1 Reason Every Non-Contending MLB Team Should Look Forward to Next Season
Watching other teams play meaningful baseball in September while your favorite team is merely going through the motions sucks.
There's no way to sugarcoat it, so I'm not going to even try. It really sucks, and some baseball fans have already shifted their attention to their favorite squads in other sports. Nobody could fault you for that if you fall in that category.
But for those teams that find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, there's reason for optimism, dare I say, excitement, for what lies ahead in 2015.
What am I talking about? Let's take a look.
Arizona Diamondbacks: A New Beginning
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After spending a few months taking in everything around him, Tony La Russa has begun the arduous process of remaking the Arizona Diamondbacks into a contender.
It began when he fired general manager Kevin Towers, a move that, as ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick noted, probably isn't a good sign for manager Kirk Gibson. Gibson, who we looked at last week as a manager who needed to finish strong to potentially keep his job, has lost one of his biggest supporters.
It's clear that owner Ken Kendrick is going to defer to La Russa when it comes to shaping the organization, a good thing when you consider the results that the team produced under the old regime—only one winning season since 2011.
Whether La Russa has eyes on taking over in the dugout remains to be seen, though it's worth noting that he does have two of his long-time lieutenants from his coaching staffs, Dave Duncan and Dave McKay, already positioned in the organization.
But he knows what it takes to win, and now that he has a firm grasp on the team's situation, both at the major league level and in the minor leagues, he can begin to shape the roster the way he sees fit.
With perennial MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt and staff ace Patrick Corbin both expected to be ready to go in 2015, La Russa has a solid foundation to build a contender around.
Boston Red Sox: The Unknown
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It's true that we tend to fear the unknown, but in the case of the Boston Red Sox, the unknown is something to be embraced. The Red Sox are positioned as well as any team in baseball to make some significant additions over the winter.
We just don't have a clue what those additions may be.
Recently a guest on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan Show, assistant general manager Mike Hazen gave an overview of what the team is looking to do this winter (via WEEI.com's Jerry Spar):
"We have a long offseason to go. I think both Castillo and Betts, I see them on the team. What position they’re playing, who’s in the lineup, how it all shakes out, we have a long way to go in this offseason.
I think what we've tried to do as we've moved through the trading deadline and into the rest of the regular season was to acquire or amass as many really good major league players as we could. We know we have some redundancies in some areas, we have some holes in other areas that need to be plugged. And there’s two ways we’re going to plug those holes. We’re going to do it with money in the free agent market, and we’re going to be able to do it via trade, having good major league players, not just minor league players to trade. We may trade some minor league guys as well, but having those good, established major league hitters—a lot of these guys that have power, which is a commodity in the game, set us up fairly well in a strong position at least.
I know trades are tough to pull off no matter what you’re dealing with because you need two to tango on this. But we’re going to be in a pretty good position we think going into the offseason given the assets and the players that we have both on the roster and in the minor leagues, and the financial resources that we have coming off the books currently to be able to fill the holes that we need to fill.
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You can be sure that they'll be involved in the sweepstakes to land one of the top free-agent starting pitchers available, including the team's former ace, Jon Lester, but they could look to the trade market to fill that void.
Someone like Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, should the Phillies decide to deal, could be an option.
But that's only scratching the surface of what Boston could do. With one of the deeper minor league systems around and the financial wherewithal to take on any contract, Boston can make a number of potential moves.
That should get Red Sox Nation fired up for the months ahead.
Chicago Cubs: A Full Season of the Youth Movement
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Far from being finished products, 21-year-old Javier Baez and 22-year-old Jorge Soler have shown glimpses of what's to come over a short period of time on the north side of Chicago—and what's to come is exciting to say the least.
Of the pair's 33 combined hits in the major leagues, 20 of those have gone for extra bases, including 10 that left the park completely. “These kids are kind of showing you why they've been talked about so much,” manager Rick Renteria told Ryan Fagan of the Sporting News after a recent game. “That’s good to see.”
Perhaps the most talented of the kids, Kris Bryant, has yet to arrive on the scene. But the 22-year-old, named USA Today's Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .325 with 43 home runs and 110 RBI across the upper levels of the minor leagues, will be joining his former teammates on the north side of Chicago before too long.
Bryant has left an impression at every level of the minor leagues, including on former big league slugger Manny Ramirez, who spent much of the season as a player/coach at Triple-A Iowa. When asked by USA Today's Bryce Miller about Bryant, Ramirez couldn't stop gushing.
"He's unbelievable. He's 6-5, bro. He stays inside on his swing all the time. He's so tall that when he misses a ball, he can still hit it out. The thing I like about him, he knows how to turn the page. If he misses an at-bat, he forgets about it and moves on to the next one.
A lot of players can't do it, but he knows how to do it at such a young age.
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He's not the only reinforcement on the way, either. The arrivals of highly touted outfielder Albert Almora and shortstop Addison Russell aren't far off, while right-handed starters C.J. Edwards and Pierce Johnson are steadily working their way through the team's farm system.
The Cubs may not return to the land of contenders in 2015, but they'll be a lot more exciting to watch—and dangerous for the rest of the league to play—as their future roster continues to take shape.
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Chicago White Sox: Carlos Rodon's Arrival
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Despite pitching to the majors' fourth-highest ERA (4.40) and WHIP (1.38), Chicago's starting rotation isn't quite as bad as some believe it is.
The White Sox have one of the game's elite starters (Chris Sale), one of the game's most underrated arms (Jose Quintana) and a serviceable veteran (John Danks) capable of locking things down at the back end of the rotation.
It's filling the two remaining spots that has proven to be a difficult task on the South side of Chicago.
Enter Carlos Rodon, the third overall pick in June's First-Year Player draft.
The 21-year-old southpaw flew through Chicago's minor league system, reaching Triple-A after throwing less than 13 professional innings and finishing the season with an impressive 2.92 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 38 strikeouts over only 24.2 innings of work.
Numbers like that had people speculating about a possible September promotion to the big leagues, but as general manager Rick Hahn explained to the Chicago Tribune's Colleen Kane, the timing wasn't right:
"It just wasn't the right time in his development to bring him to the big leagues … and ask him to get big-league hitters out. We are very pleased with how he finished up his first several weeks as a pro. We fully expect him to come to big-league camp next year and compete for a spot on the 2015 White Sox. That's how far along he is in his development.
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Expectations will be high, of course, considering the hype surrounding him and his place in the draft, but if Rodon can simply pitch well enough to give the White Sox a chance to win more often than not, Chicago could find itself right back in the land of contenders in 2015.
Cincinnati Reds: A Clean Bill of Health
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Playing without Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips or Joey Votto is going to have a negative effect on a team's on-field production.
When a team is without two of them for an extended period of time, as the Cincinnati Reds were when Phillips (thumb surgery) and Votto (quadriceps) wound up on the disabled list within days of each other earlier this season, it's nearly impossible to put enough runs on the board to win games consistently.
Throw in early-season surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his left knee for Jay Bruce, whose knee clearly hasn't been 100 percent since, and even the most talented lineup is going to suffer.
The pitching staff hasn't been immune to injury, either, with Homer Bailey set to undergo surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow that limited him to only 23 starts this season.
While getting the band back together—completely healthy—might not be the wholesale changes that some of the Cincinnati faithful would like to see the team make, this group has proven that it can contend in the past.
There's no reason to think that won't be the case once again when they aren't dealing with injuries in 2015.
Colorado Rockies: The Return of CarGo and Tulo
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In a perfect world, we'd be talking about how the Rockies were going to add some top-flight starters to their rotation before the 2015 season begins, giving the team a fighting chance to contend in a tough National League West.
But things are far from perfect, and it's a stretch to think that any of the top arms available—Jon Lester, Max Scherzer or James Shields—is going to be chomping at the bit to spend half of their time in the hitter's paradise that is Coors Field.
Instead, the reason for excitement in Colorado comes from within, where two MVP-caliber players—Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki—have battled injuries...again.
Before the season began, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post fielded a question from a reader asking whether it was a mistake for the club to have signed the two stars to lucrative, long-term deals, noting their inability to stay on the field. Saunders' answer was telling:
"Together, Tulo and CarGo create a dynamic duo, but getting them on the field at the same time has been a crippling problem. They started only 66 times together last season. They played in the same game only 81 times.
But then consider this statistic: From 2009-13, the Rockies are 210-188 (.528) when the two start in the same game. They remain two of the best players in the game, and they create a formidable heart of the order.
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While I've not done the math on how many times the pair has played in the same game this season, we know that the numbers aren't much better than what they were a season ago, as CarGo played in only 70 games, Tulo 91.
But winning baseball is winning baseball, and the Rockies win more often than they lose when the pair is on the field together. A .528 winning percentage isn't good enough to win a division crown, but it's certainly enough to contend for a wild-card spot, especially with the parity that has run through the game this year.
Is it crazy to expect the pair to begin—and end—the 2015 season healthy? Maybe.
But a lineup that features CarGo and Tulo is something to get excited for, even if that excitement winds up being short-lived.
Houston Astros: A Full Season of the Singleton/Springer Show
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Shortly after Houston finished the month of May with more wins (15) than losses (14), the Astros promoted ballyhooed first base prospect Jon Singleton to join the equally hyped George Springer in the major leagues.
The thought of having the two young studs in the lineup together had general manager Jeff Luhnow dreaming of big things for his club, as he explained to CSN Houston's Howard Chen:
"It's a big day for the organization and for the city of Houston. Jonathan Singleton is an exciting player and he joins a team that's coming off a first winning month in a couple of years. And it's a lot of fun to have this youth injected into the team right now, guys that are ready to contribute and help us win games and ultimately, win a championship.
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To be sure, the pair has had their fair share of struggles since making their big league debuts, especially when it comes to striking out.
| Singleton | 81 | .177 | .646 | 24 (13) | 43 | 13.4 | 35.4 |
| Springer | 78 | .231 | .804 | 29 (20) | 51 | 11.3 | 33.0 |
Yet they've both shown enough plate discipline to post respectable walk rates, and their power, while still developing, is very real, evidenced by their combined 53 extra-base hits and 33 home runs on the season.
Extrapolating their numbers over the course of a full 162-game season, Singleton would finish with 26 home runs and 86 RBI, Springer with 46 home runs and 106 RBI. With run production like that, nobody's going to mind if they're hitting in the low .200s.
But the tools are there for both to post more-than-respectable averages while still putting up impressive power numbers, tools that will be on display for a full slate of games in 2015.
Minnesota Twins: The Arrival of Some Top Prospects
8 of 12While it's hard to see any light through the misery of another 90-loss season in Minnesota—2014 makes it four years in a row—there are some positives that the Twins can carry into 2015.
Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas have shown that they can hit major league pitching despite striking out nearly 25 percent of the time. Next year, they'll be joined by third base prospect Miguel Sano, who missed all of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Sano has started to take batting practice (as seen in the video above) and, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is on track to play in the second half of the Dominican Winter League. The Twins expect the slugger, who has 30-plus home run potential, to be ready to go once spring training begins.
Alex Meyer, the team's top pitching prospect, is also expected to be ready to go in spring training after being shut down in late August due to a sore shoulder. The 24-year-old, 6'9" right-hander pitched to a 3.52 ERA and 1.38 WHIP over a career-high 130.1 innings of work at Triple-A.
Fellow pitching prospect Trevor May, who has struggled in his first taste of major league action, was excited about the prospect of pitching alongside his close friend once again, as he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino:
“No one disputes he has some of the best stuff we've even seen. He’s exciting to watch. Getting him up here and learning together would be a lot of fun. He’s also really fun to hang out with off the field.”
With Kyle Gibson and Phil Hughes already entrenched in the rotation, the addition of Meyer and a full season of May could potentially give the team's pitching staff the boost that it needs.
New York Mets: Matt Harvey's Return
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Even without its ace, the starting rotation has been a strength for the New York Mets this season, pitching to baseball's 12th-lowest ERA (3.69) and 13th-lowest WHIP (1.27).
Harvey, who was the National League's starting pitcher in the 2013 All-Star Game and finished fourth in the league's Cy Young Award voting a season ago, was hoping to get back on a major league mound before the end of the 2014 season.
But the Mets have forced him to take it slow and, after a few more bullpen sessions, will be shut down for the year, team sources tell Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. “If anything happens to him while throwing a bullpen session, it would be a huge blow,” Ackert's source said. “We needed him to slow down, make sure he is there next season.”
Adding Harvey back into the mix alongside Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler, who have emerged as legitimate front-line starters—and the potential arrival of top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard—could find the Mets with one of baseball's 10 best rotations in 2015.
Philadelphia Phillies: Cliff Lee's Return to the Rotation
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I'm not going to lie, I'm stretching to find something—anything—for Philadelphia to get excited about for 2015. It's a nearly impossible endeavor, given management's refusal to go all-in on a rebuilding process that is long overdue, so we'll look for a small sliver of light among the storm clouds that hover over Citizens Bank Park.
Shining under that light is 36-year-old southpaw Cliff Lee.
Limited to only 13 starts in 2014 by a strained left elbow, Philadelphia's plan is to get the veteran back into a throwing program later this year with an eye toward having him ready for spring training.
"We hope to get him into a throwing program in October or November," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. "But right now he needs to rest."
With little in the way of serviceable reinforcements down on the farm and multiple teams expected to be in on the biggest free-agent arms this winter (Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields), the Phillies may not be able to improve the rotation from outside the organization.
Having a healthy Lee standing alongside Cole Hamels atop the rotation would go a long way toward improving the team's chances of returning to respectability in 2015.
San Diego Padres: A Full Season of Rymer Liriano
11 of 12Top prospect Austin Hedges might get the bulk of the attention in San Diego's minor league system, but outfielder Rymer Liriano—named the team's No. 6 prospect heading into the season by Baseball America and promoted to the big leagues in late August—might be the most exciting.
Case in point: His 427-foot blast (video above) that landed in the third deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building down the left-field line at Petco Park.
"That was a good one," Padres manager Bud Black told MLB.com's Corey Brock. "I like the fact that he got to an inside fastball. He turned on that one. We know he's got the raw power."
While the 23-year-old's power is impressive, so are his skills with a glove, putting on a show when a ball comes his way with some acrobatic grabs in right field. Among major league outfielders that have logged at least 150 innings in right field this season, Liriano's 12.5 UZR/150 ranks 14th.
His numbers over his first 24 major league games might not jump off the screen—a .214/.291/.286 slash line with only three extra-base hits, six walks and 22 strikeouts—but Liriano is a big-time talent who will drastically improve a San Diego lineup that consistently struggles to put runs on the board.
Texas Rangers: A Fresh Start
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To say that it's been a season to forget in Texas would be a gross understatement.
Anything that could have gone wrong for the Rangers did go wrong, culminating with the team using an MLB-record 60 different players this season and the sudden resignation of manager Ron Washington.
Realistically, the Rangers' disabled list has the makings of a pretty good major league team:
- 1B: Prince Fielder (neck surgery)
- 2B: Jurickson Profar (shoulder surgery)
- 3B: Kevin Kouzmanoff (herniated disc)
- LF: Shin-Soo Choo (bone spurs in elbow)
- CF: Engel Beltre (fractured tibia)
- DH: Mitch Moreland (ankle surgery)
- SP: Yu Darvish (elbow inflammation)
- SP: Matt Harrison (spinal fusion surgery)
- SP: Martin Perez (Tommy John surgery)
- RP: Alexi Ogando (elbow inflammation)
- RP: Pedro Figueroa (Tommy John surgery)
- RP: Tanner Scheppers (elbow inflammation)
That list doesn't include Derek Holland, who missed 141 games recovering from microfracture surgery, Geovany Soto, who missed 110 games due to a torn meniscus and a groin strain and Adrian Beltre, who was sidelined for 14 games with a quadriceps strain.
While not everyone on that list is guaranteed to be ready once the 2015 season begins, the three biggest pieces—Choo, Darvish and Fielder—all should be.
Fielder alone, with his run-producing ability, would drastically alter the team's lineup and give Adrian Beltre some protection in the middle of the lineup.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs and are current through games of Sept. 7.
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things baseball: @RickWeinerBR
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