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After a three-month lockout and one of the most historic free agencies (that still has not finished), Major League Baseball is gearing towards the 2022 regular season.
With the lockout ending on Thursday, March 10, Spring training games began to play only a week later on March 17; translation- a scatter and crammed period where MLB organization’s front offices had a week to sign top-contending free agents and propose trades to other ball clubs.
In a week, a lot has happened, and a lot is still going to happen over the next upcoming weeks before Opening Day on April 7.
Many free agents are still unsigned looking for their next contract. The most notable names on the market include Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, Nicholas Castellanos, Kenley Jansen, and Michael Conforto.
With all of these potential moves, which team from each American League division made the most of the offseason?
AL East
The American League East has been the most competitive division in baseball in most recent years. In the 2021 season, the division featured four teams with 90 plus wins in the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Toronto Blue Jays. Three of those four teams made the postseason (Tampa Bay, Boston, New York).
AL East Offseason Winner: Toronto Blue Jays
While it’s important to note the Blue Jays lost Cy Young pitcher Robbie Ray and Silver Slugger Marcus Semien to free agency, it’s more important to look at the additions Toronto made to dramatically improve their roster for 2022.
The Jays added Starting pitcher Kevin Gausman to a five-year deal worth $110 million. Gausman finished sixth last season in Cy Young votes for the National League after a remarkable season on the mound.
In 2021, Gausman posted a 14-6 record with the San Francisco Giants while having a 2.81 ERA to go along with 227 strikeouts to only 50 walks and was selected to his first All-Star Game.
Toronto also added another rotation arm in Yusei Kikuchi. Like Gausman, Kikuchi was selected as a first-time All-Star in 2021 and will fill an important role in their rotation.
Kikuchi went 7-9 in 2021 with a 4.41 ERA. He struck out 163 batters while only walking 62.
While the 7-9 record isn’t overly impressive, Kikuchi has solid promise as he was 6-3 in the first half of the 2021 season, with a 3.18 ERA. If he can put together a complete season, it makes for a deep Blue Jays starting pitching rotation.
The biggest transaction for Toronto came via trade on Wednesday, March 16, when the Jays acquired two-time platinum glove-winning third baseman, Matt Chapman, from the Oakland Athletics.
Chapman’s stellar glove at the hot corner pairs with a career .243 batting average. He adds to an already star-loaded Blue Jays lineup that features Bo Bichette, George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
AL Central
The American League Central Division was ultimately a one-horse race in 2021. The Chicago White Sox won 93 games while the rest of the division didn’t have one team finishing at .500.
However, an ALDS exit for the White Sox showed that they were missing a few pieces to truly be contenders for the World Series, and while it feels some of the other teams in the Central have improved, the White Sox keep steadily building their roster.
AL Central Offseason Winner: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox already had a scary bullpen in the arms of Liam Hendricks, Craig Kimbrel, and Michael Kopech.
The three-headed bullpen dragon for South Side Chicago’s team wasn’t satisfied with the position of the arm barn.
With Kopech looking to jump into a starting role for the White Sox following the departure of Carlos Rodon to free agency, Chicago made some free agency signs to fill some holes.
The big arm signing was reliever Kendall Graveman to a three-year $24 million deal. Between his time in Seattle and Houston in 2021, Graveman posted a 1.77 ERA, picking up 10 saves while only allowing 11 earned runs all season.
The addition of Graveman adds for a dangerous 7th (Graveman), 8th (Kimbrell), 9th (Hendricks) inning trio in a close game for opposing hitters to have to pass through.
The White Sox’s clearly were not satisfied with the gauntlet of a bullpen they had built, so they went out and signed Joe Kelly (2.86 ERA, 44 IP in 2021) to a two-year deal, adding more depth to pen.
On the offensive side, Chicago signed veteran infielder Josh Harrison to a one-year deal worth $5.5 million.
The 11-year veteran hit for a .279 average last year and will add depth to be a plug-and-play guy to an extremely talented lineup that has Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu, and Tim Anderson.
AL West
The American League West Division, led by the 2021 American League Champion Houston Astros (95-67) was the only team to make the postseason out of the division, despite two of the four other teams finishing with 85+ wins.
The Seattle Mariners (90-72) and Oakland athletics (86-76) both had winning seasons, but neither could advance past the regular season.
Oakland has been trading most of their pieces away, While Seattle adds All-Star pieces to compete this season.
The Texas Rangers signed Cory Seager and Marcus Semien, while the Los Angeles Angels signed Noah Syndergaard.
Both the Rangers and Angels are making strides in competing in the division, but both clubs are still missing pieces.
The Houston Astros remain contenders, but the inability to resign Carlos Correa could leave a big hole in the Astros reign in the AL West.
AL West Offseason Winner: Seattle Mariners
The 90-win Mariners a season ago just missed out on an American League Wild Card spot and extended their playoff drought to 20-years.
With the expansion from a 10 to 12-team playoff format in the MLB for the 2022 season and beyond, combined with the young talent and offseason additions, the Mariners are set to end the drought this year.
It all starts on the mound. Seattle has been missing a true No.1 arm since the days of Felix Hernandez, and they finally got their dominant arm entering the 2022 season.
2021 Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray signed a five-year $115 million contract with the Mariners. The left-handed pitcher’s phenomenal 2021 showed a 13-7 record while posting a 2.84 ERA. Ray struck out 248 hitters while only allowing 52 walks.
On the offensive side, Seattle got better via the trade. Seattle first added All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier from the San Diego Padres.
In 2021 Frazier hit for a .305 batting average and had an on-base percentage of .368. He will play a big role for the Mariners at the second base position while also picking up games in the outfield.
Seattle also added another All-Star piece in the outfield as they traded for Jesse Winker from Cincinnati.
The left fielder is a power bat when facing right-handed arms. The left-handed bat posted 1.072 ops when facing right-handers, and the American League West is loaded with right-handed pitching.
Winker slashed at .305/.394/.556 a season ago and hit 24 home runs while driving in 71 runs.
In the same trade with Cincinnati, the Mariners received third baseman, Eugenio Suarez.
Suarez adds to the depth in the Seattle infield as a .252 hitter over his eight-year career, who had 31 home runs last season.
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