Offseason Needs: National League West

The virtual Winter Meetings have finished a second week. With activity and rumors picking up around Major League Baseball, I am going to go division by division over the next week to suggest what moves each team should make this offseason.

The National League West had two of the best teams in baseball in 2020 with the Dodgers going all the way to win the World Series. With the mix of defending champion Dodgers, contending Padres and possibly selling Rockies, this division seems to be full of potential impact moves this offseason.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The defending World Series champions have a hole at third base with the departure of Justin Turner. Nolan Arenado is on the trade block this offseason, and the Dodgers have shown interest in the past of acquiring the Rockies star. Despite the reports of the Rockies reaching out to the Mets about Arenado, I think the Mets will stick to what Sandy Alderson said earlier in the offseason and work on acquiring talent via free agency in order to accumulate depth in the minor league system.

That leaves the Dodgers as the only team with the hole and ability to bring in the all-world third baseman. It is going to take a lot to bring in Arenado because of being under contract until 2027, but I think a package of Edwin Ríos, Keibert Ruiz, Jacob Amaya and Edwin Uceta would be a package the Dodgers would be willing to part with to acquire Arenado (career 39.1 WAR) and Mychal Givens (career 3.41 ERA).

For the Dodgers, this move really kills two birds with one stone because it fills the hole at third and in the bullpen (left by Blake Treinen hitting free agency) and it helps solidify the infield and middle of the order behind Betts and Bellinger going past 2021. This makes sense for the Dodgers and Arenado because he gets to stay in a division, he’s comfortable in and still get to play at Coors Field, so they may lessen any drop off leaving the hitters paradise. The Dodgers are one of the few teams that can take on his salary because they have very little financial commitment after 2021.

Colorado Rockies

Now to examine the flip side of this trade. The Rockies would bring back a young replacement at third base in Ríos, a starting catcher in Ruiz, a middle infield prospect that has reached the AA level and a pitching prospect. This would allow the Rockies to potentially still compete for a wild card spot (especially if the playoffs are expanded to seven teams) or have a short rebuild once Story leaves in free agency or traded by the deadline.

Assuming the Rockies will hold onto Story until the trade deadline or potentially work on an extension with the Arenado money freed up, they still have holes to fill to make them a Wild Card contender. Mitch Moreland had a rough year after getting traded over to San Diego, which will drive his price tag down, but overall, he has hit double digit home runs for five straight seasons and hit .252 and .265 the last two seasons, which would be welcome production to the first base position in Denver. Another hole for the Rockies to fill would be centerfield. Kevin Pillar really improved the outfield defense last year after being traded over, and his offense took a step forward last season in Boston and then even more after the trade leading to a final season slash line of .288/.336/.462. This was following a year in San Francisco where he hit a career high 21 home runs, so the NL West is definitely a favorable division for him, which makes re-signing him a great move for the Rockies.

To replace Givens, who I added to the Arenado trade, the Rockies should go out and add Sean Doolittle. Doolittle is an experience closer (111 career saves) that Colorado could add to that ninth inning role.

San Diego Padres

The Padres were the most exciting team in baseball last season between Manny Machado, Fernando Tatís Jr. and the flurry of trades made at the deadline. However, injuries to Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet really derailed their hopes of World Series run as they were eliminated by the Dodgers in the Division Series. Earlier this week, I suggested they trade Francisco Mejía to the Rays for Yoshi Tsutsugo. This trade would give them a definite DH if that position returns to the NL in 2021 or another option in the outfield. Moving Mejía would create a hole at the backup catching spot behind Austin Nola, which could be filled by signing Kurt Suzuki, who is still a solid hitter (.270 average in 2020).

The biggest need for the Padres is starting pitching. I think they will be players for Bauer, but I think the best fit for him is coming in a later article. For the Padres rotation, I think the move is Tomoyuki Sugano. The Japanese right-hander has been dominant pitching to a 101-50 record with a 2.65 ERA over eight seasons. He would be a strong add to a rotation with a question mark on the availability of Lamet and the loss of Clevinger to TJ.

Next up for San Diego pitching, I think they need to re-sign Trevor Rosenthal and Garrett Richards to keep their bullpen strong.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Injuries hurt Arizona a ton last year, but they still have the expectation of a team trying to win. They have a very good offensive team that really the only holes that could be addressed in free agency would be signing a player like Delino DeShields to play centerfield and add a decent bat and good speed to the bottom of the lineup.

The pitching side is where the Diamondback need to make some moves. I think Caleb Smith does a good job solidifying one spot in the rotation and hopefully MadBum returns healthy and improves after a rough 2020 to solidify another spot. Daniel Mengden would be a good add from free agency to add some depth to the rotation or at least a serviceable arm in the pen that could potentially shift over if injuries or inconsistency arrive.

Speaking of the bullpen, Arizona could use another arm to help Stefan Crichton in the late innings. Ken Giles would be a good add to do just that. He is coming off a rough 2020, but in 2019 he had a career year best 1.87 ERA while saving 23 games (third most in his career). Giles would be a solid arm with closer experience to help lockdown late innings.

San Francisco Giants

The Giants actually have a very good team returning last year, who finished just shy of making the playoffs. I am a believer in some of the performances they got last season and with Buster Posey returning, they looked set up to make a potential Wild Card run in 2021.

The biggest need they have is in the bullpen. Chasen Shreve would be a good add to fill that role. Shreve had a great bounce back season in 2020 for the Mets pitching to a 3.96 ERA over 25 innings. He would give the Giants a multi-inning lefty to strengthen their bullpen. Another good arm to help the bullpen would be Tyler Clippard. Even at the age of 35, Clippard worked to 2.77 ERA in 2020 giving him back-to-back seasons of an ERA under 3. He is a solid dependable reliver that would definitely help the Giants.

For the rotation, the Giants have a lot of young options, but I think they still need a veteran with something to prove to help eat innings and work behind Cueto and Gausman. Julio Teheran would fit that role perfectly. Teheran struggled with the Angels in 2020, but with the Braves he had an ERA of 3.67 over nine years. This split makes it seem like Teheran may be better in the NL, which is a gamble the Giants could take to be a solid third or fourth starter.