All-Acquired 2019-20 - National League

In my last post, I went over the top new players acquired by American League teams during the 2019-only portion of the 2019-20 offseason. Today I'll continue with the National League version, after which I will lock myself in my room for as long as it takes to update my team-by-team baseball database with rosters current as of New Year's Day.

Going by both 2019 fantasy points and by prior MLB track record, the top free agent starting pitcher to sign with a new NL team this winter was Madison Bumgarner. The big lefty jumped ship within his division, going from the Giants (with whom he won three World Series titles as part of the even-year dynasty) to the Diamondbacks (presumably because of their hitter-friendly ballpark). In terms of contract size and future upside, the top acquisition was Zack Wheeler, who easily topped $100MM in his five-year deal with the Phillies. Continuing down the list of MLB Trade Rumors's top-ranked free agents (Stephen Strasburg of course being ineligible because he re-signed with his former team), we have veteran lefty Cole Hamels, who will take the Braves' rotation spot vacated by veteran lefty Dallas Keuchel who finds himself in the AL version of this list. Another veteran lefty, Wade Miley, will round out a quite strong 2020 Reds rotation, despite the fact that he was left off Houston's playoff roster in 2019.

The Brewers have three names in the All-Acquired starting pitcher pool, headlined (at least in terms of 2019 fantasy points) by Brett Anderson, who somehow managed to stay healthy enough to put up a full season's worth of starts for the A's. Milwaukee grabbed a second new southpaw starter, Eric Lauer, in a trade with the Padres, for whom they sent out righty Zach Davies. The third Brew Crew acquisition appears in the below image, since Josh Lindblom pitched 2019 in the Korea Baseball Organization. The former Dodgers prospect will try to follow in the footsteps of fellow KBO-returnee Eric Thames in Milwaukee, except for the part where the latter unceremoniously had his contract option declined after the past season. Speaking of imports from the KBO, the Cardinals picked up Kwang-hyun Kim (it's spelled "Gwang-hyun" if you're looking for his baseball-reference page), whose former team will receive a posting fee equal to 20% of his contract with St. Louis. The only team other than the Brewers with multiple starter acquisitions is the Mets, who picked up both Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha, with one of them presumably headed to the bullpen to start the year. 

At this point in the offseason, the NL has been much more active than the AL on the relief market, with two pitchers who served as their teams' closers for at least part of 2019 having changed hands already. The Braves are supposedly planning to have Will Smith act in a setup role in front of Mark Melancon (another pitcher late of the Giants), but I'm hoping for the sake of the Cancer Crabs Fantasy Astrology team that they change course and Smith gets to rack up saves all year. Speaking of the Cancer Crabs, Blake Treinen followed up his historic 2018 season with a total dud in 2019, although that didn't stop the Dodgers from taking a one-year flier on the hard-throwing sinkerballer. Former starter Drew Pomeranz blossomed into a star reliever after a midseason trade to the Brewers last year, and the Padres are hoping that improvement will be sustainable in his second stint with the club. And Dellin Betances was a bastion of excellence for the Yankees until an injury-ruined 2019, but his track record led the crosstown Mets to take a chance on a return to glory.

It's a curious coincidence that the NL All-Acquired first base pool includes both the new Brewers first baseman and the old Brewers first baseman. Justin Smoak hasn't been able to replicate a breakout 2017 with the Blue Jays, but a switch-hitting power hitter with plate discipline is always good to have around. Jesus Aguilar's own unsustainable breakout came in 2018, and his fall from grace saw him get traded to the Rays at the 2019 deadline, and then picked up on waivers by the cross-state Marlins this winter. Speaking of the Marlins, they also picked up middle infielder Jonathan Villar, after the Orioles let their top fantasy-scoring player go via the waiver wire. He's followed on the second base depth chart by a couple of intriguing possibilities: Jurickson Profar was traded from the A's to the Padres after failing to capitalize on his own 2018 breakout with Texas, while Eric Sogard (another former Athletic) found a statistically unsustainable power stroke in 2019 (who here is a believer in exit velocity?), but the Brewers brought him back into the fold as part of their infield mix.

Speaking of second base, the Reds signed Mike Moustakas to play there, giving the longtime third baseman the type of deal that he has arguably deserved during the last two offseasons. However, if I was building a lineup out of these players, I would put Moose at his customary position, given the depth of second base talent, and my complete lack of faith in Ryon Healy's ability to hold down the hot corner. It's questionable how much the Giants expect Zack Cozart to play at any position next year, as his trade was effectively a way for the Angels to clear some salary space for Anthony Rendon. Didi Gregorius was one of the handful of players whose astrological sign I had been misrepresenting over the past several years, but whatever his star sign, he'll be locking down the shortstop spot in Philadelphia, pushing his erroneous former Pisces teammate Jean Segura over to second base. Luis Urias was one of four players involved in the above-mentioned Milwaukee-San Diego trade, and he'll battle with Sogard for playing time in the Brewers infield. Jake Cronenworth didn't make it into the show in 2019 (the blue highlight in his Bats/Throws column indicates he was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training last year), and we'll explore the trade that sent him from the Rays to the Padres...

...now! Tommy Pham had a better overall season than Hunter Renfroe in 2019, but as an aging player whose earnings are slated to approach his actual value via the arbitration process, he was not the type of asset that a penny-pinching organization like the Rays prefers to keep on hand. Thus Tampa Bay sent Pham and Cronenworth to San Diego in exchange for younger, cheaper outfielder Hunter Renfroe and a pair of prospects. Such is life! Speaking of outfielders acquired by the Padres, Trent Grisham went over to southern California in the twice-above-mentioned Brewers-Padres deal, where he'll join a somehow still-crowded outfield picture in San Diego. A pair of lefty-swinging corner bats also changed hands via free agency, with longtime Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun landing with the Diamondbacks, and journeyman Corey Dickerson settling in Miami (at least until the 2020 trade deadline. 

While Avisail Garcia got some time in center field with the Rays last year, his true calling is as a corner outfielder, where he'll play opposite Christian Yelich in Milwaukee next year. The Mets picked up Jake Marisnick in a trade with the Astros to replace their former glove-first fourth outfielder Juan Lagares. But the biggest fish in the center field pond is Japanese import Shogo Akiyama, whose deal with the Reds hasn't yet been formally announced. As far as catcher is concerned, Omar Narvaez, Milwaukee's replacement for Yasmani Grandal is also the top catcher acquired by an NL team this winter... the top hitting catcher, at least. And the fact that he's left-handed makes him a perfect platoon partner with new Braves backstop Travis d'Arnaud. As with the American League, possible backup backstops abound: former A's folk hero Stephen Vogt follows MadBum from SF to ARI, Francisco Cervelli is going to try to stave off concussion-related retirement for one more year in Miami, and Luke Maile still plays Major League Baseball.

So that's how the two leagues' All-Acquired teams look as the calendar flips to 2020. In short: the AL had the more splashy acquisitions, while the NL has the edge in terms of depth (especially in the bullpen and the outfield). These rosters will surely look a lot different by the time MLB 20: The Show hits shelves in the spring, so we won't get to see an accurate simulation with these players as headliners. But it's fun to take stock of the baseball roster landscape, even as the worldwide political landscape hurtles into scarier and more unstable territory day by day...