A summary of how AL East teams have improved their weakest positions of 2024
Here is how the American League East have improved their weakest positions of 2024 so far.
We're still over a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, and the 2025 season won't begin until March 27th.
So, while there is still tons of time for clubs to keep shoring up their rosters, let's take a look at how the AL East thus far tried to fix their biggest weak points from last season.
Baseball Reference's position-by-position bWAR ranking identifies each how each team fared at every position in 2024, so let's start by focusing on the Toronto Blue Jays.
Toronto Blue Jays (Bullpen, -3.9 bWAR):
This was far and away the lowest bWAR for any team at any single position, which isn't too surprising given how injuries and ineffectiveness torpedoed the Blue Jays' bullpen last year.
Toronto started the overhaul from the top down, non-tendering former closer Jordan Romano after he missed most of the 2024 season due to elbow problems.
Old friend Yimi Garcia was re-signed to a two-year, $15MM contract, and Nick Sandlin was acquired from the Guardians as perhaps the overlooked part of the Andres Gimenez trade, but the Jays figure to add at least a couple more relievers before Opening Day rolls around.
Baltimore Orioles (Bullpen, 1.8 bWAR):
Losing Felix Bautista to Tommy John rehab for the season understandably took a bite out of the Orioles' relief corps, and Bautista's expected return will alone help bolster the pen.
Apart from signing Matt Bowman to a minors deal, the O's haven't done much else to address their bullpen, and in fact subtracted from last year's group when Jacob Webb was non-tendered and Baltimore declined its $4MM club option on Danny Coulombe.
However, it looks like Albert Suarez could be returning to the relief ranks now that Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano have been signed to join the rotation.
We're cheating the post's premise a bit with this entry, as the Orioles' 1.4 bWAR for pinch-hitters is technically their lowest of the positions listed by Baseball Reference.
However, since that 1.4 number is one of the better totals of any pinch-hitting group in baseball, the bullpen can more accurately be described as the weakest of the two positions.
Tampa Bay Rays (Catcher, 0.2 bWAR):
Death, taxes, and the Rays trying to find an everyday catcher. Some things never change.
Tampa Bay was aggressive in trying to obtain a one-year fix by signing Danny Jansen to a deal worth $8.5MM in guaranteed money, in the hopes that Jansen can rebound from a rough 2024 campaign.
Jansen generally posted strong numbers for the Blue Jays when he was able to avoid the injured list, but it seemed like the injuries caught up to him last year, particularly after he suffered a fracture in his wrist during Spring Training.
The Rays will happily welcome Jansen getting back to anything close to his old form, and Ben Rortvedt (last year's most regular backstop) remains on the roster as the backup.
Boston Red Sox (First base, -0.1 bWAR):
Triston Casas played in only 63 games last season due to torn cartilage in his ribcage, and while he hit well over his 236 PA as a first baseman, it wasn't enough to drag Boston's first base corps over the replacement-level threshold.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been insistent that the Sox aren't looking to move Casas, and that Rafael Devers will remain at third base rather than shifted over to first base (perhaps to make room for a third base upgrade like Alex Bregman).
For the moment, the first base spot looks solid enough just by dint of Casas having a healthy and productive 2025 campaign, but things could be shaken up quickly if a trade does indeed happen.
New York Yankees (First base, -0.1 bWAR):
Anthony Rizzo's club option was declined, the Yankees checked in several first base candidates and technically came away with two, as Cody Bellinger was first acquired in a trade with the Cubs.
Signing Paul Goldschmidt to a one-year, $12.5MM deal will now push Bellinger into outfield duty, and the Yankees are hoping that a change of scenery allows both former NL MVPs to rediscover some of their old form.
Focusing on Goldschmidt, the 37-year-old was hampered by a very rough first half that resulted in the worst overall season of his 14-year career, but his stronger second half and overall impressive hard-contact numbers hint that Goldschmidt has more to offer.
New York doesn't even need prime Goldschmidt, as even getting a repeat of his solid 2023 numbers (122 wRC+ over 687 PA with the Cardinals) would be a substantial upgrade.
SOURCE: MLBTR
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