brantley. Who knows.
The White Sox have raised their 2021 season outlook tremendously already. In my offseason needs for each team article that I published a little over a month ago, I discussed how the roster makeup of the White Sox might already make them the best team in the American League. Now after singing Star closer Liam Hendricks, they continue to get better and make an even more convincing case as being the best team in the American League.
The White Sox are also the biggest winners in the Lindor trade. The Indians got substantially worse, and even though they still have Shane Bieber, José Ramirez, and others, they are in selling mode and are not looking to compete anytime soon. The Twins are the Twins and should be good in the regular season but collapse in the playoffs again like every year. The Royals and Tigers aren’t gonna win many games either, which makes the White Sox easily the best team in this division. I wouldn’t be surprised if this White Sox team wins over 100 games, especially with all of their division matchups.