MLB All-Star Break: 5 Things we’ve learned midway through 2015
1. Revamped rosters still aren’t clicking
Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Four teams did a pretty fair overhaul of their rosters this offseason to make a push at contending in 2015. Right now, none of them are very close to having the top spot in their division within sight.
The San Diego Padres are the poster boys this year for that theme. They took on Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers, creating an entirely new starting outfield through the use of trades. Will Middlebrooks was brought in to play some third base, Derek Norris at catcher and Craig Kimbrel to anchor the bullpen. They even landed a big fish in free agency when they signed pitcher James Shields to four-years and $75 million. As it stands right now, they have more losses than the Diamondbacks and are 10 games back of the first place Dodgers in the NL West.
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Over in the American League, John Farrell and Boston have been troubling to Red Sox nation. They are clawing for relevancy in the basement of the AL East right now. Hanley Ramirez has been awful in left field and their other high profile free agent signee, Pablo Sandoval, has an OPS of only .691 and is getting benched for misusing social media during games. Together, the two have a combined -0.3 WAR in baseball’s first half. Then there’s the rotation, which is the worst in MLB. Newcomers Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson are providing it with little to no consistency.
To a lesser extent, the Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox tried to revamp things some too and have thus far failed.
The Marlins inked slugger Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich to long-term deals in the offseason. But they also brought in Dan Haren, Mat Latos and Dee Gordon via trades. Miami also signed Michael Morse and Ichiro Suzuki. Since all the changes, their manager has resigned and they are 11 games out of the division lead in the NL East.
The Southside boys dwell in the cellar of the AL Central right now. Chicago traded for Jeff Samardzija and acquired Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche and David Robertson in free agency bidding, but have four fewer wins than they did at last year’s All-Star break.
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