The MLB offseason always captivates the baseball world, but the moves that are made each winter affect teams that are involved in more ways than one.
Once the dust settles and pitchers and catchers begin to report to spring training, the magnitude of offseason deals can truly be felt. When new players are added, old names are often left fighting for their jobs in the next season.
That’s happening across MLB once again heading into 2016. Over the next 10 slides, we’ll provide an early preview of some of the most fascinating position battles that figure to take place this spring.
What do the additions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller mean to the back end of the Arizona Diamondbacks rotation? Who will close games for the Houston Astros, Luke Gregerson or the freshly acquired Ken Giles? Who will be the odd man out in the rotations in San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto?
Those situations aren’t cut and dry and will require a month’s worth of data this spring for managers to make an educated decision. However, there are early favorites to win each of those competitions, and we’ll identify those players in the slides ahead.
Depth is always a good thing for a club, but it sets up debates on which players are the right men for the job. There are still plenty of dominoes left to fall this winter, but enough has happened for us to start gauging what will happen when players compete for their spots this spring.