2014 Reviews, Offseason Outlooks for All of MLB's Non-Playoff Teams
The 2014 MLB regular season has been over for two days, meaning that the Wild Card Round is set to kick off and usher in the postseason for the 10 teams that earned the right to play October baseball.
What about the other 20 clubs that didn’t make the playoffs?
Well, there are certainly plans in place to improve the rosters on each of them with the idea that 2015 will be a better season. Some have longer to-do lists than others, but they all have the same goal—win it all next year.
In that spirit, let’s take a look at the franchises that didn’t make the MLB playoffs, reviewing where they were and surmising what the offseason could hold.
Arizona Diamondbacks
1 of 20
Last offseason, then-general manager Kevin Towers was about as active as any executive in baseball.
Among other moves, he traded Adam Eaton, Tyler Skaggs and Matt Davidson and acquired Mark Trumbo, Justin Choate and Addison Reed. He also signed Bronson Arroyo to fill out his rotation.
While an NL West title was by no means a certainty, things looked reasonably positive. Then everything went sideways.
Starting pitchers Patrick Corbin and Matt Reynolds were lost for the season in March following Tommy John surgery. Arroyo suffered a similar fate in July. And the team’s main sources of power—Trumbo and Paul Goldschmidt—were lost for large stretches of the season due to various injuries.
In the midst of the carnage, the club hired Tony La Russa to oversee a reshaping of the franchise, and Towers lost his job as GM.
Then, two days before the end of the regular season and minutes before Dave Stewart was set to be introduced as the new GM, La Russa said goodbye to manager Kirk Gibson.
Now there is talent in the minor leagues, including pitchers Archie Bradley, Aaron Blair and Braden Shipley, while several young infielders add promise to a roster that features Goldschmidt, who is one of the best hitters in MLB.
In other words, Stewart can focus his attention on strengthening the bullpen and adding depth in the outfield.
Atlanta Braves
2 of 20
The Atlanta Braves had a rough season. There is no doubt about that.
On offense, the club ranked in the bottom third in the National League in almost every metric imaginable, including runs (14th), hits (11th), doubles (14th), home runs (11th) batting average (11th), on-base percentage (10th) and slugging (14th). Just woeful.
To be sure, Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Freddie Freeman and Evan Gattis had nice seasons. Unfortunately, their production was offset by the struggles of Chris Johnson, B.J. Upton, Andrelton Simmons and almost anyone who came off the bench.
The lack of offense (and some questionable personnel decisions) cost Frank Wren his job as the club’s general manager. It was that bad at Turner Field.
Now the offseason to-do list starts with finding a new GM. As ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden (subscription required) noted, the position has been offered to interim GM John Hart.
If Hart accepts, he faces an uphill battle.
“The Braves’ issues,” Bowden wrote, “are not just their lineup dysfunction, lack of depth in the bullpen and struggles at the top of the starting rotation. It's also the rapid fall of the organization's culture, especially in terms of player development and scouting.”
From a roster standpoint, the Braves need depth across the board. That means adding another starter, at least two arms in the bullpen and better reserves on the bench.
Boston Red Sox
3 of 20
Give Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington a bit of credit. When it became clear that the club that opened the season wasn’t going anywhere, he went to work.
He traded Jon Lester, Andrew Miller, Jonny Gomes, John Lackey, Jake Peavy and Felix Doubront. He also jettisoned A.J. Pierzynski, whose offense couldn’t overcome his divisiveness.
In the process, he added Yoenis Cespedes for at least one more season in exchange for Lester to the Oakland A’s, acquired future ace Eduardo Rodriguez from the Baltimore Orioles in the Miller deal and signed free agent outfielder Rusney Castillo to a seven-year, $72.5 million contract.
For as aggressive as Cherington was during the regular season, he will have to be more so during the offseason.
The starting rotation is in shambles. Two of his best relievers—Burke Badenhop and Koji Uehara—are both free agents. And there are still holes at several positions on the diamond and in the lineup.
That said, the turnaround from last place in the AL East to potential contender could be as quick as an offseason. That is, of course, if Cherington is shrewd with his free agent acquisitions and can swing a trade using some of the depth he has built up in the minor leagues.
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Chicago Cubs
4 of 20
The storyline isn’t new.
The Chicago Cubs are on the verge of a breakthrough, and when it happens, the fanbase can point to 2014 as when it all began.
After all, they improved seven games in the standings. They promoted Javier Baez and Jorge Soler, who both figure to be mainstays in the lineup for years to come.
And let’s not forget that the Cubs traded for shortstop Addison Russell, Kris Bryant decimated pitching staffs across the minor leagues and they drafted Kyle Schwarber, who looks like a legitimate slugger who will hit for average.
And while the pitching staff is maligned in the media to a certain degree, Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks emerged as pitchers manager Rick Renteria should be able to count on in the coming seasons. In the bullpen, Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop and Neil Ramirez are as formidable as they come.
So this offseason, general manager Jed Hoyer has two tasks.
First, he needs to sign an ace to anchor the staff. Jon Lester’s name is generally the one that is bandied about, but there are other options, including Max Scherzer and James Shields. That said, Hoyer likely prefers a lefty, making Lester his guy.
Offensively, a leadoff hitter with the ability to get on base at a .350 clip is in order. As CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine noted, “an on-base percentage type leadoff man will be an essential need to address in the off season.”
Again, things are trending in the right direction on the North Side of Chicago.
Chicago White Sox
5 of 20
I would be tempted to say that the Chicago White Sox played well this year.
After all, they won 10 more games than they did in 2013. They have one of the best hitters in baseball in the form of first baseman Jose Abreu. And they have guys like Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia, Alexei Ramirez, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana in place at key positions on the 25-man roster.
For as nice as all of that is, however, general manager Rick Hahn has his work cut out for him.
Up front, he needs to overhaul the bullpen. All told, White Sox manager Robin Ventura used 15 different relievers this season, and that’s not counting the relief appearances made by Adam Dunn and Leury Garcia. And of those 15, only Zach Putnam had a WHIP south of 1.300.
Hahn also needs to find at least one starting pitcher. Truth be told, he needs to find two, but in all likelihood, the club will enter next season with either Chris Bassitt or Hector Noesi as the No. 5 starter.
Offensively, the White Sox need to add a bat on either side of Abreu. Simply put, if they are going to get the most out of his considerable ability, he needs to have more baserunners on in front of him and a guy in the on-deck circle who will force opposing pitchers to throw him a strike.
Cincinnati Reds
6 of 20
There are many reasons why the Cincinnati Reds missed the playoffs this season.
At the top of the list is the fact that Joey Votto was limited to 62 games and only 272 at-bats thanks to a quadriceps injury. And then there’s the fact that six players with at least 270 plate appearances—Skip Schumaker, Chris Heisey, Brayan Pena, Jay Bruce, Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart—all had an on-base percentage below .300.
That is simply not a recipe for scoring enough runs to win baseball games.
There will be a spot in the outfield open. That is if you ask Ryan Ludwick, who intimated to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay (via Cincinnati.com) that he won’t have his option picked up. And if general manager Walt Jocketty wants to find a replacement for Cozart, that would likely be fine with everybody except the shortstop.
One bright spot is the starting pitching. Sure, Mat Latos’ future is uncertain, but with Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Alfredo Simon and Homer Bailey, the unit is already in good shape.
The bullpen? That’s a different story altogether. As Jocketty noted, the relief corps “has to improve—whether internally or externally” before the 2015 season begins, per a separate article by Fay. Expect the GM to be very active this offseason.
Cleveland Indians
7 of 20
All told, the Cleveland Indians had a successful 2014 campaign.
Sure, they missed the playoffs after starting the season 11-18, but they were 15 games over .500 from that point on.
They have a Cy Young-caliber starting pitcher in Corey Kluber (18-9, 2.44 ERA, 269 K). They have another potential ace developing in Carlos Carrasco (8-7, 2.55 ERA, 0.985 WHIP), and the bullpen ranked No. 7 in ERA (3.12) and strikeouts (504), per splits at ESPN.com.
There are two areas that need to be addressed this offseason.
First, they could use a veteran lefty to provide some balance at the back end of the rotation. Now that is easier written than accomplished, but T.J. House shouldn’t be the only left-handed starter.
And while the offense ranked in the American League’s upper half in most metrics, the club needs to improve its speed on the basepaths and overall run production.
Noting the need to get better, Paul Hoynes from Cleveland.com is wary of what the front office will do to address the lineup’s shortcomings.
“The Indians,” Hoynes wrote, “are going to say that a healthy Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn and Jason Kipnis are going to give the offense the boost in needs. Rarely does that work.” He is absolutely right.
Whichever avenue general manager Chris Antonetti takes, it is the offense that needs to be upgraded. The Indians certainly have the pitching.
Colorado Rockies
8 of 20
The 2014 season started with such optimism for the Colorado Rockies. And it was a legitimate sense of hope.
After all, when play began on May 1, the offense was firing on all cylinders, the pitching staff was holding its own for the most part and they were 16-13, one-and-a-half games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.
Then it all fell apart.
The pitching staff gave up a staggering 187 runs in June, per splits at Baseball-Reference. A rash of injuries befell team, including the season-ending variety to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, among others. And the pitching staff, well, they were the worst in MLB by a wide margin.
For as bad as things are, however, don’t expect very much to change.
In talking ”with more than a dozen people within the organization,” Patrick Saunders from The Denver Post posited that there are “concerns” over “owner Dick Monfort's input in the day-to-day baseball decisions, the lack of accountability for general manager Dan O'Dowd and the scope of assistant general manager Bill Geivett's job.”
Now, Geivett cited injuries for the reason the team failed to make the postseason, but as Saunders noted, “the Rockies' history of failure under the current leadership has left no room for sympathy.”
It’s going to be a long offseason.
Houston Astros
9 of 20
What a mixed season it was for the Houston Astros.
On one hand, Jose Altuve, George Springer, Collin McHugh and Dallas Keuchel are just fantastic ballplayers. And there is talent in the bullpen with Tony Sipp and Josh Fields seemingly on the verge of being special pitchers for an extended period of time.
Then again, general manager Jeff Luhnow fired Bo Porter after a very public falling out, the club failed to sign their first-, fifth- and 21st-round selections in the MLB first-year player draft and several young players—Matt Dominguez, Jon Singleton and Jonathan Villar—failed to finish with an OPS over .620.
Luhnow does have the ability to go out and make some significant additions via free agency this offseason. Areas of need are starting pitching, relief pitching and overall depth. Flat out, Luhnow is going to have to spend some coin this winter.
That, and he has to hope that the group mentioned earlier can fulfill their lofty expectations.
Miami Marlins
10 of 20
Yes, the Miami Marlins faded down the stretch after remaining relevant well into July.
But considering that they did what they did while using 13 different starting pitchers and losing Jose Fernandez after only eight starts is an impressive accomplishment for manager Mike Redmond, the rest of the coaching staff and the club as a whole.
Heading into the offseason, the primary order of business will be figuring out the contract status of outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. They could simply offer him arbitration, but as president of baseball operations Michael Hill said, their plan is “to talk with him about extending him beyond his arbitration years,” via MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro.
Regardless of what happens with Stanton, Hill and the rest of the front office have some other decisions to make.
There are up to seven players eligible for arbitration, including closer Steve Cishek. The Marlins need rotation depth, and the bullpen needs an upgrade. If we’re being honest, they should seriously consider getting involved in adding one of the premier free agents available, whether it’s a starting pitcher or a third baseman with some power.
The more the club can accomplish in front of the winter meetings, the better for everyone involved.
Milwaukee Brewers
11 of 20
Sure, the Milwaukee Brewers have a lot to hang their hat on.
They played great baseball for a majority of the season, spending 150 days in first place. But following an unimaginable fall from not only the division lead, but the playoffs altogether, the offseason conversation will be dominated by the future of manager Ron Roenicke.
That is, at least, until general manager Doug Melvin makes a decision regarding Roenicke, at which point the talk will shift to personnel decisions, including the future of third baseman Aramis Ramirez and doing something about the void at first base.
Getting back to Roenicke, there is currently a review underway that will decide not only his fate, but that of his coaching staff. From CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman:
"Roenicke has the respect and admiration of his bosses, including both owner Mark Attanasio and Melvin, and no one from the Brewers has publicly suggested Roenicke's job is on the line; however, his bosses suggest everything will be reviewed in light of the team's steep decline. Hitting coach Johnny Narron is also respected, but with the Brewers' stark offensive drop in the second half, it's possible his role could be under review, as well.
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To be sure, the Brewers have a solid foundation in place with Jonathan Lucroy, Scooter Gennett, Carlos Gomez and several solid options in the rotation and in the bullpen. With a few tweaks, perhaps a playoff appearance is in the offing in 2015.
Minnesota Twins
12 of 20
Well that was quick.
The day after the regular season ended, the Minnesota Twins relieved Ron Gardenhire of his duties as the club’s manager, per the team’s official Twitter feed. That kind of sums up how the season went at Target Field.
In fact, 2014 marked the third time in the last four years that the club has finished in last place.
As far as offseason plans, general manager Terry Ryan has to find a way to improve his pitching staff. Overall, the unit ranked last in the American League in ERA (4.58), total runs allowed (777), hits allowed (1,588) and strikeouts (1,031).
The misery is spread out evenly between the rotation and the bullpen. So while the offense was quite good in 2014, Ryan had better make some dramatic adjustments to his staff.
It must be noted that there are bright spots. Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson pitched incredibly well in the starting rotation. And although he should be playing shortstop, Danny Santana is a definite keeper, while Brian Dozier is as valuable as ever.
New York Mets
13 of 20
The expectations for the New York Mets were high entering this season, and while they failed to make any real noise in the NL East, there are quite a few things for general manager Sandy Alderson and the fanbase to be excited about.
Barring any substantial movement, the pitching staff is in fine shape for the next few seasons. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Matt den Dekker showed a lot of promise, and there are a couple of intriguing arms in the bullpen, including Jeurys Familia and Josh Edgin.
Now for the Mets to improve with talent not already in the system, it will have to be through trades. Mike Vorkunov from the New Jersey Star-Ledger explains (via NJ.com):
"Putting free agency here seems like a false option. It's difficult to find substantive offensive help without being locked into a burdensome contract. The Mets don't seem to have the payroll flexibility for that. Instead, improvement is more realistic from a trade. If they are willing to leverage some of the pitching they have accrued, they can get some kind of help. But there is a danger in that too, because it would deplete a resource Alderson has invested time and effort in building up.
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While the point Vorkunov makes about thinning an area strength is absolutely correct, it is an avenue that Alderson must pursue unless he wants to increase payroll by around $20 million, which is what Ken Davidoff from the New York Post suggests.
Either way, expect to see some serious roster turnover in the coming months.
New York Yankees
14 of 20
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman went to work this season.
Among other moves, he traded for Brandon McCarthy, Chase Headley, Martin Prado and Stephen Drew in an effort to bolster the 25-man roster after injuries depleted his pitching staff and poor production doomed the offense.
It didn’t work.
Now he faces an offseason of uncertainty due to an inflated payroll and several dead contracts. And by that, we mean that guys like CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira are hardly worth the combined $46.125 million they will earn next season.
The contractual obligations to those two and several others could put limits on what Cashman is able to do in free agency. After all, the starting rotation must be addressed, and that will cost a significant amount of money.
That is unless Cashman opts to keep McCarthy for considerably less money than Jon Lester, Max Scherzer or James Shields will demand and count on the likes of Sabathia and David Phelps to deliver results.
Perhaps the biggest question from a historical perspective is figuring out who will replace Derek Jeter at shortstop. There are several options out there, including Hanley Ramirez and potentially J.J. Hardy, but one thing is certain—whoever it is isn’t currently on the roster or in the minor leagues.
Philadelphia Phillies
15 of 20
Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is in a world of hurt.
He did it to himself, of course, but the larger point remains that he will have to get creative to improve a roster that finished the 2014 season with a record of 73-89.
As Ricky Bottallico noted in a recent spot on CSN Philly, “there was just regression all over the” batting order. He’s right.
Domonic Brown, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Marlon Byrd and Chase Utley all went backward from a productivity standpoint. Unfortunately, the only one that doesn’t have a guaranteed spot on next year’s club (barring a trade) is Brown, and he is eligible for arbitration, making him the least expensive.
And good luck finding someone to take Howard.
Not only would Amaro have to eat most of the remaining dollars on his contract, but he would have to be OK with getting next to nothing in return. Sure, 23 home runs and 95 RBI seems nice, but when it comes with 190 strikeouts and a .690 OPS, almost all value is lost.
Amaro also faces tough decisions regarding his pitching staff. There simply isn’t a lot there outside of Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee. And it’s not like he has the talent to trade for an ace or the capital to sign one of the premier free agents.
We shall see what the future holds, but it stands to reason that there is only so much longer ownership will tolerate continued failure.
San Diego Padres
16 of 20
On the positive side of the ledger, the San Diego Padres have a new general manager in the form of A.J. Preller, a pitching staff that gives them options on and off the field and manager Bud Black is coming back.
There you go: three relatively good things to focus your attention on this offseason.
Unfortunately. the offense was woeful in 2014, ranking last in runs (535), hits (1,199), doubles (234), batting average (.226), on-base percentage (.292), slugging (.342) and total bases (1,810).
They did finish third in sacrifice flies, so they have that going for them.
To be sure, the pitching staff is legit, which is another reason for considerable optimism. True, Preller may have to deal a starter in order to improve his offense, but with the exception of Eric Stults, there is considerable depth all around.
We shall see what the new GM has up his sleeve this offseason, but improving the Padres' run production will be priority No. 1.
Seattle Mariners
17 of 20
What a season it was for the Seattle Mariners. The fact of the matter is that few thought that the addition of Robinson Cano would be enough to vault the club into the realm of playoff contender.
Yet that is exactly what happened. True, Kyle Seager, Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and a dominant bullpen had a few things to do with it, but Cano delivered exactly what he was brought in to do—get on base, score runs and drive runners in.
This offseason will be an exercise in finding the right pieces to complement Cano and company for general manager Jack Zduriencik.
That could mean a minor addition like an outfielder who doesn’t necessarily hit for power but has a high on-base percentage, or it may be bringing in a designated hitter who can spray the ball to all fields. The latter option will likely be a bit too expensive, but Zduriencik has surprised the fanbase in the past.
Either way, the Mariners are primed for another run in 2015. It may only take one piece to put the roster over the top.
Tampa Bay Rays
18 of 20
The Tampa Bay Rays went big last offseason, opening up the 2014 campaign with almost $77 million dollars in payroll commitments, which was a franchise record, per Cot's Contracts.
Unfortunately, Grant Balfour and Wil Myers never got going, left-handed starting pitcher Matt Moore only made two starts and Ben Zobrist’s OPS went from .862 on April 28 all the way down to .685 on June 9, per Baseball-Reference. By the time Zobrist recovered, the Rays were well out of first place and David Price was on his way to the Detroit Tigers.
From all accounts, however, 2015 will be a different year, largely due to the fact that the rotation will include guys like Drew Smyly, Alex Cobb, Chris Archer and Moore at some point. Simply put, that is a formidable group of starters, and we didn’t even mention Jake Odorizzi or Jeremy Hellickson.
To be sure, there are holes on the roster, including catcher, designated hitter and the back end of the bullpen. It will be on general manager Andrew Friedman to find a way to keep payroll in line while improving his club.
Texas Rangers
19 of 20
If it weren’t for bad luck, the 2014 Texas Rangers would have had no luck at all.
When the season ended, the club had 12 players on the 60-day disabled list. And we’re not talking about the last player on the 25-man roster, either. Names like Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo and Yu Darvish are among those on the list.
And as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan noted, “the Rangers set Major League records by using 64 players in 2014, including 40 pitchers. There were 23 rookies among those 64 players, as the Rangers used the disabled list a Major League-high 26 times.”
It’s no wonder the club finished the regular season with 67 wins.
Now, the Rangers are the only club where an argument can be made that all they have to do is get healthy in order to field a competitive club in 2015.
That said, general manager Jon Daniels said that “the No. 1 priority” this offseason is improving the rotation behind Darvish and Derek Holland, per a separate article from Sullivan.
First things first. The Rangers need to find a manager to replace Ron Washington who stepped away toward the end of the regular season.
Toronto Blue Jays
20 of 20
Just about everybody knows what happened to the Toronto Blue Jays this season.
They were 14 games over .500 and had a six-game lead in the AL East before injuries took their toll and the team began a fall in the standings that it couldn’t correct. And as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approached, general manager Alex Anthopoulos decided that the cost to add a second baseman or another starting pitcher was too great.
As a result, the team finished four games over .500 and 13.0 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.
Anthopoulos made it clear that he will be active this offseason in his annual session with reporters following the end of the regular season. He did make sure to point out, however, that there are limits to what he is going to do.
To that effect, he “reiterated that the Jays will stick to their five-year limit on contract length, which will knock them out of the bidding for the top players,” per John Lott from the National Post. In other words, if you were hoping the Blue Jays were going to sign one of the premier free agents, it is off the table.
Expect to see a reliever brought in and for Anthopoulos to search for a second baseman in free agency.
Unless otherwise noted, all traditional, team and historical statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. Transaction, injury and game information are courtesy of MLB.com. Contract information pulled from Cots Contracts.
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