A lot of personnel changes were made at the 2014 MLB winter meetings this past week in San Diego and while some teams prospered, others escaped sun-soaked California in worse shape than they were in coming into the meetings.
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Sports World News will take a look at the winners and losers of the winter meetings and we'll start with the bad news by looking at those who came up short in the pursuit of the best trade bait and hottest free agents.
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Losers:
New York Yankees: The Bronx Bombers haven't' been their usual money-wielding competitive selves this year as they didn't make a single addition and stood idly by while the Jon Lester sweepstakes were going on.
New York did lose a few key arms as starter Brandon McCarthy signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and closer David Robertson inked a deal with the Chicago White Sox. McCarthy had a rough go of it with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but was 7-5 with a solid 2.89 ERA after being traded to the Yankees. Robertson, who had the tall task of replacing Mariano Rivera, converted 39 of 44 save opportunities while going 4-5 with a 3.08 ERA and adding 96 strikeouts. With a questionable rotation, the Yankees could swoop in and land free agent Max Scherzer.
Oakland Athletics: After making several moves at the deadline to go for it last year, the A's have all but closed up shop and Billy Beane's brain may be formulating a new plan to get back to prominence at the expense of losing some key pieces.
Oakland has already had some big departures this offseason, but in the winter meetings alone they lost pitchers Jon Lester (signed with Chicago Cubs without A's trying to retain him), Jason Hammel (signed with Cubs) and Jeff Samardzija (traded to Chicago White Sox) along with first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss (traded to Cleveland Indians). It's unclear what the A's plans are, but they've lost a handful of clubhouse leaders and key pitchers this offseason with little effort of hanging onto any of them.
San Francisco Giants: It was a hollow winter meetings for Bay Area teams as the defending World Series champions made no moves in either direction and stood pat at the meetings. While it's hard to knock a team that just won the Fall Classic two months ago, San Francisco set its sights on Lester and fell short in the sweepstakes. While no one was added or subtracted from the Giants at the meetings, the team could have used a morale booster after losing former World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval to the Red Sox earlier this offseason.
On the Bubble:
Boston Red Sox: The BoSox lost out on the Lester sweepstakes and also traded outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in a key loss despite rumors of turmoil, but they also got back a solid pitcher in Rick Porcello and took flyers on struggling starters Justin Masterson and Wade Miley, so it will be interesting to see how things turn out for a team that went from first-to-worst in 2014.
Los Angeles Dodgers: No one was busier than Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman at the winter meetings as he wheeled-and-dealed all week long and in the end the team suffered some key losses while gaining some quality players as well.
Los Angeles' big losses included second baseman Dee Gordon (traded to Miami Marlins) and outfielder Matt Kemp (traded to San Diego Padres), who was coming off of a solid campaign, but whose loss helps fix the glut in the outfield. The Dodgers key additions included catcher Yasmani Grandal (Padres trade), second baseman Howie Kendrick (trade with Los Angeles Angels), McCarthy (signed out of free agency) and shortstop Jimmy Rollins (trade with Philadelphia Phillies). With so much happening, time will tell if L.A. comes out as a winner or a loser.
Winners:
Chicago Cubs and White Sox: Both Chicago teams' fan bases have to be very pleased with the way the meetings went. The Cubs not only reeled in the biggest fish on the market in Lester (16-11, 2.46 ERA in 2014), but they reunited with Hammel through free agency and traded for catcher Miguel Montero from the Diamondbacks. On the other side of town, the White Sox were able to add Samardzija (free agency from Oakland) and Robertson (free agency from Yankees) to add to their already solid offseason moves.
Detroit Tigers: Detroit improved its lineup at the expense of one of its better pieces of the rotation during the meetings by dealing Porcello to the Red Sox for Cespedes, who slots into a potent lineup that also includes Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler. To make up for the loss of Porcello, the Tigers acquired Alfredo Simon from the Cincinnati Reds and Shane Greene from the Yankees this offseason to fill in the bottom of their rotation, which is headlined by David Price, Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez.
San Diego Padres: While the Padres moves were minimal at the winter meetings that took place in their home city of San Diego, they were able to reel in a solid outfielder in Kemp and their division rival Dodgers even paid some of his salary to the tune of about $32 million. Though Kemp has struggled with injuries, he had a solid campaign in 2014 by hitting .287/.346/.506 with 25 homers and 89 RBI.
While the winter meetings have come to a close, the hot stove is sure to continue heating up as the offseason rolls on.
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