Yes, they lost out on retaining Juan Soto, but if you were to grade the Yankees on their offseason, you would still have to give them a “B” for more than adequately addressing their primary needs — Cody Bellinger for center field to hopefully offset a lot of the lost offense from Soto, Max Fried for the top of the rotation and Devin Williams for closer.
Credit the Yankees’ aggressiveness for keeping themselves in the driver’s seat of the American League East where their other four rivals continue to tip-toe — or in the case of the Blue Jays, downright flounder. Let’s examine:
BLUE JAYS
Can anyone explain what the heck the Blue Jays are doing and how team president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins keep their jobs? If you ask me, the Blue Jays organization demise under Shapiro began a couple of years ago when they parted ways with Rich Griffin, their esteemed, highly respected media relations director. So far this winter they’ve done nothing to improve last year’s 74-win last place team other than to embark on another high stakes wild goose chase for the No. 1 free agent, this time Soto, after last year’s equally futile pursuit of Shohei Ohtani.
Meanwhile, they continue to ignore their own superstar, Vlad Guerrero Jr., who settled on a $28.5 million arbitration deal last week, but has had very little overtures from them in regard to his pending free agency. Reportedly, Shapiro has indicated to Blue Jay officials that he doesn’t consider Guerrero a franchise-type player which, if true, is preposterous. Not only is Guerrero only 25 and just now entering into the prime of his career, he was born in Canada when his daddy was playing for the Expos.
Earlier this winter, Guerrero implored the Blue Jay brass to bring back his friend Teoscar Hernandez, but they apparently made no effort to do so. A frustrated Guerrero has set Opening Day as the deadline for a contract, but with each passing day of no progress, and with a moneyed team like the Red Sox looming for a right-handed power hitting first baseman next year, it’s looking more and more certain he’ll be gone. It’s hard enough for the Blue Jays to lure good players to Canada. Without Guerrero, why would anyone sign with Toronto — and making matters worse, the Blue Jays’ player development system under Atkins has consistently been one of the lowest rated in the majors. Grade: F
ORIOLES
If Atkins has been arguably the worst GM in baseball, the Orioles’ analytics guru Mike Elias may be the most overrated. Two years ago, when the Orioles emerged from five years in the AL East doldrums to win the division with 101 victories, Elias was voted Executive of the Year. But the Orioles’ improvement was in no way the result of superior scouting and analytics expertise on Elias’ part but rather his subjecting Oriole fans to four years of tanking that resulted in the drafting of no-brainer No. 1 picks in Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg. But in his six years on the job, Elias has yet to develop a single top quality starting pitcher and it’s hurt them badly in the postseason where they have yet to win a game. This winter they were unable to retain their ace Corbin Burnes and Elias filled out what was already a very mediocre rotation with 41-year-old Charlie Morton (who thought he was done) and 35-year-old soft-throwing Japanese import Tomoyuki Sugano. Grade: D
RED SOX
The Red Sox addressed their primary need — starting pitching — with their trade for the White Sox’s Garrett Crochet and their signings of recent Tommy John surgery recoveries Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval. But they still have plenty of question marks. Do they really believe after letting Kenley Jansen go, they can adequately and consistently close out games with 37-year-old Aroldis Chapman and Liam Hendricks, another Tommy John surgery comebacker? And there are holes in the lineup that weren’t fixed. Connor Wong is a below average catcher. Triston Casas remains an enigma at first base. Emmanuel Valdez hit .214 at second base and they desperately need Trevor Story to finally get through a season without another major injury. And all the while, the bigger question remains: Will the Red Sox really open up John Henry’s purse strings and pay what it takes for Guerrero next winter? Grade: C
RAYS
The good news is the revenue-challenged Rays will have all their talented injured starting pitchers — Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Shane Baz — back together at some point this season. The bad news is they’ll playing all their home games at Steinbrenner Field and after scoring the second-fewest runs in all of baseball last year, did nothing to improve it — unless you think Eloy Jimenez (ugh!) is an improvement. They will get through the season continuing to trade off their highest paid players and hope Tropicana Field gets fixed in time for 2026. Grade: F