Top 10:
What they did: Dropped
Kris Bryant into the middle of their lineup and brought back
Tony Watson for the bullpen.
What they could have done: Mortgaged more of the future for Max Scherzer to headline their rotation, if Scherzer was cool with that. Added someone like
Raisel Iglesias to the bullpen.
What they’re going to do: Make the NL West as exciting a divisional race over the final two months as the sport has seen in quite a few years and hope like hell it doesn’t turn out like 1993.
What they did: Brought in Max Scherzer,
Trea Turner and
Danny Duffy, demoralizing everyone else in the National League.
What they could have done: “
Shohei Ohtani is still on a different team, and why haven’t the Dodgers gotten him yet? My column:”
What they’re going to do: Win the World Series, re-sign Scherzer and
Corey Seager, swing a deal for Ohtani and
Mike Trout, and then spend at least the first four months of next season behind the Giants in the standings but ahead of them in the power rankings. (Seriously, that NL West race is going to be a lot of fun.)
What they did: Without spending a ton of money, they addressed their bullpen issues primarily with
Kendall Graveman and Yimi García, each of whom was closing for his previous team. They also gave up on
Myles Straw as their answer in center field.
What they could have done: Spent more money, basically. But the
Astros really had only one glaring need, and that was in their bullpen. Their rotation is deep, their lineup is good, and their grip on the American League West is tight. The Astros run isn’t over just yet.
What they’re going to do: Make one more World Series run before
Carlos Correa,
Zack Greinke and the injured
Justin Verlander become free agents in a few months. Their offensive depth is suspect, but if they stay healthy down the stretch, they’ll reach October with a real chance at another title. Which, I’m sure, will be very popular throughout baseball. Everyone loves the Astros, right?
What they did: Got their big bat in Nelson Cruz, but also did some Rays-ish things like trading away
Willy Adames,
Rich Hill and Diego Castillo to keep opening doors for another wave of young talent.
What they could have done: If they’d gotten a Cruz-like hitter in the offseason, they might already have full control of the division, but then they wouldn’t be the Rays. They could also have added a starting pitcher to make up for
Tyler Glasnow’s injury, but they of course have young arms who will get the first crack at it.
What they’re going to do: After winning their second-ever American League pennant, the Rays now find themselves in a dogfight for the American League East, where four teams are legitimately trying to win the division. The guess here is the Rays will be the ones to actually win it, but they won’t get past the division series in the postseason. Of course, we’ve all underestimated them before.
What they did: Built the best bullpen on the planet by getting both
Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel from the Cubs to go with
Liam Hendriks,
Michael Kopech,
Garrett Crochet and others. Oh, and they got a César Hernández to play second.
What they could have done: Really, they could have done nothing and been a shoo-in for the playoffs. Only one other team in the Central (the Indians) is even flirting with a .500 record, and the
White Sox were already getting a boost from Eloy Jiménez’s return from injury.
Luis Robert doesn’t seem far behind.
What they’re going to do: Run away with the division and be a real force in the playoffs. We’re ranking the White Sox among the elite teams in the sport, but even this ranking might be too low.
What they did: Less than the other contenders in their division. The
Red Sox added a big bat in
Kyle Schwarber (but he’s hurt, and where does he play?) and they added a couple of relievers (but they’re basically depth pieces).
What they could have done: For one, they could have sacrificed bigger prospects to address the struggling rotation. Or they could have traded for an actual first baseman instead of a left fielder who might be able to moonlight at first. But Chaim Bloom stuck to his long-term plan of patience and sustainability.
What they’re going to do: Try to keep the wheels from falling off. Even after falling into second place on Saturday, the Red Sox were still heavy favorites to make the playoffs (88.6 percent chance according to FanGraphs), but the AL East has reloaded and the Red Sox might need down-the-stretch impact from coming-off-Tommy John-surgery Chris Sale to keep pace.
What they did: Acquired
Eduardo Escobar for the infield alongside
Daniel Norris and
John Curtiss for the bullpen. Made as important an in-season acquisition as anyone back in May with Willy Adames.
What they could have done: Added one more starting pitcher to ease the workloads on their trio of aces, though if their recent history with
Jordan Lyles and
Drew Pomeranz holds, Norris will be lights-out for them.
What they’re going to do: Start scaring NL contenders the more they contemplate facing the Brewers in October — so long as those starters pitch like this. Escobar costs a lot less than guys who aren’t that much better than him — hey, his slugging percentage is right in line with those of Joey Gallo and Javy Báez — and helps solidify the offense.
What they did: Acquired
Daniel Hudson and
Jake Marisnick to go along with their earlier pick-up of
Adam Frazier.
Placed Fernando Tatis Jr. on the injured list.
What they could have done: Gotten across the finish line on a Max Scherzer trade.
What they’re going to do: They’re closer to Cincinnati than they are to San Francisco — don’t tell a geography student that — and a wild-card berth is far from assured, especially with Tatis out. The
Padres are also within striking distance of the division, though, with 19 games left against the two teams in front of them. There’s good and bad in that schedule, which Homer Simpson might call a
crisi-tunity.
What they did: Enhanced their lineup (
Starling Marte), their bullpen (
Andrew Chafin) and their bench (
Yan Gomes and
Josh Harrison) to go with an already solid rotation.
What they could have done: Oh, I don’t know, maybe not sold low on 23-year-old Jesús Luzardo for a two-month rental? Or maybe Luzardo’s constant health issues make his inclusion in the Marte deal far less damning than it seems. At the very least, it’s cool to see the A’s making a win-now move.
What they’re going to do: Try to actually win a wild-card game this time. They’re probably not catching the Astros for the division, so the A’s are all-in on their third wild card in four years. Of course, they’ve played in three wild-card games already and never actually won one.
What they did: Got the left-handed bats they needed in Joey Gallo and
Anthony Rizzo — the latter of whom could have fit their division rivals in Boston — and took a shot on some less-established pitching help with
Andrew Heaney,
Clay Holmes and Joely Rodríguez. (They also stayed under the luxury tax threshold.)
What they could have done: They could have traded one of their better prospects to fortify their rotation — and they could have had a better backup plan in center field from the beginning — but their lineup does look awfully menacing, and
Luis Severino’s return from the IL may be the rotation upgrade they need.
What they’re going to do: Hit so many home runs. So, so many home runs. This weekend in Miami, their starting outfield was Gallo,
Aaron Judge and
Giancarlo Stanton. Has any outfield ever had that much raw power? And that’s not to mention
Gary Sánchez,
Gleyber Torres,
DJ LeMahieu and injured bench player (and reigning home run champ)
Luke Voit.
