Last year's playoff teams sitting on their hands?

[Docwaukee]

Boston - brought back a couple guys including Eovaldi and Pearce

Dogs - lost Wood, Grandal, Puig, Kemp, Machado (loss of 11.3 wins).  They get Seager back and added Joe Kelly. 

Houston - lost McCann and added Chirinos.  Lost Marwin Gonzalez (probably) and added Aledmys Diaz.  Lost Morton, Keuchel, and McCullers.  (loss of 7.6 wins).  Added Michael Brantley

Milwaukee - added Grandal.  Lost half season of Moustakas.  Schoop gone after a bad trade.  Traded Broxton and Santana.  Half a year of Gio gone.  

Yankees - brought back Garder, Sabathia, Britton and Happ.  Traded for Paxton.  Lost Lance Lynn.  Added DJ LeMahieu.  Added Troy Tulowitzki.  

Cleveland - traded Yan Gomes.  Traded Encarnacion for Jake Bauers and Carlos Santana.  Lost Michael Brantley.  Traded Yonder Alonso.  Lost Cody Allen.  Lost Oliver Perez. 

Rockies - Lost LeMahieu.  Lost Cargo.  Lost Parra.  Added Daniel Murphy.  

Atlanta - added Donaldson.  Added McCann.  Lost Suzuki.  Lost Markakis.  Lost Anibal Sanchez.  

A's - lost Lucroy.  lost Lowrie.  Traded for Profar.  Kept Fiers.  Added Soria.  Lost Familia.  

Cubs - kept Hamels.  lost Morrow.  Lost Justin Wilson.  Lost Chavez (was really good for them).  

 

Overall, the yankees seem to have upgraded on paper.  That's about it in terms of free agency upgrades among all those teams relative to their losses.  

[arch stanton]

The Rockies biggest lost is probably Ottavino. Those 77 innings will be tough to replace on a team relying on pitching in a hitter's paradise

Do the Red Sox have a closer if they don't bring Kimbrel back?

I guess we'll find out if what the Dogs lost is redundant or if all those OF actually pushed each other and whether the pitchers the Astros will use to replace the lost starters can keep up

If Paxton is healthy and Happ and Sabathia don't fall off the cliff (big ifs) the Yankees will be tough

[Lou]

how could you forget about Boston's biggest loss?

 

 

[Docwaukee]

3 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

The Rockies biggest lost is probably Ottavino. Those 77 innings will be tough to replace on a team relying on pitching in a hitter's paradise

Do the Red Sox have a closer if they don't bring Kimbrel back?

I guess we'll find out if what the Dogs lost is redundant or if all those OF actually pushed each other and whether the pitchers the Astros will use to replace the lost starters can keep up

If Paxton is healthy and Happ and Sabathia don't fall off the cliff (big ifs) the Yankees will be tough

totally forgot about them losing Ottavio.  

I think the Bosox will bring back Kimbrel.  That's why I left him off.  

[Docwaukee]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

how could you forget about Boston's biggest loss?

 

 

yah.  the padres are stealing guys away.  What a deal they got on Richards too.  

[Second Base]

Looks to me like these playoff teams are going to be letting some of their prospects come in and earn spots. It's the only way to remain financially responsible and competitive, and with the other half of the league basically tanking, they aren't risking much at all.

[WeatherWonk]

This thread seems like it's a month early. Much can still happen. Plenty of time to get off their hands. Many are waiting out desperation in the players, as the clock ticks.

But the teams that are in competitive divisions are doing a lot. Washington and the Mets have been active because the Braves are no shoo-in. They Yankees have had to keep up with the loaded lineup of the Red Sox.  Minnesota has sensed weakness in Cleveland and has responded. The Cardinals and Brewers are keeping pace, while the Cubs seem like they are stretched financially to do much. Darvish is wait and see.

The Dodgers dont really have to do too much to remain competitive in the NL West. The Rockies are their only competition this year. They lost Ottavino and DJ, but added Daniel Murphy.

Then there's the Astros. The A's are weaker, the M's are weaker. The Angels have tons of question marks. The Astros can introduce two youngsters to their starters, absorb the loss of Gonzales (Brantley will hit better, anyway) and still probably win the division by 5-10 games. Chirinos improves their offense at catcher. Barring injury, I dont see anyone overtaking the Astros in the AL West. The A's starting pitching is still a mystery.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Losing Morton, Keuchel, and McCullers is a big deal for Houston.

[WeatherWonk]

3 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Losing Morton, Keuchel, and McCullers is a big deal for Houston.

I bet McHugh pitches better than Keuchel did. And McCullers missed two months of the season anyway. 

 

[Second Base]

2 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

I bet McHugh pitches better than Keuchel did. And McCullers missed two months of the season anyway. 

 

That and James is stepping into their rotation, and he's plenty dangerous. 

[Angel Oracle]

5 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

I bet McHugh pitches better than Keuchel did. And McCullers missed two months of the season anyway. 

 

Is McHugh going back into the rotation?   He was pretty dominant as a setup guy in the pen. 

That said, James has all sorts of potential.

[WeatherWonk]

4 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Is McHugh going back into the rotation?   He was pretty dominant as a setup guy in the pen. 

That said, James has all sorts of potential.

Yeah, the Astros have already announced that McHugh will be a starter this year.

They are also high on 25 year old lefty Framber Valdez. You might remember he started one game against the Angels last year and gave up one run in six innings and struck out nine, walked two. 4-1 last year with a WHIP of 1.2.

I believe I just read that Brad Peacock agreed to arbitration, and he has started games in the past. They have lots of options.

Their bullpen is pretty solid with Rondon, Devenski, Joe Smith, Will Harris, Pressly and Ozuna.

I think a lot of people forget that Correa and Altuve missed a total of almost 80 games last year. Correa never really recovered completely and Altuve stopped stealing bases and had the lowest total of his career for a full time season. Springer missed 20 games. They got no offense from catcher and very little from the DH spot (10th in the AL) ............and they still won 103 games. That was in a division with one team that finished 30+games over .500 (A's), one 16 games over .500 (M's) and a team one win under .500 (Angels). M's and A's wont repeat those seasons. Angels MIGHT be better, if all goes as planned. 

I would say that in all the divisions in baseball, the Astros are the most likely to repeat their division title.

[floplag]

I wonder how much of that has to do with noone making moves to press them?
Has anyone done anything to give any of them a reason to worry?

[Inside Pitch]

5 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

Yeah, the Astros have already announced that McHugh will be a starter this year.

They are also high on 25 year old lefty Framber Valdez. You might remember he started one game against the Angels last year and gave up one run in six innings and struck out nine, walked two. 4-1 last year with a WHIP of 1.2.

I believe I just read that Brad Peacock agreed to arbitration, and he has started games in the past. They have lots of options.

Valdez is interesting -- he has a solid history of limiting his walks but he's never done anything like what he did at the MLB level last season.  He's 25, and had posted ERA's in the  low 4.00s in AA and AAA last year, the year before that he was at 5.88 in AA.   If he were someone the Angels were counting on people would be quick to point out his FIP last year was 4.65, more that double what his actual ERA was.   But he's an option in the same way that Suarez, Canning and Pena are options.

[WeatherWonk]

4 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Valdez is interesting -- he has a solid history of limiting his walks but he's never done anything like what he did at the MLB level last season.  He's 25, and had posted ERA's in the  low 4.00s in AA and AAA last year, the year before that he was at 5.88 in AA.   If he were someone the Angels were counting on people would be quick to point out his FIP last year was 4.65, more that double what his actual ERA was.   But he's an option in the same way that Suarez, Canning and Pena are options.

I think they throw Valdez and James into the rotation from the start, to determine whether they might want to extend Cole or Verlander a couple years...........or if they even need to.

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, WeatherWonk said:

I think they throw Valdez and James into the rotation from the start, to determine whether they might want to extend Cole or Verlander a couple years...........or if they even need to.

They have Whitley too...  their potential future ace.   

The nice thing about having guys like James, Valdez, McHugh, is it gives them time to let Whitley get some time in AAA and avoid coming up before he's ready.  Small sample and all that but, he managed pitching in the AFL last year and avoided giving up a HR...  

Kid has a yuuuuuuge ceiling.

 

[arch stanton]

9 hours ago, floplag said:

I wonder how much of that has to do with noone making moves to press them?
Has anyone done anything to give any of them a reason to worry?

https://www.mlb.com/yankees

[Stradling]

The Yankees are now the favorites in that division.  

[floplag]

16 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

https://www.mlb.com/yankees

Why would you assume i wasnt counting the Yanks in that statement?  The questions was playoff teams, not division winners.  

[Lou]

the division winners don't make the playoffs?

Go Astros!

[Docwaukee]

10 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

They have Whitley too...  their potential future ace.   

The nice thing about having guys like James, Valdez, McHugh, is it gives them time to let Whitley get some time in AAA and avoid coming up before he's ready.  Small sample and all that but, he managed pitching in the AFL last year and avoided giving up a HR...  

Kid has a yuuuuuuge ceiling.

 

the pick after Thaiss.  ugh.  

[arch stanton]

21 minutes ago, floplag said:

Why would you assume i wasnt counting the Yanks in that statement?  The questions was playoff teams, not division winners.  

The question was whether anyone had done anything to press them. The goal of the Astros is the World Series. The Yankees have done plenty to press them on that goal

[floplag]

9 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

The question was whether anyone had done anything to press them. The goal of the Astros is the World Series. The Yankees have done plenty to press them on that goal

Which has nothing to do with the question posed in the title of this thread and the other what, dozen teams mentioned?.  
Doc is right, most aside from the Yankees havent really done anything impressive as yet
Most of them dont really have any reason to worry and i have to believe even Boston might be tapped out.

[Lou]

this is the question I read:

"Last year's playoff teams sitting on their hands?"

[arch stanton]

35 minutes ago, floplag said:

Which has nothing to do with the question posed in the title of this thread and the other what, dozen teams mentioned?.  
Doc is right, most aside from the Yankees havent really done anything impressive as yet
Most of them dont really have any reason to worry and i have to believe even Boston might be tapped out.

The five posts immediately preceding yours were specifically about the Astros. Even if you intended to stay with the OP they still have each other to compete with. That's who would be pushing any team wanting to compete in the AL