There are 46 days remaining until the first pitch is thrown in the 2011 Major League Baseball season. A lot will still be decided between now and then, including pitching rotations, position battles, lineup orders, managerial outlooks, and last-minute deals.
Even though spring training will be a busy time for every team around the league, certain teams got a lot of their work done these past few months. Since the Giants won the World Series, there have been a number of high-profile, franchise changing moves that have been made to greatly affect the season outlook of some of the biggest markets in baseball.
Some of these off-season moves were tremendous, while others appear to have a high chance of backfiring. As always, some teams come out on top and some don't.
MLB Off-Season Winners
The biggest winner of this off-season was Derek Jeter.
He managed to coerce and swindle the New York Yankees into giving him a brand new, three-year, $51-million contract with a player option for the 2014 season. The option year includes tons of bonuses and incentives that can kick the total up to $17 million for a season when Derek will turn 40 years old.
In addition to the money, coming off one of the worst years of his career, Jeter knew the pressure on the Yankees' brass and made his desire to remain at short stop clear. So not only did Derek Jeter get a huge, new deal, he got to keep his old position, one he is getting increasing worse at playing year after year, and, to put the cherry on top, he actually came out looking like a good guy, a victim to the Yankees' bad guy this off-season. Well done Derek.
Another big winner from the winter were the Washington Nationals.
They managed to add one of the best hitters on the free agent market (Jayson Werth), pay him an exorbitant amount of money to come to Washington, and to top it all off, they made sure he played the same exact position as their most prized minor-league prospect, Bryce Harper.
This way, when Harper reaches the Majors in 2012 or 2013, there will be a huge deal made of the battle for who will play right field. When the Washington Nationals make headlines, it is a big deal, and it makes them a winner in the process. Any news is good news. Publicity is of vital importance, even if it cost them $126 million.
The Texas Rangers were also big winners this off-season.
The biggest mistake a World Series loser can make is staying stagnant. Instead, change needs to be made, something to get you over the hump next time your championship opportunity comes along. Keeping the status quo would have given those players and fans the feeling that they were doomed to repeat the disappointing end to their 2010 season. However, stirring the pot, making moves for the sake of changing something gives everyone the feeling that something new will happen this season.
So rather than sit on their hands, Texas decided to create trouble where there was none. They brought in third baseman Adrian Beltre, a player known to take seasons off after signing a new deal, and put him in the position played by the heart and soul of their team, Michael Young. This way, Young gets very upset, demands a trade, and the locker room is anything but stagnant. To bring home their plan, the Rangers also announced they would plan to fiddle with rookie sensation Neftali Feliz by considering moving him to the starting rotation. Those decisions should be enough to move Texas in another direction, away from the AL Pennant winning team that failed to bring home the ultimate prize.
Not everyone was as lucky as these guys though. Some players and teams came out disappointed from the Winter Meetings and go into the 2011 season on a bit of a down note.
MLB Off-Season Losers
One of the big losers of the off-season was Kevin Youkilis.
What does this guy have to do to be thought of as a star player? Going into last season, with the Red Sox having a poor overall lineup, Youkilis had the chance to shine above his teammates. A big season would stamp him as one of the best corner infielders in the game. Instead, he manages to play in just 102 games because of injury and is relegated to an afterthought once again.
Now, coming back healthy for the 2011 campaign, not only is Youkilis overshadowed by the return of Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, as well as the arrival of high-priced free agent Carl Crawford, he is also bounced to third base by newly acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Kevin moves from THE guy on a 2010 Red Sox team to just one of the spokes on a 2011 bicycle wheel of bats that is the Boston Red Sox. Youk will have to wait another few years to be recognized by anyone as a top flight hitter.
Kevin Youkilis was not alone in being relegated to second (or third or fourth) fiddle this off-season however. Another big loser was Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels.
In 2008, on the Phillies' way to winning the World Series, Hamels was their ace. He went 4-0 in the playoffs, while pitching 35 innings and allowing just seven runs. 2009 was a struggle, living up to new, high expectations, but last season represented a bit of a turnaround. He showed moments of that 2008 post-season brilliance again. Coming into the 2011 season, Hamels was ready to shine, ready to be thought of as one of the best pitchers in the NL, right behind teammate Roy Halladay.
However, the Phillies had other ideas. After adding Roy Oswalt near the end of last season, they then added free agent ace Cliff Lee, not only forcing Cole Hamels out of the minds of fans, but also into the very back of a fully loaded Philadelphia rotation. If he's not even a top three pitcher on his own team, how can Cole Hamels be thought of as anything special in regards to all the pitchers in the league?
The biggest loser of the off-season, heading into the 2011 regular season, was none other than the New York Yankees.
Derek Jeter negotiations aside, the Yankees had all kinds of problems this off-season, not with their roster, but with their identity. Who are the Yankees? After the monster spending sprees by the Red Sox, Nationals and others, they certainly aren't the "Evil Empire" anymore when they can't land any free agent they desire. With the Mets' dramatic owner troubles stemming from the Bernie Madoff scandal, the Yankees aren't even the biggest storyline in New York baseball nowadays.
Sure, they have a loaded bullpen, a powerful, deep lineup, and one of the best ace pitchers in the league, but without an identity, what good is any of that?
Their AL East rival, the Tampa Bay Rays, decided to scratch most of their roster from last season. They lost pretty much their entire bullpen; two of their top few hitters left through free agency; they traded away arguably their second best starting pitcher. But through all that, we know who the Rays ARE. They are a team built on low-money players who are young and inexperienced. Could they drop from first place to missing the playoffs? Sure, absolutely. But, they'll have an identity, and that's more than we can say about the 2011 Yankees.
I will now take my tongue out of my cheek as I eagerly await the 2011 baseball season to commence!
