The Phillies vaulted into the top spot in our power rankings for the first time … only to then crumble, ending this weekend on a four-game losing skid.
Needless to say, they’ve been supplanted atop the rankings this week.
Jesús Luzardo had to wear it in the worst start of his career Saturday, but that doesn’t negate what he did up to that point. He entered the debacle with a 2.15 ERA through his first 11 starts in Philadelphia, and he remains one of the best acquisitions of the offseason.
More than a third of the way through the season, we have a much better idea now about how the moves made this winter are panning out.
For this week’s power rankings, we take a look around the league at every team’s best offseason moves.
All right, fine, we’re looking at 29 teams’ best offseason moves. Skip card, please? Carry on.
Shane Smith might go down as one of the all-time great Rule 5 picks. His 2.68 ERA is the 12th-lowest among all American League pitchers who’ve thrown at least 50 innings this year. In addition, Chase Meidroth — acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade — has been the sixth-most valuable AL second baseman by fWAR.
At 38 years old, Andrew McCutchen is still hitting well above league average. That qualifies as a force in this Pittsburgh lineup.
Quick reminder that the A’s were 22-20 when they beat the Dodgers 11-1 on May 13. They have won one of their 18 games since then. One game. One. Brent Rooker continues to rake after signing his five-year extension. The problem is they have MLB’s worst ERA, but their big offseason addition Luis Severino (3.89) has been solid.
Score one for top Rule 5 draft picks this year. The Marlins took catcher Liam Hicks from the Tigers right after Smith went first to Chicago. Hicks, a 2021 ninth-round pick, has an .811 OPS in part-time work behind the plate. Miami is now trying him at first base, too.
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Tomoyuki Sugano has gotten to a productive 3.23 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in an atypical manner. He doesn’t strike anyone out — he has the lowest strikeout rate among all qualified American League starters — but he also doesn’t walk anyone.
Remember that eight-game win streak? They’ve followed that by dropping seven of eight. Yusei Kikuchi hasn’t been as impactful as he was in the second half with the Astros last year — he leads the majors with 35 walks, and three of the top five MLB leaders in free passes are in the Angels’ rotation — but he nonetheless has a career-best 3.06 ERA.
None of the notable offseason signings have worked out particularly well, but Mike Soroka’s underlying numbers are better than his 5.81 ERA would indicate. His walk rate is the lowest of his career, and he has a 3.49 expected ERA, but he’ll need to get his hard-hit rate down.
The D-backs are losing their bite, having dropped nine of 11 games. And if losing series to the Pirates and Nationals weren’t bad enough, Corbin Burnes left his start Sunday with tightness in his elbow. After a slow start out of the gates, Burnes was pitching like the ace that Arizona envisioned with a 2.13 ERA in his last nine starts.
The Braves are learning that the returns of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider aren’t cure-alls. Acuña looks awesome, but Atlanta is 3-6 since he rejoined the club. It doesn’t help that their only notable offseason signing, Jurickson Profar, isn’t eligible to return from his performance-enhancing drug suspension until the end of the month.
Nick Martinez, the only MLB player to accept the qualifying offer this winter, had a 2.25 ERA in May and went at least six innings in all five starts of the month before struggling Sunday in his first outing of June. He’s certainly not the only starter to stumble against the Cubs’ lineup.
For all the chaos in Boston this year, their biggest offseason signings have been terrific. Unfortunately, one of them is on the shelf for a while. Alex Bregman looked like the best third baseman in MLB before he went down with a quad strain. Crochet, meanwhile, has the most strikeouts in the American League.
Bringing back Nathan Eovaldi looks like one of the best moves any team made this offseason. Eovaldi ranks second in MLB in ERA (1.56) and WHIP (0.81), and while he’s on the IL now, his triceps issue does not seem to be a long-term concern at the moment. Baltimore sure could’ve used someone like him.
Michael Wacha earned a three-year extension after posting a 3.35 ERA in one of the best seasons of his career in 2024. This year, his ERA (2.88) is even better. The Royals’ rotation is again one of the best in MLB…and their lineup one of the least forceful. Time to see what top prospect Jac Caglianone can do!
Closer Jeff Hoffman couldn’t have had a much different April (1.17 ERA) and May (13.50). He’s still racking up strikeouts, and better days are likely ahead. One interesting note: Toronto took on Myles Straw’s contract to add international bonus pool money in an effort to land Roki Sasaki. That didn’t end the way the Blue Jays hoped, yet Straw has coincidentally provided more value in Toronto than Sasaki has in Los Angeles this year.
Aside from one blow-up outing against the Cubs, Jose Quintana has allowed a combined six earned runs in his six other starts this year while helping stabilize the Milwaukee rotation. Quintana started Sunday’s win, which was the seventh straight for the hottest team in MLB.
Among Twins hitters with at least 100 at-bats this year, Harrison Bader has the second-highest OPS (.787) behind only Byron Buxton (.823).
We could talk about Danny Jansen and Ha-Seong Kim, who started a rehab assignment as he prepares for his return from shoulder surgery. But the best example of what the Rays do was their trade of Jose Siri for Eric Orze, a 2020 fifth-round pick of the Mets who had allowed four runs in 1.2 career innings before this year. Orze has a 0.81 ERA in 22.1 innings out of Tampa Bay’s bullpen this year.
At 39 years old, Carlos Santana is still getting it done. The Guardians set up the reunion after trading away Josh Naylor, and now the two are providing similar value for their respective clubs. Santana has his highest OPS+ since his 2019 season and is again grading out as an above-average defensive first baseman. Also, keep an eye on the expected summer return of Shane Bieber.
The Mariners brought back Jorge Polanco after one of the worst seasons of his career. At the end of April, the only American League player with a higher wRC+ than Polanco was Aaron Judge. Polanco’s numbers have plummeted since, but he’s still hitting 30% above league average.
Watching Tucker in Chicago and Bregman in Boston still can’t feel great for Houston fans, but having Isaac Paredes at least provides some relief. Paredes has hit as many homers as Bregman this year, though the Astros’ new third baseman is currently mired in a 1-for-22 slump.
The entire offseason was centered around trading Nolan Arenado, which… never happened. Midway through spring, they added Phil Maton on a one-year deal, and it has been $2 million well-spent. Maton has 28 strikeouts and six walks this year and hasn’t allowed a run in his last eight outings.
Neither of the Giants’ big offseason signings are going quite as planned. Willy Adames is playing below replacement level, and Justin Verlander (who’s now on the IL) is still looking for his first win of the year after posting a 4.33 ERA in 10 starts. He did, however, have a 2.97 ERA in his last six outings, and it doesn’t seem like he will be out long term.
You have to wonder how long Nick Pivetta would’ve been lingering in free agency had he not had a qualifying offer attached. Regardless, the rest of the league’s inaction was San Diego’s gain. Pivetta has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his 11 starts and has a 2.00 ERA in his last three starts. That production has been huge for a San Diego rotation lacking much depth.
Well, that time atop the standings was short-lived. The Phillies had taken care of business against weaker competition until running into the juggernaut…uh, Brewers? Luzardo’s ERA ballooned from 2.15 to 3.58 after Milwaukee tagged him for 12 runs, but he had allowed just 16 earned runs in his first 12 starts combined. Despite how this weekend went, getting Luzardo via trade was one of the best moves of the winter.
Pretty good offseason Plan B! Max Fried was pitching like the best starter in the American League until he got tagged for six runs in Los Angeles this weekend. Still, the Juan Soto backup plan looks like a huge win. Paul Goldschmidt has turned back the clock, Cody Bellinger has been productive across the outfield, and after a rough start that forced Devin Williams out of the closer role, he has been better lately as well. They had won seven straight series before the Dodgers had their number again.
For all the money spent on their new additions, it looks like the Dodgers’ best move was bringing back Teoscar Hernández, who leads the club in RBI coming off an All-Star season in Los Angeles. It’s a perfect match. Keep an eye on Hyeseong Kim, too. The biggest question was his bat in his move to the majors, and the rookie hit .422 in May.
For years, the Cubs needed a star player to build the lineup around. They added Tucker, and now they have the second highest-scoring offense in baseball. Considering the state of the rotation, $29 million for Matthew Boyd looks like money well spent, too.
Even with year 1 of 15 of the Juan Soto era not quite starting as anticipated, the Mets are rolling. The (healthy) free-agent pitching additions, from Clay Holmes to Griffin Canning, have exceeded expectations. But the biggest win thus far is the triumphant return of Pete Alonso, who has been the Mets’ best hitter and is trending toward a more lucrative payday ahead.
A sweep of the Giants and a series win against the Royals vaults the Tigers back up to No. 1. I’d still feel a little better about their future outlook had they reeled in someone like Bregman this winter, but Gleyber Torres has provided an undeniable boost to an offense that needed help after his New York tenure ended on a sour note. He has cut his strikeout rate in half, doubled his barrel rate and upped his walk rate to a career-high level in Detroit. Just look how red this page is.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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