Biggest Surprises, Disappointments of MLB Offseason Entering December
One of the things that makes baseball's offseason the most exciting of all the major professional sports leagues is that you never know what's going to happen.
The opportunities for players and teams alike to surprise—and disappoint—with their decision-making are more plentiful than at any other point during the year. As history has shown us, everyone involved is always up for the challenge.
Whether it be a player signing with a team that nobody thought he'd go to or a team trading away someone that it insisted was not available only a few weeks earlier, the hot-stove league never leaves us wanting more.
What's surprised and disappointed us the most thus far, with the winter meetings looming on the horizon?
Let's take a look.
Surprise: How Boston Has Spent Its Money
1 of 5
That the Boston Red Sox have been active on the free-agent market comes as no surprise to anyone. After going from first to worst in 2014 and finishing the season with a rotation in shambles, the Red Sox were expected to be one of the more active teams in the offseason.
Signing Pablo Sandoval made a lot of sense. He's not a superstar, as some portray him, but he's an excellent all-around player who fills a glaring need for the Red Sox.
But Hanley Ramirez? Not so much.
While the team's former top prospect returning to where his career began makes for a great story, Ramirez is very much a luxury addition, not one of need. It's not as if the Red Sox were short on outfielders after all.
That the Red Sox have handed out nearly $200 million isn't surprising. That they've done so and not signed a starting pitcher is.
Disappointment: Everything That's Gone on at Wrigley Field
2 of 5
Chicago Cubs team president Theo Epstein was talking a big game at the end of the regular season.
He spoke about how he envisioned Chicago contending for a division crown in 2015 and how the team planned on being proactive in the offseason, bringing in outside talent to complement the young pieces already in place.
Via The Associated Press:
"We will add talent from outside the organization. I hope we add impact talent. But it has to make sense. We can't completely sell out just for 2015. We can't forget about the health of the organization and all the strides that we've made and the process that we have for building the right kind of organization.
"
Thus far, that process has seen the club swing and miss on one of its primary free-agent targets, catcher Russell Martin, who signed a five-year, $82 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. The team's biggest addition has been in the dugout, where former Tampa Bay Rays skipper Joe Maddon was bought in to replace manager Rick Renteria.
As Epstein noted in his news conference announcing the hiring, he felt he had no choice but to make the move:
"We were caught with a dilemma on our hands. ... We had to think, ultimately, what my responsibility is, and that's always to do the right thing for the Cubs organization as a whole. We owe it to our fans. ... It is a very unique opportunity when someone like Joe Maddon becomes available, and I don't think I would be doing my job if I didn't pounce on that. ... We were caught in a situation where we couldn't do the right thing for the Cubs and the right thing for Rick.
"
Nobody disputes that Maddon is one of the premier managers in baseball, and when a team has an opportunity to bring him on board, it'd be foolish not to do so.
But we're still left with a bitter taste in our mouths with the way the entire thing went down, and that doesn't change the fact that Renteria, who did an excellent job for the Cubs in his one year on the job, got a raw deal. That's disappointing no matter how you cut it.
So too is the fact that, aside from the addition of Maddon and a head-scratching trade to bring another middle infielder into the mix (Tommy LaStella), the Cubs have done nothing to address their roster. A roster that, despite its improvement under Renteria's watch, still finished the season 16 games below .500 (73-89) and, per ESPN, was outscored by nearly 100 runs.
The Cubs have been linked to some of the biggest names available, from free-agent starter Jon Lester to a pair of potential trade acquisitions in Philadelphia's Cole Hamels and Washington's Jordan Zimmermann.
But as we saw with Martin, being linked to a player offers no guarantee that he will wind up in Chicago.
Coming up empty in November is disappointing. Coming up empty again in December could be much, much worse. The pressure is on Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer to make something happen—and soon.
Surprise: What Oakland Is Doing
3 of 5
The Oakland A's decision-making process over the past month has stumped both those in uniform and those who cover the game for a living.
It was only about a month ago that a team official told the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser that trading Josh Donaldson "would be stupid," but here we are—and Donaldson is in Toronto.
Not only have the A's traded away their best player, but they've added two more—Billy Butler and Ike Davis—to join a crowded mix at first base and the designated hitter spot, one that includes the likes of Nate Freiman, John Jaso, Brandon Moss and Stephen Vogt.
With rumors surrounding staff ace Jeff Samardzija as perhaps the next piece the A's will look to move and that they've had discussions with the Atlanta Braves about potential deals involving sluggers Evan Gattis and Justin Upton, you get the feeling that Oakland is trying to both rebuild and re-tool at the same time.
General manager Billy Beane has made a living out of surprising the baseball world, both with his moves and how his strategy—whatever it may be—tends to work out more often than not.
But it's hard to see how that strategy is going to result in the A's getting back into contention in 2015. Nobody can honestly look at the moves that they've made thus far and say that the team is in better shape today than it was at the end of the regular season.
If Beane's primary goal was to shock the baseball world, well, mission accomplished, sir.
You've surprised everyone once again.
.png?w=256)
Surprising Disappointment: The Evil Empire's Absence from the Rumor Mill
4 of 5
The Yankees don't seem to like to do a lot in November. Last year, New York's biggest move in the 11th month of the year was to trade for infielder Dean Anna; this year, it's been to trade for reliever Justin Wilson.
What’s the biggest difference between then and now?
In 2013, the Yankees had already been linked to nearly every big-name free agent by multiple sources. This time around, the biggest rumor surrounding the team is that it's thinking about thinking about getting serious about Jon Lester, as reported by The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo over the weekend.
More than a few Yankees fans would applaud the team's decision to avoid the highest-priced talent available, and I don't necessarily disagree. After all, the nearly half-a-billion dollars that they spent last winter got them...a cozy spot on the couch to watch the playoffs.
But the hot-stove league isn't the hot-stove league until the Yankees make their presence felt. It's always more fun—and more exciting—when the Bronx Bombers and their deep pockets are looming large over the scene.
Rumors abound that the club is trying to work out a deal with Andrew Miller, arguably the best relief pitcher available this winter, but he's not the kind of big-ticket item that we're used to seeing the Yankees involved with.
Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields—those are the names we expected to see the Yankees linked to from the beginning of the offseason, given the sketchy state of the team's starting rotation. And yes, thing can change in a hurry. We could wake up tomorrow and find reports that they've extended offers to all three.
But that they've managed to not only stay on the sidelines—but stay out of the spotlight—is both surprising and disappointing at the same time.
Should they continue along the same path, however, and not land a big-time starter, disappointment is going to quickly outweigh the surprise in the Bronx.
Surprise: How Quiet the Pitching Market Has Been
5 of 5
Raise your hand if you predicted that A.J. Burnett would be the first—and only—starting pitcher of note to make a decision about where he was going to play in 2015 heading into December.
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Heading into the offseason, all people talked about was how Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields—otherwise known as the "Big Three"—were going to dominate the headlines this winter.
While Lester has been linked to a number of teams, there's been only vague speculation surrounding Scherzer—and absolutely nothing going on with Shields.
When we factored in some of the front-line starters that could be available via trade—Johnny Cueto, Cole Hamels, Ian Kennedy, Mat Latos, Jeff Samardzija and Jordan Zimmermann—the offseason was shaping up to be potentially one of the more exciting when it comes to pitching in quite some time.
That doesn't take into account the second-tier arms that are on the market, players like Francisco Liriano, Brandon McCarthy, Jake Peavy and Ervin Santana.
Now it's certainly true that things tend to stagnate until the first "big name" signs, but the lack of chatter on the rumor mill is beyond surprising—it's shocking, especially when you consider how many teams are in need of reinforcements for their rotations.
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things hot-stove league: @RickWeinerBR
.png?w=480)
