As of tomorrow, pitchers and catchers will have reported to Spring Training camps for all MLB teams. Despite the torrents of snow hitting the east coast, this southward migration of athletes officially marks the end of winter, and what better time for the unveiling of 2013's All-Acquired Lineups, my annual feature summing up off-season player movement. There's two rosters, one from each league, made up of the best players acquired (either by trade or free agency) by teams in that league. Here's the NL squad, with the AL to follow once all the camps have opened. Let's see which league bagged the best prizes this winter:
The Pirates picked up former Yankees backstop Russell Martin on a two-year deal, leaving doubts about who will frame pitches for the Bronx Bombers this year. The Canada native had his worst season since 2010 with the Dodgers when he played just 97 games due to a torn labrum in his hip, but he'll still be an upgrade over the Bucs' 2012 combo of Rod Barajas and Michael McKenry. As a backup, the NL squad has a choice of new Mets starter John Buck or the more defensively focused Jeff Mathis, who were both part of that crazy deal between the Marlins and the Blue Jays. Although Michael Young was the primary DH for the Rangers last year, and despite the fact that he was traded to the Phillies to play 3B, he's this team's best option to play 1B - which is actually where he played the majority of the games where he was on the field. I would also leave a roster spot for Ty Wigginton to serve as a backup.
This team has a decidedly weak middle infield: the best option at 2B is Skip Schumaker, who was acquired by the Dodgers as a backup for Mark Ellis, and SS will be handled by Cliff Pennington, who went to the D-Backs in the deal that netted Chris Young for the A's. (Is it me, or have those two clubs hooked up for an inordinate amount of deals in the recent past?) Another new Diamondback, Martin Prado, played LF for the Braves last year, but was brought out to the desert (and extended for four years) to man the hot corner, which is where he'll play on this squad. One of the players who went to Atlanta in that same deal, Chris Johnson, played well enough to garner a look for a bench spot, despite his lack of versatility.
Two-thirds of this outfield will be made up of
Uptons, both of whom were acquired by the Braves. Younger brother Justin, the centerpiece of the aforementioned deal with Arizona, will man LF (despite playing RF his entire career, but homegrown Braves star Jason Heyward isn't going anywhere) while free agent acquisition B.J. will take over CF from recently-signed Michael Bourn. Late of Bourn's new team, the Indians, Shin-Soo Choo will play RF, his natural position, despite the fact that he was traded to the Reds to play CF and lead off. This lineup leaves former Twins speedsters Denard Span and Ben Revere on the bench, next to yet another new Diamondback, Cody Ross, playing for his fourth team in as many years.
The rotation is headed by this off-season's top free agent pitcher
Zack Greinke, who was one of only four off-season acquisitions made by the free-spending new Dodgers owners. (Most of their big splashes were made before last season's end in that record-setting waiver wire deal with the Red Sox.) After that, there's a pretty steep dropoff - it's sad when the No. 2 scoring starter for this best-of club (Edwin Jackson, late of the Nationals) is just the No. 3 starter for the lowly Cubs. Dan Haren's 2012 was so disappointing (a 1,000+ point / 25+ points-per-game dropoff from 2011) that all he could get was a one-year trial deal to be buried deep in the Nationals rotation. A fellow one-year deal recipient, Shaun Marcum, will try to prove he can stay healthy for a full season before latching on with a contender the following year.
There are a number of choices for 5th starter. Going by overall fantasy point totals, the choice is Brandon McCarthy, although it's questionable whether he'll be ready for opening day following a
harrowing brain injury sustained from taking an Erick Aybar line drive to the head. There's Korean star Hyun-Jin Ryu who will have to compete with pretty much everyone but Greinke for a spot in the Dodgers' revamped rotation. Former Twin Scott Baker hasn't pitched since 2011, but will try to restart his career with the Cubs. And speaking of Cubs, we'll see how Scott Feldman does with a chance to start full-time, albeit with an inferior team. Finishing games will be Rafael Soriano, the Yankees' fill-in for Mariano Rivera last year. Backing him up is former closer Heath Bell, potential future closer Brandon Lyon, and lefty longman Tom Gorzelanny. Straight setup muscle will be handled by Wilton Lopez, one of the Astros' last trade chips, and Japanese import Kyuji Fujikawa, who will likely challenge Carlos Marmol for the closer job. And for someone who can either start or relieve, the Cubs (again with the North Siders!) just picked up swingman extraordinaire Carlos Villanueva.
Stay tuned tomorrow to see who the AL picked up. Maybe it will
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