MLB Offseason Rebuilds: Some Of The Best Ones Don’t Ever Happen
Generally, the MLB offseason is used as a time when teams go into a rebuild mode that decides which pieces to hold and which ones to trade or remove from their mix in some other way. This offseason, we’ve seen the White Sox hitting lead off, and for a while it was looking like a Everything Must Go sale. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves looked like all-in teams looking to reset the clock. But we’re also seeing something this offseason that’s a bit different and several teams appear to be rethinking their intentions and interest in rebuilding.
Offseason Rebuild Or Not: White Sox
When the Chicago White Sox traded Chris Sale and Adam Eaton back-to-back for high level MLB prospects, it appeared that the only remaining question was who was next and how long would it take to complete the process of rebuilding the team with more trades that generate more prospects for the future. But three weeks have passed since the Sale/Eaton trades – which in the offseason can be a lifetime – and nothing more has happened.
That doesn’t mean that the rumors aren’t out there involving White Sox players though. In fact, this whole week has been absorbed by the Jose Quintana trade talk in the media. First it was the Yankees who were in hot pursuit of his talent, and now it’s the Pirates (and we’ll get to them later) who are in the forefront of all the talk, and that’s just what its been – talk.
But it could be that the White Sox have put the brakes on midway through the rebuild, saying to themselves something like,
“We’ve accomplished a lot here. Why go totally in on the rebuild. We can keep Quintana cheap for two years so why trade him? And maybe Todd Frazier gets a pass too. And besides, we’ve taken in a haul of good young talent. Let’s give them a year to mature and then we can see what’s what again at this time next year, or possibly at the trade deadline in July when we could be in a position to hold up another team like we did with the Red Sox.”
Offseason Rebuild Or Not: Yankees
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The scenario is not that far fetched because it mirrors exactly what the New York Yankees could be thinking in the way they’ve been downplaying the need to trade Brett Gardner and Chase Headley in order to move further along with their younger theme. They’ll take a trade involving either one if one comes along, but Brian Cashman is not working the phones 24/7 in an attempt to send them on their way. It was one thing to trade Brian McCann when you have Gary Sanchez ready to step in and they did that. But what’s so horrible about having Gardner and Headley on your team for another season.
Offseason Rebuild Or Not: Pirates
And then you have the Pittsburgh Pirates who until this week spent the entire offseason hanging Andrew McCutchen out to dry in the trade winds that have yet to develop. Now, we learn that the Pirates have signed Ivan Nova (right) to a 3-year deal, reliever Daniel Hudson to a 2-year deal , and are actively pursuing Jose Quintana to add to their already decent starting rotation – all in the last few days. This doesn’t sound like a team in a rebuilding mode anymore, or one that was willing to give away the heart and soul of their team.
Like the others perhaps, the Pirates sound and look more like a team that has decided to change horses midstream. Once in a tear down mode, they’ve switched over deciding, “Hey wait a minute. Maybe there’s another direction we could be going in here with the team we’ve got”.
Next: Cleveland Snags Encarnacion
In baseball and especially during the offseason, there is a wide open abyss that teams can fall into that leaves them wide open for second guessing later. None of them operates with a crystal ball, which for us makes the offseason interesting and intriguing. But for these teams that congregate and huddle in their war rooms every day making these decisions to turn things around and maybe go in a new direction (or not), it’s likely that the Christmas “break” can’t come soon enough.