Christmas is literally just a stones throw away, but more important, the timetable for teams to sign, wheel and deal before Spring Training is now under two months. The American League Western Division has been the busiest in all of Major League Baseball while their National League counterpart has made a valiant effort to keep pace. While it’s still up in the air as to whether or not any General Managers will be in a festive giving or receiving mood leading up to December 25th, there is little to no doubt that each team in the NL West still has a list of wants from Santa Claus for 2014.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Aside from being the reigning NL Western Division champions the Dodgers are also basking in the luxury of being the one team that is pretty much complete before pitchers and catchers report in February.
While the team has locked up Brian Wilson for another season as the setup man for closer Kenley Jansen as well as added another starter in Dan Haren, the one need that the GM Ned Colletti has found himself in a pickle over is who will be starting at second base.
Over the last two months the Boys in Blue saw the reliable bat of Mark Ellis drift away to the St. Louis Cardinals, the defensive prowess of Nick Punto go to the Oakland Athletics and the solid overall presence of Skip Schumaker head east to the Cincinnati Reds.
This pretty much leaves Dee Gordon, who has played second base at some point in his life, Luis Cruz, possibly Michael Young if they wish to re-sign him or Cuban prospect Alexander Guerrero. The Dodgers have many options to roll with and money certainly isn’t an issue, but all eyes are certainly focused on if and when Guerrero will be able to make it to the Majors full time.
Arizona Diamondbacks
For back-to-back seasons, the Diamondbacks have finished with an 81-81 record with very little to show for it especially after losing some of their best players and prospects: Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook, Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy and now Adam Eaton and Tyler Skaggs.
Yet somehow when the team looks like it’s falling backwards, they bring in some decent talent in utility infielder/outfielder power hitter Mark Trumbo from the Los Angeles Angels and closer Addison Reed from the Chicago White Sox.
The one-two punch of Paul Goldschmidt and Trumbo will certainly pose as a threat; however, the Diamondbacks are still short quite a few reliable bats outside of Aaron Hill, Martin Prado and Gerardo Parra. Catcher Miguel Montero needs to go or most certainly not strike out the second-most (110) in 2014 for starters.
Also, the Diamondbacks really need to bring in one more reliable starting pitcher to even stand a chance in the top-three just for the division. In short, a starting pitcher, a solid-hitting catcher and maybe one or two more bats on the left side of the infield will help turn things around.
San Diego Padres
The Padres, for the most part, look like they might actually be legitimate contenders for the NL West crown in 2014, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have all the pieces in place.
The additions of Josh Johnson to the rotation plus the bat of Seth Smith will certainly help along with Joaquin Benoit, as long as everything becomes official; however, the one consistent problem the Padres have been dealing with since Bud Black took over as manager in 2007 has been their hitting.
Since then the Padres have not finished higher than 12th-best in team average in the NL nor have they hit .250 or better since 2008.
The Padres do have a few guys who can hit in Chase Headley, Yonder Alonso and Carlos Quentin, but they really need everyone else to step up. If Smith is an every day guy it’ll definitely help, and hopefully Everth Cabrera comes back with a new attitude after his end of the season suspension.
The Padres are fine defensively, but as far as offense is concerned, they need help at catcher, centerfield and on the bench.
San Francisco Giants
It’s hard to believe that the team that went to and won the World Series in 2012 could come back in 2013 and but up one of the worst title defenses in Major League Baseball history, all of course with the exact same players except their best regular season player Melky Cabrera.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to say whether or not 2013 was just a fluke or the real Giants on the field. Offensively the team is fine.
In 2013, the Giants hit .260 as a team which was good enough for fourth-best in the NL despite a nine point drop from 2012. The one thing that the Giants lack in this department is power hitting, which stands at 210 home runs over the last two seasons, the worst in the NL.
To put that in perspective the Milwaukee Brewers hit 202 home runs just in 2012. This should help explain why the signing of Michael Morse for $6 million was such a big, but hardly talked about deal.
Outside of that, the Giants have made a valiant effort to salvage their starting pitching issues by allowing Barry Zito to hit the bricks after replacing him with his former-Athletics teammate Tim Hudson. The Giants still need to replace and bring in a few new arms in the bullpen to help keep the workload off of the shoulders of only Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez.
Colorado Rockies
In case you didn’t know, the Rockies are arguably one of the best-hitting teams in baseball. For the past two seasons they’ve hit .270 or better as a team. Yet they keep finding themselves in the basement of the NL West. It should be obviously what the problem is, pitching. For the last three seasons the Rockies have held the worst ERA in the NL, 4.44 or worse.
General manager Dan O’Dowd has made a little bit of headway by acquiring a few pieces for the bullpen in Boone Logan, Franklin Morales and LaTroy Hawkins, but the starting pitching still remains a mystery even after trading for the injury-prone Brett Anderson and below average Jordan Lyles. The Rockies still have time and a bit of work to do, but at least they know what to