A new year is almost here and I have a recap on the Landlubbers offseason.

March 15, 2023, 07:08:44 PM

Before the assets acquired through the rebuild started filtering into the team, a championship took the city of Ann Arbor by surprise. As we look toward the new year we have to cover some tough decisions that probably would not have been made if the championship hadn’t been won last season. I’ll take you through each position to cover what will be a very different look to the team.

At CATCHER we will see the same two home grown players in Danny Jansen with his new Arbitration contract and Alejandro Kirk. Kirk is expected to play a much bigger role this year as he matures one more year. In anticipation of this step forward Keven Plawecki, a long-time backup for the team, is no longer here.

At 1B we see the most controversial situation of the offseason. Fan Favorite, player who survived multiple trade rumors, and player with maybe the largest role in last season’s championship run, Matt Olson, is no longer with the team. He won his arbitration case at 1-year 8M which was higher than the 5.5M offered by the team and was subsequently cut. Olson will be playing for the Anglerfish where he got a 3-year 7.25M contract. Austin Riley, who played 3B all last season will move over to 1B.

At 2B we had a similar situation, though less controversial, as another home-grown player that played all last year at second won his arbitration at 5.5M. This was more than the 4.675M offered and was released. Polanco will go to the Rattlers at 3-years, 4.75M; Scoop was also not re-signed. This opens the door for 2022 first round pick Vaughn Grissom, and previously acquired via trade Vidal Brujan to find their way into the roster. Trevor Story was signed at 3M per season to mentor and fill the gaps while these prospects mature.

With last years 3B Austin Riley expected to move to 1B the position was wide open. There was much hope for Brian Anderson after his performance two years ago but last year wasn’t great. The club did not accept his Arbitration of 2M and he tested FA where he found a 1.5M contract with Koi. The GM signed Kyle Farmer in FA with a 2-year contract of 1.8M to fill the year and provide strong defense.

SS gets weird. Brandon Crawford was signed to a large 3-year $5.5 million deal last offseason and played a large role in the championship run. The GM seems to have looked at him this spring and just wrote him off for the season. Instead, Tommy Edman was signed for 3-years 5M. Will he stick? or will we need another 5M SS next year?

The OF last year was simple. Grossman in left, Canha in Center, Carlson in right basically all season. This year we have several new signings and have not been given much clarification from the GM on the plan. What we do know is Canha chose Free Agency and went to the Miners for $4.05M. We anticipate Grossman to get some playing time in Left field against Lefties. New signing Trayce Thompson will probably see time in left as well again righties and some defensive support. Manuel Margot who signed for 3M is expected to play center. Carlson and new signing TJ Friedl will likely share time in right. Newly signed Dylan Moore will probably get a chance at some point this season for anyone who needs relief.

Lastly, J.D. Martinez was signed at 2.4M for 2 years to be a DH. On days off we will probably see newly promoted Christopher Morel getting some DH time.

Also promoted Oswaldo Cabrera will likely play a utility role in the infield and provide defensive support.

Pitching is much the same quality this year but with a few new names. Rotation players leaving include Kluber, Civale, and Urquidy. Urquidy really cashed in on his good year last year and took a big jump in pay going to the Sweets for 5.5M. Tyler Mahle and Kevin Gausman both got raises and resigned at 4.275M and 6.75M respectively. This means Mahle, Gausman, Paddack, and Sandoval are all returning this year. Matt Manning and Reid Detmers both made the 40-man and are expected to sprinkle in some starts. Tyler Wells who had an amazing playoffs in relief is expected to try starting this year and this is true for Cristian Javier as well.

In relief Ryan Pressly is back and expected to take over as closer after the tough words the GM had for Jansen during the playoffs. Jansen should still play setup but may lose that role as well. Michael King is expected to take a step forward and play a role in long relief. Ryan Tepera is still around if needed and Roansy Contreras made the 40-man team and expected to see some innings in relief as well. Three new signings are expected to play critical roles throughout the year. These pitchers are Erik Swanson, Connor Overton, and Jimmy Herget.

We expect another fun and competitive year. Pitching is about on par with last year. Bats might be a little softer, but defense will hopefully improve. We will see what happens after spring training concludes.