There is roughly one month remaining before pitchers and catchers begin reporting to spring training, but there are still a number of impact options on the free-agent market.
Mark Trumbo, Jose Bautista, Matt Wieters, Mike Napoli and Michael Saunders headline the remaining available position players; Jason Hammel and injury returnee Tyson Ross are the top starting pitchers still looking for a new home; and Neftali Feliz, Jerry Blevins, Boone Logan, Joe Blanton and Greg Holland represent impact relief options.
Where those remaining free agents wind up landing can still change the complexion of the offseason heading into spring training.
For now, though, we can get a pretty good gauge on how all 30 MLB teams’ offseason activity looks and whether they’ve come away a better team after a busy winter.
With that in mind, what follows is an offseason report card for each team.
The following factors went into grading each club’s offseason:
- Talent Lost vs. Talent Gained: The easiest place to start is to simply look at the cumulative effect of the players added this offseason compared to the players lost.
- Payroll Factors: For some teams, it’s not simply a matter of re-signing their top talent and filling roster holes with big signings. It’s often about minimizing their losses and filling holes by signing cheaper replacements.
- Prospect Talent Added: Rebuilding is an inevitable part of the game, and for teams not in a position to contend in 2017, improving the farm system becomes the No. 1 priority. So, did a team get the most out of the assets it moved?
- Remaining Needs: A simple question of how well each team addressed its areas of need this offseason.
Note: The number in parentheses following each prospect addition reflects where the player currently ranks among the organization’s top 30 prospects, according to MLB.com’s Prospect Watch.