Trade Ideas to Replace MLB's Most Disappointing Starters From 2023
While Luis Severino and Carlos Carrasco were not singularly responsible for MLB's New York franchises drastically underachieving in 2023, trading to replace those disappointing starters could be a big step in those teams' quests to turn things around next season.
When we say "starters" here, we aren't just referring to starting pitchers. There are a few pitchers on this list, but position players who underperformed in 2023 will also feature prominently.
Also, the trade ideas don't necessarily involve the disappointing starter in question. In fact, in most cases (including both Severino and Carrasco), the disappointing starter is now a free agent.
They still need to be replaced, though, and we have trade candidates (players who are not currently free agents) worth targeting for each team.
Players are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Players Who Are Too Expensive to Replace
1 of 10
Of the nine players we're going to attempt to replace via trade, seven are now free agents, and the other two are still eligible for arbitration for another few years.
In other words, there's little or no sunk cost that comes with replacing them.
There were also a bunch of disappointing starters in 2023 whom fans would probably love to see replaced, but who are just too much of a sunk cost because of their remaining contract.
Who knows, though? Maybe it'll happen with some of them. The Angels once paid Josh Hamilton about $70 million to go away. Pablo Sandoval and Robinson Cano also got around $50 million each when they were designated for assignment. But these would be massive salaries to bench/cut for poor performance.
(Remaining amount owed per Spotrac.)
Javier Báez, SS, Detroit Tigers: 0.7 bWAR in 2023; still owed $98 million through 2027
Andrew Benintendi, LF, Chicago White Sox: 0.2 bWAR in 2023; still owed $64 million through 2027
Kris Bryant, LF, Colorado Rockies: -1.0 bWAR in 2023; still owed $131 million through 2028
Carlos Correa, SS, Minnesota Twins: 1.4 bWAR in 2023; still owed $164 million through 2028
Starling Marte, OF, New York Mets: -0.8 bWAR in 2023; still owed $39 million through 2025 (by far the most likely player in this group to get replaced, but still unlikely)
Anthony Rendon, 3B, Los Angeles Angels: 0.1 bWAR in 2023; still owed $114 million through 2026
Carlos Rodón, LHP, New York Yankees: -0.8 bWAR in 2023; still owed $135 million through 2028
Giancarlo Stanton, RF/DH, New York Yankees: -0.8 bWAR in 2023; still owed $128 million through 2028
Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Washington Nationals: DNP in 2023; still owed $70.7 million through 2026 (plus $80 million in deferred money)
Jameson Taillon, RHP, Chicago Cubs: -0.1 bWAR in 2023; still owed $54 million through 2026
Tim Anderson, SS, Chicago White Sox
2 of 10
2023 Stats: .245/.286/.296, 1 HR, 13 SB, -2.0 bWAR
Nobody dropped off a cliff in 2023 quite like Tim Anderson did.
Injuries have always been an issue with Anderson, who has missed nearly 30 percent of White Sox games over the past half-decade. But at least until this season, he was wildly effective when he did play. He had an .820 OPS from 2019-22 before posting a .582 mark this season, resulting in Chicago declining his $14 million club option for 2024.
The good news is that the White Sox's top prospect, Colson Montgomery, is a shortstop. The bad news is that he missed nearly half of this season with back/oblique injuries and hasn't started hitting well at Double-A, let alone Triple-A. He probably won't be ready for the big leagues for at least another year.
The White Sox could just sputter through what figures to be a rough 2024 season with some combination of Lenyn Sosa, Romy Gonzalez and Zach Remillard manning the middle-infield spots. Or they could trade for a short-term solution in the form of Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas.
The Dodgers aren't necessarily looking to move Rojas, who does provide a solid glove at a reasonable price. But with Gavin Lux returning from injury and Michael Busch perhaps ready to take the reins at second base, the 34-year-old shortstop with a club option for 2025 isn't exactly immovable.
Whether the White Sox would be willing and able to put together an offer that even gets the Dodgers to the negotiating table is a different story. But Rojas could be a good target for a team that has basically no veteran experience at this point.
Carlos Carrasco, RHP, New York Mets
3 of 10
2023 Stats: 90.0 IP, 6.80 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, -1.3 bWAR
A lot of things went horribly awry for the New York Mets in 2023, but Carlos Carrasco may have been the most detrimental of them all.
The veteran hurler made $14 million to make just three quality starts. And it was quite literally during his disastrous eight-run outing against the Washington Nationals on July 29 that the final hurdles of the Max Scherzer-to-Texas trade were cleared. That isn't to say Scherzer called Scott Boras in the third inning and begged to get the heck out of there, but it was fitting that the teardown officially began during yet another Carrasco dud.
The big question with the Mets this offseason is whether they're legitimately trying to contend in 2024. Carrasco is leaving in free agency regardless, but how much effort are they going to put into replacing him with someone who can make a real impact next season?
At this point, their rotation is Kodai Senga, José Quintana and a bunch of question marks. Joey Lucchesi finished strong, but he has logged only 90.2 innings since the beginning of 2020. Tylor Megill was at least mostly healthy, but he's a replacement-level starter with a 4.72 career ERA. David Peterson isn't a much better option than Megill. Maybe prospect Mike Vasil gets a shot at the opening day rotation?
But if the Mets were to win the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes before trading for, say, Shane Bieber—effectively replacing Carrasco with another Cleveland ace—they could be back in business for a 2024 title in a hurry.
Brandon Crawford, SS, San Francisco Giants
4 of 10
2023 Stats: .194/.273/.314, 7 HR, 38 RBI, -1.3 bWAR
Two years removed from setting career-best marks in all sorts of categories en route to finishing fourth in the NL MVP vote, Brandon Crawford sure looked the part of the first shortstop in eight years to log at least 300 plate appearances in an age-36-or-later season.
He struggled to stay healthy. When he did manage to play, Crawford had one of the lowest OPS in the majors. And the Giants didn't have a Plan B in case he struggled.
Casey Schmitt's first few weeks in the majors were exciting, but he aggressively regressed to the mean, hitting .147 over his final 200 plate appearances. Long-time highly touted prospect Marco Luciano still isn't quite ready for the big leagues, either. The Giants were so desperate that they even gave Paul DeJong a shot for a month after both the Cardinals and the Blue Jays cut ties with him.
So, what's the plan now? Hope for the best with both Schmitt and Luciano? Take a flyer on Tim Anderson bouncing back in 2024? Or maybe call up the Minnesota Twins and see if they'd be willing to trade Jorge Polanco?
The Twins picked up the $10.5 million club option on Polanco for next season, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're keeping him. If they're reasonably confident that Edouard Julien and Royce Lewis can stay healthy and effective in 2024, the Twins would presumably rather spend that Polanco money elsewhere.
Regardless of whether Polanco plays second and Thairo Estrada plays short or vice versa, the Giants would have a formidable middle infield in 2024.
Joey Gallo, 1B/OF, Minnesota Twins
5 of 10
2023 Stats: .177/.301/.440, 21 HR, 40 RBI, 0.5 bWAR
Like the Yankees and the Dodgers before them, the Minnesota Twins were hopeful that Joey Gallo's home runs would make up for his dismal batting average and sky-high strikeout rate.
But after a fantastic start to the year—he hit seven home runs in his first 49 plate appearances—that very much was not the case. He hit .163 the rest of the way with nearly five times as many strikeouts (127) as RBI (26). Over the course of the full season, Gallo hit .139 with runners on base.
Were the Twins solely losing Gallo to free agency, they'd be more than OK. He missed the final month of the regular season with an injury, and Minnesota got along just fine with Alex Kiriloff and Matt Wallner shouldering a heavier load down the stretch.
The problem is that Gallo, Donovan Solano and Michael Taylor are all set to become free agents. The Twins need to add at least one 1B/OF, even if it isn't necessarily to replace Gallo's disappointing bat in the lineup.
To that end, one obvious trade partner is the St. Louis Cardinals, who have more hitters than they can possibly use on a regular basis.
If the Twins are looking for a one-year solution, LF Tyler O'Neill could be their guy. Or they could swing big and pay the final year of Paul Goldschmidt's contract. But the Cardinals could also be open to moving CF Dylan Carlson since Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker and Tommy Edman aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Tony Gonsolin, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
6 of 10
2023 Stats: 103.0 IP, 4.98 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, -0.2 bWAR
By no means are the Los Angeles Dodgers done with Tony Gonsolin, who went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 2022 and whom they have under team control for another three seasons. However, Gonsolin was a disappointment for them in 2023, and he is almost certainly going to miss all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early September.
In theory, the Dodgers don't need a multi-year solution here. By 2025, both Gonsolin and Dustin May should be healthy, and the young quartet of Michael Grove, Ryan Pepiot, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone should have blossomed into at least a few respectable starters to pair with Gonsolin, May and Bobby Miller. There's also the hope that the Dodgers will sign Shohei Ohtani this offseason and that he'll be able to pitch again in 2025.
Trading for a one-year solution would be huge, though, and there are several viable options.
The two big ones are Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes and Cleveland's Shane Bieber. Getting either the 2020 AL Cy Young or the 2021 NL Cy Young winner for his final season of arbitration eligibility would be quite the coup, but both of those teams should be open to any trade offers that set them up better for the long haul.
They could also go back to the well in Boston where they found Mookie Betts and David Price and try to get Chris Sale. He does have a full no-trade clause as well as quite the lengthy injury history, but he pitched reasonably well this past season.
Tampa Bay's Tyler Glasnow also has a $25 million salary in 2024, which the small-market Rays might rather not pay regardless of how talented he is.
Luis Severino, RHP, New York Yankees
7 of 10
2023 Stats: 89.1 IP, 6.65 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, -1.5 bWAR
After pitching a grand total of 18 innings from 2019-21, Luis Severino did just enough in 2022 (19 starts, 102.0 IP, 3.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) to inspire hope that he could get back to pitching like the Cy Young candidate that he was in 2017 and 2018.
However, the 2023 season was a disaster for him.
About once a month, he'd have one respectably strong start. But even in those games, his strikeout rate was never what it used to be, and he was shelled for at least seven earned runs almost as often as he recorded a quality start.
Some team is bound to take a flyer on the two-time All-Star, but the Yankees are very much in the process of trying to replace Severino's spot in the rotation with a more reliable arm.
Of course, these are the Yankees we're talking about. They'll likely just go out and buy that new arm, be it Aaron Nola, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto or some other coveted free agent.
"Buying" Tyler Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays might also be on the table here.
Glasnow is owed $25 million on his unusually backloaded two-year, $30.5 million contract. And while the Rays would very much prefer to not help make a division rival stronger, getting out from under that balloon payment while adding an intriguing prospect or two in the process could make the juice worth the squeeze.
Adam Wainwright, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
8 of 10
2023 Stats: 101.0 IP, 7.40 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, 4.9 K/9, -2.0 bWAR
In the final season of his MLB career, Adam Wainwright looked nothing like the ace he used to be. He did get to 200 career wins, which was an awesome moment near the end of a brutal season for the Cardinals. He also made $17.5 million to rank darn near dead last in the majors in bWAR.
Not only is Waino now gone, but the Cardinals traded away both Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty before they could reach free agency, leaving this team desperately searching for starting pitching beyond Miles Mikolas for 2024.
They might sign one of the many noteworthy free agents available this offseason, but that traditionally hasn't been the St. Louis way. The only particularly big deal they've made with a free-agent pitcher was for Mike Leake during the 2015-16 offseason, and they traded him away less than two disappointing seasons into that five-year, $80 million contract.
It's more likely they'll trade for a starting pitcher with several years of team control. Someone like Oakland's Paul Blackburn or Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller, both of whom have two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, would make sense.
Angels southpaw Tyler Anderson, who's owed $13 million in each of the next two seasons, could also be on the table. Though what the Cardinals would be willing to give up for him might pale in comparison to their offers for Blackburn or Keller, who are both better and less expensive.
Jesse Winker, DH, Milwaukee Brewers
9 of 10
2023 Stats: .199/.320/.247, 1 HR, 23 RBI, -0.7 bWAR
From 2017-21 with Cincinnati, Jesse Winker was quite valuable when healthy. He hit .288 with an .888 OPS, averaging one home run for every 23 trips to the plate.
But Winker went from bad in 2022 with the Mariners to so much worse in 2023 with the Brewers, homering just once in his 197 plate appearances this season.
Curiously, the Brewers traded away Mark Canha earlier this week rather than picking up his club option for 2024. He figured to be their 1B/DH plan, more or less platooning with Rowdy Tellez, with both guys getting some days off when C William Contreras served as the DH.
Moving Canha does clear up as much space as possible for Sal Frelick to play nearly every day. Still, between losing Winker, Canha and Carlos Santana, the Brewers should be looking to trade for an inexpensive, veteran bat who can DH and play corner outfield in a pinch.
How about Dominic Smith from the Nationals? He has one year remaining before free agency, and it's not like the Nats are going to be vying for a playoff spot in 2024.
Smith wasn't anything special this past season, but he had a .692 OPS and stayed healthy, both of which would be significant upgrades over Winker. And if the Brewers were lucky, he'd revert back to hitting like he did in 2019-20.
Patrick Wisdom, 3B/1B/OF, Chicago Cubs
10 of 10
2023 Stats: .205/.289/.500, 23 HR, 46 RBI, 0.3 bWAR
It's probably a stretch to put Patrick Wisdom and his $763,000 salary from 2023 on this list. Wisdom still has three years of arbitration eligibility remaining, so the Cubs aren't looking to replace him in the same way that most of the teams featured here are with players who are hitting free agency.
But if the Cubs are serious about winning, can they really afford to keep playing Wisdom on a regular basis? His .500 slugging percentage is enticing, but the Mendoza Line batting average and below-average defense just aren't cutting it.
Considering Wisdom didn't even average one plate appearance per game over the final two months of the regular season after they traded for Jeimer Candelario, the Cubs have kind of already answered that question.
So, here's a fun idea: What if they brought Anthony Rizzo back home?
The Yankees have been talking about making organization-wide audits and wholesale changes. Trading away the 34-year-old first baseman who's owed $17 million next season (plus a $17 million club option for 2025) sure would qualify as a shakeup.
Rizzo's numbers from this past season were way below his usual standards, but he also spent two months playing with post-concussion syndrome before getting shut down for the year in early August. If he can get back to the .300 batting average and 35 HR pace that he was on before the collision with Fernando Tatis Jr. in late May, that would be a season-changing acquisition for the Cubs.
