It might feel as if the 2019 MLB season is still in its infancy, but we're already roughly one-sixth of the way to the playoffs. There remains a lot to learn before the season is permanently inked in history, but the foundation at least has been laid. Most of the largest decisions were made in the offseason, but even now, months before the trade deadline, teams still can influence their trajectory.
In that vein, here are 30 proposed moves, one for each team, listed by division. I tried my best to make them moves that further each team's 2019 goals, aren't too unrealistic (so no trading for Mike Trout) and don't overlap -- so only one team gets to sign Dallas Keuchel or Craig Kimbrel.
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AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL East | NL Central | NL West
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
Tabbing a 31-year-old (Jesus Sucre) as the starting catcher was one of the team's odder offseason moves, but that's no longer an issue with Sucre outrighted to the minors. If anything, the Orioles ought to continue phasing out the remaining legacy players who won't be part of the team by the time they're actually good. It's nice Chris Davis is over his oh-fer streak, but neither he nor Joey Rickard should be starting. Seeing what Steve Wilkerson and DJ Stewart can do with extended shots in the majors is simply more useful for the future of the team.
I hate to play my Craig Kimbrel card so early, but a return always seemed logical -- likely for both parties. Boston's bullpen did not seem deep enough that it could afford to shed both Kimbrel and Joe Kelly without any kind of replacement. The Red Sox are also the team that can best afford Kimbrel now, since Boston is well past the point of trying to reset the luxury tax.
I guess I can't pick "stop everyone from getting injured," right? Without a real opportunity to get him in the major league starting rotation at the moment, I'd like the team to give Jonathan Loaisiga time in the bullpen, perhaps over Joe Harvey. Though they've been very careful to limit Johnny Lasagna's innings due to his injury history, I really want to see him have an extended run facing major league hitters without the need to go four or five innings.
It's hard to complain about anything the Rays have done in 2019. I am hoping that when everyone is healthy, it's Avisail Garcia who loses the game of musical chairs in the batting order rather than Nate Lowe, who has significantly higher upside than Garcia and doesn't require a .400 BABIP to be an offensive plus.
While I felt coming into 2019 that Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was playing over his head in 2018, it was a bit ridiculous to commit to him as the starter only to throw in the towel 30 games into the season. Bo Bichette is eventually coming and there's not a lot of point to letting Gurriel and Richard Urena beat up Triple-A pitchers while the team has a limited window to evaluate everyone in the majors. So let Gurriel play.
AL CENTRAL
The White Sox have a wide-open rotation spot with the departure of Ervin Santana. Rather than airing a repeat with Carson Fulmer or Dylan Covey, why not recall Dylan Cease, who has passed both in the prospect pecking order? It doesn't have to necessarily be a long stint in the majors with Lucas Giolito returning.
Actually start Jordan Luplow during this call-up. After really mucking up the outfield situation this offseason with the lack of interest in retaining Michael Brantley and failing to make any significant moves, the Indians are looking up at the Twins in the standings. This means looking for upside is more important than settling for Cleveland, and Luplow has more of that than Tyler Naquin or an aging Carlos Gonzalez.
It's probably too soon to talk about Casey Mize, unless he throws another no-hitter, but when Blaine Hardy returns from the injured list, I'd really like the team to revisit giving him another shot in the rotation. He has more value as a starter than in the bullpen, and he was serviceable when they tried him in the rotation in 2018. Yeah, he's already 32, but that's like 22 in crafty, soft-tossing lefty years.
It stinks to lose your job while out injured, but there never really was a good reason for Lucas Duda to be starting for the 2019 Royals. Whether it's Frank Schwindel or Jorge Bonifacio or Brett Phillips or even revisiting Cheslor Cuthbert, the team can do a lot better than the 33-year-old Duda, who has received little interest as a free agent and even less in the trade market.
More Willians Astudillo! Well, when he's healthy, of course -- but Astudillo is perhaps the Twins' most fascinating player and I'd love to see him be Husky Tony Phillips when he returns. I'd also recommend patience with Michael Pineda, who has outperformed his ERA, but it appears the team is committed to doing so anyway.
AL WEST
The team already has locked up Justin Verlander this year. With Keuchel gone and Collin McHugh a free agent-to-be, it is in the interest of the team to get some certainty on Gerrit Cole, who is now the youngest pitcher in the rotation. Cole denied the rumors that he had discussed an extension in March, but given he hasn't shut down the idea of talking during the season, I'd like to see the Astros reach an agreement with him.
At this point, expecting the Angels to cut Albert Pujols is probably unrealistic. Pujols has amassed a total of 0.4 WAR since 2014, essentially a single week's work for Mike Trout, but it'll be Justin Bour who loses playing time when Shohei Ohtani is ready to be the DH, not Pujols. But could the Angels at least stop hitting Pujols in the middle of the order and show some indication that the lineup around Trout actually matters to them?
Skye Bolt has responded to aggressive promotion in the minors by torching the Pacific Coast League to the tune of a .700 slugging percentage. Robbie Grossman has little value if he's not getting on base at a .380 clip (he's not), and using players like Bolt is something the team historically has done well. The team is under .500 and in need of catching lightning in a bottle, and who besides Bolt is more aptly named for such a role?
Seattle has been surprisingly competitive this season, and if the Mariners intend to continue in that direction, they still need a rotation upgrade; the ZiPS projections have the Mariners as having the second-worst rotation going forward among contention-viable teams, ahead of only the A's. It might be hard at this point to get the Giants to face reality and start shopping their veteran starting pitchers, but the M's should at least give them a reason to be interested. Don't wait for the deadline.
Now that Willie Calhoun is hitting again in the minors, it's time to move on from Hunter Pence. Pence has hit well in a dozen starts, but he's 36 and won't be on the team long no matter how well he hits. He has shown enough that there might be interest from a team desperate for outfield help, such as the Indians.
NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
I'm still a fan of Ender Inciarte's talents, but Ronald Acuña Jr. is the franchise player and the team ought to see how he'd fare as the center fielder full time. Inciarte will still be terrific in left, but the Braves would be smart to not repeat the mistake the Orioles made with Manny Machado by waiting years to let him play shortstop. In a decade, Acuña will be exiting his prime, still with the Braves, and Inciarte will have been retired for three years.
With Lewis Brinson in the minors after some serious struggles, it's a good opportunity to look at Monte Harrison in a situation where he could get at least a cup of coffee without having to sit on the bench. If Brinson can get his career on track, pushing Curtis Granderson out of a starting job shouldn't be that difficult.
Sign Dallas Keuchel. Yes, you don't like to spend money, but why make these offseason moves only to intentionally start Jason Vargas in what is perhaps the most brutally competitive division in baseball? Vargas has been dreadful since the 2017 All-Star break, and one non-disastrous start against the Reds doesn't change things.
While he's still probably the odd man out in a five-man rotation, Nick Pivetta's demotion to the minors was premature and he now has struck out 23 of the 50 batters he has faced in Lehigh Valley. He has dominated there before, and I think the Phillies could creatively find him multiple-inning stints in the major league bullpen.
Like the Mariners, the Nats could use another starting pitcher -- the plan to rely on both Jeremy Hellickson and Anibal Sanchez repeating surprising 2018 seasons is perhaps a bit optimistic. And the Nationals have the ability to offer the Giants more for Madison Bumgarner or Jeff Samardzija than the Mariners do. The NL East isn't getting any easier, so waiting doesn't make much sense.
NL CENTRAL
While obviously controversial, Addison Russell will be back on the club after a stint in the minors that could last a few weeks. When he comes back, though, it should be at second base. Javier Baez has looked more and more comfortable since moving to shortstop, putting his erratic early-career performances there behind him.
A Jesse Winker-Nick Senzel-Yasiel Puig outfield with Scott Schebler as the primary reserve gives the Reds their best chance at winning games. Matt Kemp never really made that much sense on this roster and makes even less sense now that the Reds no longer have to make up fairy tales around Senzel's service time.
At the start of the season, I said that the Brewers' hope was that Keston Hiura would progress fast enough to give them an interesting problem at second base. Hiura has done that, and getting him some at-bats in the majors and spelling Travis Shaw and Ryan Braun -- both of whom have struggled -- could be beneficial to the offense. It might result in the team having to reduce the bullpen to seven given that players such as Jesus Aguilar and Hernan Perez are out of options, but the offense after Christian Yelich needs to improve.
The Pirates don't have to call up a fifth starter to replace injured Chris Archer (thumb) given their off days in the schedule, but rather than rush Archer back, the team should give Mitch Keller his major league debut. While I also would have liked the team to take a peek at JT Brubaker, he's out because of a sore forearm.
It was a gutsy move to give Dakota Hudson a job in the rotation out of spring training, but his command has been erratic and his velocity has been off from his 2018 debut. If not in the minors, he ought to be in the bullpen, and John Gant has earned a shot to start.
NL WEST
This is probably more of a long shot than a lot of these moves, but with Zack Godley no longer in the rotation and Jon Duplantier not an option to return to the majors for more than a week due to MLB's transaction rules, what about starting Archie Bradley? Yes, he struggled as a starter early in his career, but he's a better pitcher than he was then and has developed a sinker in recent years. He has always expressed an interest in starting again and would be more valuable as a starter than in relief, so I don't see what Arizona has to lose by giving him a shot.
Even though Ian Desmond has been one of the worst players in baseball over the past three years, the Rockies refuse to bench him for more than a game at a time. Every time they appear on the verge of facing reality, Desmond hits a homer and all is forgiven while he struggles for the next month. Raimel Tapia ought to be starting full time for the Rockies. The $70 million Colorado spent on Desmond is a total loss and continuing to play him doesn't recover a single dime of it.
I thought the Dodgers should be aggressive in joining the contract-extension party this spring and lock up Cody Bellinger for the next decade. The price is only going up after Bellinger spent April terrorizing the National League. It might be even more urgent to lock up Corey Seager, already in his fourth year from a service-time standpoint. When Andrew Friedman took over, the Dodgers had more than half a billion dollars in future salary guarantees. Past this season, that number is down to the $200 million range, but Bellinger and Seager should be the foundation of the Dodgers' offense for the next decade.
Luis Urias -- now. I think Ian Kinsler can still help a team, but his bat has been awful and he rightfully has lost his starting job. It made sense to send Urias to the minors if the team wasn't willing to give him the second-base job full time, but after seven home runs in 11 games at Triple-A (he hit eight in 120 games at Triple-A last year), what more does he need to do now? We've reached the point where Urias and Fernando Tatis Jr. should be San Diego's middle infield -- at least after Tatis recovers from his painful-looking ballet move.
Throw in the towel. Apollo Creed was less done against Ivan Drago than the Giants are now. The team is old, the talent is thin, the minor leagues are empty. The team doesn't want to rebuild, but at this point it has no choice. And it's clearly better to start the process when you still have players with trade value. Don't wait for the deadline -- start dealing the remaining talent now while players such as Brandon Belt and Madison Bumgarner can have a greater impact on their new teams and San Francisco can get more in return.