New Year's resolutions for all 30 MLB teams
Major League Baseball teams don't need the start of a new calendar to make resolutions.
Jerry Dipoto announced the Hisashi Iwakuma signing during the Mariners' holiday party. The Nationals struck a deal with Daniel Murphy on Christmas Eve. And the Dodgers continued their unpredictable offseason by reportedly agreeing to terms with coveted Japanese hurler Kenta Maeda in the final hours of 2015. There's no time to waste during baseball's wild offseason.
As front offices around the majors prepare for another busy year ahead, here are some goals teams ought to have in mind for 2016:
Atlanta Braves: Score more runs. Despite all their dismantling, the Braves should actually have a better offense this season. Between Freddie Freeman's improved health, a full year of Hector Olivera, and Erick Aybar (who will nonetheless be hard-pressed to match Andrelton Simmons' defensive value with his bat), the Braves are in good position to improve on last year's MLB-worst .674 OPS.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Don't be this year's Padres. In an age where the phrase "all in" is used liberally, the D-Backs left no doubt they're trying to win a title now after trading the 2015 No. 1 pick for Shelby Miller and agreeing to pay Zack Greinke an average of $34 million per season. The magnitude of their gamble is only outdone by the expectations.
Baltimore Orioles: Spend that money. Chris Davis apparently didn't want Baltimore's $158 million, but someone else out there sure does. The only question is whether the notoriously frugal Orioles still want to spend it.
Boston Red Sox: Let the bullpen make an impact. Boston's revamped relief corps, which now includes Craig Kimbrel and Carson Smith, will be rendered useless if Red Sox starters can't hand the ball over with the game still in hand.
Chicago Cubs: Teach Jon Lester how to throw to first. At this point, it's pretty much the only thing this burgeoning juggernaut can't do.
(Courtesy: MLB.com)
Chicago White Sox: Sign an outfielder. Despite all their high-profile add-ons the last two offseasons, the White Sox remain in need of an outfield power bat. With Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon, and Justin Upton still available, there's never been a better time to fix that.
Cincinnati Reds: Complete the rebuild. The Reds long resisted the proverbial firesale, but after dealing Todd Frazier and Aroldis Chapman, the rebuild is underway in earnest. Only Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce remain in the way of finalizing Cincinnati's much-needed roster reshuffle.
Cleveland Indians: Support the staff. Pitcher wins might not mean much anymore, but team wins sure do. And unless the Indians score more runs, having the AL's second-lowest ERA is moot.
Colorado Rockies: Commit to trading CarGo. The Rockies slugger hit more homers than all free-agent outfielders in 2015, and is owed a small fraction of what the Big 3 are expected to earn on the open market. The NL West isn't getting any easier, and CarGo's value might never be higher.
Detroit Tigers: Stay healthy. Every team could use better health, but last year's injury-depleted Tigers were especially snakebitten. Beginning the year with Miggy, V-Mart, and Verlander at full health is the fresh start this team needs.
Houston Astros: Finish strong. The young Astros hit a wall during last year's stretch run, losing 17 of their final 30 games of the regular season. That experience, coupled with a deeper bullpen, should help Houston avoid a similar fate.
Kansas City Royals: See more pitches. The defending champs found success in their aggressive approach last year, scoring the seventh-most runs in baseball despite recording the second-fewest walks. They might need to reinvent themselves this year, though, with the expected loss of Alex Gordon and departure of Ben Zobrist - the club's most frequent walkers last season.
Los Angeles Angels: Get Mike Trout help. Whether they improve the offense (which had the second-worst OPS in the AL last year) or rotation (21st in WAR), the Angels must find a way to surround the game's best player with more talent.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Don't be so dysfunctional. From Yasiel Puig to Zack Greinke, Hisashi Iwakuma to Aroldis Chapman, the Dodgers' offseason has been just as dysfunctional as their clubhouse reportedly was.
Miami Marlins: Play to potential. The Marlins' talented outfield hit just 44 homers last year after combining for 67 in 2014. That Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich missed more than 120 games didn't help, but perhaps most disappointing was the regression of Marcell Ozuna.
Milwaukee Brewers: Quality over quantity. The Brewers have the unenviable task of getting better in the best division in baseball, so perhaps they should set forth more modest goals this season. That begins on the mound, where their starters managed the second-fewest quality outings in baseball last year.
Minnesota Twins: Miss more bats. No team struck out fewer batters last season than the Twins, whose propensity for pitching to contact helped result in the AL's highest opponents batting average.
New York Mets: Avoid pitcher controversy. Between Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, and Jenrry Mejia, the Mets spent last season explaining one debacle after another. Which means expect a Steven Matz innings limit controversy to pick up steam late this summer.
New York Yankees: Don't mess up the A-Rod milestone stuff. The Yankees famously botched the handling of A-Rod's pursuit of Willie Mays last year after arguing performance bonuses and hemming and hawing over celebrating the milestone. With 28 more homers, A-Rod will pass Babe Ruth for third all time, and in doing so, would force the Yankees to either ignore history or acknowledge baseball's most polarizing figure.
Oakland Athletics: Don't trade your best player. Billy Beane has trouble sitting still, but he should resist the urge to deal his coveted ace Sonny Gray this year. The right-hander is under club control for four more seasons, and might be Oakland's only hope of avoiding 100 losses.
Philadelphia Phillies: Play better defense. It's a concept most teams can relate to, but few have as much work to do than Philadelphia. If the Phillies don't improve on their MLB-worst -92 defensive runs saved, they'll be hard-pressed to surpass last year's 63-win total.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Win one more game. The Pirates have come within one game of advancing to the next playoff round three years in a row, but by returning the same exceptional core in 2016, there's no reason to believe they won't finally snap the dubious streak.
San Diego Padres: Keep the ball in the yard. San Diego needs its underachieving pitching staff to take better advantage of the spacious confines at Petco Park, especially with the loss of Upton. One of the true head-scratching stats of 2015 was the Padres pitching to MLB's third-highest home-run-to-fly-ball ratio at home.
San Francisco Giants: Win the World Series. Hey, it's been a winning resolution every other year since 2010.
Seattle Mariners: Play with more consistency. Whether it was the streakiness of Robinson Cano or Felix Hernandez's unluckiness, the Mariners never seemed to play well at the same time last year. The addition of the consistently solid Nori Aoki will help.
St. Louis Cardinals: Get younger. Either this winter or next fall, the veteran-heavy Cardinals should heed Jason Heyward's advice and make it a priority to get younger in 2016.
Tampa Bay Rays: Keep those elbows healthy. After back-to-back seasons of losing their top pitchers to Tommy John surgery, the club could use a year without seeing Dr. Andrews.
Texas Rangers: Protect the bases. The Rangers found success doing the little things right during their playoff run, but they have to do a better job preventing their opponents from deploying the same strategy.Texas was the AL's second-worst team at throwing out base-stealers in 2015.
Toronto Blue Jays: Re-sign Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and win the East again. No biggie.
Washington Nationals: Be nicer to each other. After a year of choking, finger-pointing, and manager-blaming, the star-studded Nationals are hoping Dusty Baker brings positive vibes back to D.C.