5 MLB teams that could surprise in 2015
By Stephen Igoe
The start of the regular season is still more than two months away, but here are five MLB teams that could surprise in the coming year
The Kansas City Royals shocked many with its run to the World Series last season. Below are five teams that could pull off a Royals-like turnaround and shock some baseball pundits in the coming season.
Chicago Cubs
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It was only a matter of time before Theo Epstein worked his magic and turned the Cubs’ franchise around. Heading into his fourth year, the Cubs president of baseball operations kicked things off with a bang by hiring former Rays manager Joe Madden to lead a young, but talent-filled roster in Chicago.
The Cubs upgraded their pitching staff in a much-needed way by inking Jon Lester earlier this offseason, and the rest of the rotation is respectable with the likes of Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks and Travis Wood. Chicago is also believed to still be in the mix for Max Scherzer as well.
Anthony Rizzo is one of the best young sluggers in the game, while Javier Baez has the power to grow into a special player. Led by Arismendy Alcantara and Jorge Soler, the Cubs are young but talented in the outfield. The offseason catcher additions of Miguel Montero and David Ross should help aid the pitching staff’s stability.
The overall youth and bullpen concerns could keep the Cubs from winning a title in 2015, but there’s no reason to believe they shouldn’t be able to at least contend.
Chicago White Sox
From one Windy City team to another. Perhaps no club among Major League Baseball has tried to change its roster via offseason acquisitions more so than the White Sox. General Manager Rick Hahn has led an offseason charge with an end goal of the White Sox contending again in 2015.
The offseason moves thus far have included the addition of free agents Melky Cabrera, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche, Zach Duke, and most recently – Emilio Bonafacio. Chicago also traded for Jeff Samardzija. In all, the total expenditures add up to $141.5 million, $53 million of which will be on the books for the coming season.
Will the spending spree result in immediate contention after the White Sox sputtered to a fourth-place finish in the AL Central at 73-89 overall last season? Only time will tell, but Chicago already had a couple of cornerstones in place in ace Chris Sale and slugger Jose Abreu.
Cincinnati Reds
Injuries crushed the Reds’ chances of contention last season. Joey Votto, one of the game’s best sluggers, missed 100 games, while star second baseman Brandon Phillips missed 41. A knee injury hampered former all-star Jay Bruce to a career-low .217 average with limited pop.
Even with the amount of injuries, the Reds finished with a respectable 76-86 mark and remained in contention until the all-star break. Getting Votto, Phillips and Bruce back to full capacity would make a gigantic difference for Cincinnati this coming season, because some other pieces are in place.
Even after trading away starter Mat Latos to clear up some payroll, The Reds have a respectable front three of Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake and Homer Bailey. The bullpen needs some work beyond Aroldis Chapman, but Cincinnati has won with this core of players before, and there’s no reason to believe it can’t once again.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins were a surprise contender in the NL East for a good majority of last season, but sputtered down the stretch and ultimately finished with a 77-85 record and 19 games out of first. But some offseason moves combined with the expected continued growth of some of the Marlins’ youngsters has some around baseball high on Miami’s chances in 2015.
It chances of contention will begin and end with its starting rotation. The Marlins have one of the better young staffs in all of baseball, led by ace Jose Fernandez, one of the game’s top power arms. Henderson Alvarez and Jarred Cosart are two young starters coming into their own, while the Marlins bolstered their SP depth by acquiring Mat Latos from the Reds.
Offseason deals allowed the Marlins to add Michael Morse and Martin Prado to their corner infield spots, while locking up star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to a monster contract also made plenty of headlines.
While the Marlins’ roster is far from perfect, it’s a nice blend of youth and experience that could surprise next season.
Oakland Athletics
The Athletics have had an extremely busy offseason, with GM Billy Beane spending the majority of his time retooling what’s been a successful roster over the last few seasons. The A’s off-loaded Samardzija to the White Sox, gave up all-star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays, all-star slugger Brandon Moss to the Cleveland Indians, catcher Derek Norris to the Padres and let shortstop Jed Lowrie walk in free agency.
But just when it looked like Oakland was potentially done after acquiring Brett Lawrie and signing Billy Butler to a free agent deal, Beane made a splash on Saturday, trading John Jaso and prospects to the Rays for Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar, giving the A’s an entirely new starting infield for the 2015 season.
Despite the roster turnover among position players, the pieces are in place for another strong offense. That combined with a talented pitching rotation welcoming the likes of AJ Griffin and Jarrod Parker back from injuries, joining Sonny Gray and a host of other promising arms, the A’s might not miss a beat when it comes to contending next season.