Every team is heading to the winter meetings in Washington with a litany of tasks it hopes to accomplish when it gets there. Of course, every team's to-do list is a bit different:
Sign a closer? Check.
Make a trade to fill a hole in the infield? Check.
Acquire a left-handed bat for the middle of the order? Check.
Dine at a swanky D.C. restaurant? Check. (Yes, but who's picking up the check?)
What matters most, however, is how each team approaches its offseason goals: Can it make the moves it needs to make and can it do so efficiently and within the budget (dinner expense reports not withstanding)?
Here are the five front offices that have plenty of work in front of them next week.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers have more work to do this offseason than any team in baseball because no one has more significant players as free agents, including closer Kenley Jansen, No. 2 starter Rich Hill, top right-handed hitter Justin Turner and starting second baseman Chase Utley.
The Dodgers will need to fill all four openings if they want to repeat as NL West champions. They have actually tried to resign all four of the aforementioned free agents, but certainly haven’t limited their search to just that group. They’ve talked to the Rays about Evan Longoria and Chris Archer. They've had a conversation with the White Sox about Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Todd Frazier. They've had multiple phone calls to the agents for free agents Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon.
Also, they still need another right-handed hitter and another setup reliever, and they must decide if Yasiel Puig is worth trying to develop for another year.
The Dodgers are expected to be one of the busiest teams at the winter meetings, not just because they want to get better, but because they can't maintain their status quo. The Dodgers have one of the strongest front offices in baseball led by Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Alex Anthopoulos, Josh Byrnes and Gerry Hunsicker, so there is no doubt they’ll get the job done.
The fun part will be watching how they do it. This is a creative bunch that’s always looking for the three- and four-team trades.
2. Kansas City Royals
You can call the Royals the most fascinating team at the winter meetings. As the American League team with the most to do they're either the team that decides to go all-in for one more run at a World Series, or they're a franchise that risks setting itself back for the next five to seven years by doing nothing.
The Royals have six significant players who will be free agents after the 2017 season: infielders Eric Hosmer, Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas; outfielder Lorenzo Cain; and pitchers Danny Duffy and Wade Davis.
In my opinion, the Royals need to try to extend the contracts of two or three of them and then trade the other two or three. If that were to happen, they would end up taking center stage at the meetings. All six of their potential free agents have significant trade value thanks to an extremely thin free-agent class. The best part is they match up well with almost all the big-market contending teams that have strong farm systems. The Royals have a unique chance to rebuild for their future quickly and swiftly, even if it might cost them the ability to contend in 2017.
Or they could decide to have a quiet offseason, which many executives think is going to happen because they believe GM Dayton Moore and manager Ned Yost might be leaving after the next year or so. It could be an absolute disaster especially if they don’t get back to the World Series, because under the new collective bargaining agreement they won't be getting first-round picks anymore for their expected departing free agents.
Then, if Moore and Yost depart along with their six free agents, this organization will be in such disarray it will take at least five to seven years to seriously contend again. The Royals either have a lot of work to do this winter meetings or will pay a huge price a year from now.
3. New York Yankees
The Yankees have done the best rebuilding job of any team in baseball over the past year thanks to their Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller trades at the July trade deadline. Now they’re looking forward to improving their major league roster to supplement their strong core of major league-ready youngsters and one the game's best farm systems.
There are three main areas they're focusing on: getting a quality starting pitcher, a closer and a designated hitter. They’re planning to improve the team through free agency, but will be careful to make sure they have complete flexibility in two years when big-time free agents like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, and ace pitchers with opt-out clauses, such as Clayton Kershaw, could be on the open market.
This offseason, the Yankees would like to either bring Aroldis Chapman back or sign Jansen. They understand that both are projected to break Mariano Rivera’s record as the highest-paid closer in baseball history as each is expected to get in the $90 million range over five years.
The Yankees are also trying to land Hill, the best starting pitcher on this market, and Edwin Encarnacion to be their designated hitter. In addition, the Yankees certainly have the farm system to trade for whatever they need, but it appears they are determined to hold on to all of their top prospects. Therefore, expect their trip to the winter meetings to be about writing checks rather than announcing trades.
4. Texas Rangers
The Rangers have identified center field and starting pitcher as their two biggest needs, but after that they also have first base and designated hitter on their list. The Rangers could solve their center-field problem through free agency or trade. The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen, the Royals' Cain, the Rays' Kevin Kiermaier, the White Sox's Adam Eaton and the Marlins' Marcell Ozuna are all logical trade targets for them.
In free agency, Dexter Fowler, Ian Desmond and Carlos Gomez are also on their board. They would love to get an elite starter like the White Sox's Sale or Quintana or the Rays' Archer or Jake Odorizzi through trade because free agency at this point is really limited to Hill, Ivan Nova and Jason Hammel.
The Rangers think they can get by with Joey Gallo, Jurickson Profar and other internal candidates for first base and DH, but that hasn’t stopped them from talking to the agents for players like Mike Napoli and even Encarnacion.
The defending AL West champions have a lot of work to do and I’ve already predicted in my 10 Bold Predictions for December that team president Jon Daniels will make his first trip to a winter meetings podium (and it might be multiple trips with the work he has in front of him).
5. Chicago White Sox
The White Sox have had a losing record for four straight seasons and haven’t won a division title since 2008. They’ve tried through free agency and trades to turn it around but just haven’t been able to get it done. Therefore, the White Sox are finally to the point of understanding that their best play right now is to knock down and completely rebuild from scratch.
This means they have more quality players on the trade market than any team in baseball, led by starting pitchers Sale and Quintana, closer David Robertson, first baseman Jose Abreu, third baseman Todd Frazier, and outfielders Eaton and Melky Cabrera. The White Sox's phones have been burning up from calls, texts and emails, and their asking prices have been through the roof -- as they should be with the quality players they have to offer.
The Sox are fortunate in that not only do they have star players to trade but most of them are under control and at well under market value thanks to years of strong negotiations led by GM Rick Hahn. The interesting part is that if the White Sox don’t make deals now, they can always wait until the trade deadline and try again at that time.
However, with such a weak free-agent class, the White Sox couldn’t be in better shape to make trades than they are right now. There is a lot of work of ahead of them to rebuild the organization, but they certainly have the trade assets and the will to get it done.