Last month, I took a different approach to breaking down the MLB offseason. Instead of assessing a team on how well needs have been filled or how much money has been spent, I focused solely on how much talent has been added to each roster.
In much the same way a college football or basketball program has its offseason evaluated, each addition was assigned a 1-5 rating on the “star” scale, and the team’s overall “recruiting class” was scored from there.
A month later, and with a number of moves made since, I’ve decided to update each MLB team on their offseason recruiting. The same parameters as last time still apply.
First, we need to decide what constitutes a 5-star player, 4-star player and so on. Here is my take on who belongs in each category.
- 5-Star (10 points): A superstar-caliber position player, ace-caliber starting pitcher or premier closer.
- 4-Star (7 points): An above-average everyday position player, middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher or late-inning reliever.
- 3-Star (4 points): An average everyday position player or reserve likely to see extended playing time, No. 5 starting pitcher/swingman or above-average middle reliever.
- 2-Star (1 point): Solid organizational depth likely to be on the big league roster at some point, if not on Opening Day.
- 1-Star (N/A): Everyone else. Players signed to minor league deals and unlikely to make any sort of impact at the big league level this coming season. Not included here; don’t count toward a team’s overall offseason rating.
From there, points are awarded to each recruit as listed above, and each team’s recruit-point total is determined. Teams were then ordered from worst to first based on the overall level of talent they’ve added so far this winter.
As with college rosters, returning players are not considered recruits, so anyone re-signing with the team he played for last year was not considered for this.
The end goal here was simply to put a different and fun spin on evaluating what each MLB team has done so far this offseason. So take this for what it is, and enjoy.