Rebuilding can be a tough proposition for any franchise and its fanbase. We rank the progress and potential of five MLB clubs aiming toward the future.
While winning in baseball is the most traditional form of growing a fan base, there’s a small but vocal contingent of fans that want mediocre teams to bottom out and start from scratch. It’s most noticeable in basketball with the Philadelphia Sixers and “The Process”, but MLB has slowly started catching onto the rebuilding trend.
But still, the majority of fans hate MLB rebuilds. Think about it this way.
Would you rather have your team make the playoffs as a Wild Card team and get bounced in the one-game elimination – or worse, miss the playoffs with a winning record? Most likely, no.
If the team doesn’t have a strong core of prospects or young talent, there’s a strong argument that can be made to start a rebuild.
Some teams have quietly bought into the idea. Rather than spending money on veteran free agents that typically turn into bloated contracts after a few seasons, teams like the Philadelphia Phillies are slowly collecting talent that will pay off in a big way in the near future. It happened just a season ago with the Houston Astros, and seems to be the best way to build a team in 2016 with free agents descending into the unknown.
However, there’s still teams out there that believe wheeling and dealing trade candidates and wining and dining free agents will send their franchise deep into the playoffs. The San Diego Padres under general manager A.J. Preller attempted to go from worst to first in one offseason, but are now still stuck in the basement of the National League West with plenty of bad contracts.
Here’s our rankings of the best rebuilding teams in MLB, based on current young talent, the potential to trade veterans and the strength of their farm systems.
Note that teams under .500 like the Oakland Athletics (due to their propensity to turn things around in one offseason), the Los Angeles Angels (because, well, they have Mike Trout), Tampa Bay Rays (same reason as Oakland), Arizona Diamondbacks (lots of major league talent), and the Milwaukee Brewers (they’re only 2.5 games behind the Pirates) will not be included in the rankings.
Next: Honorable Mentions