Fixing a Hole While Teams Train This Spring To Stop the East Clubs From Wondering What They Should Do

If the winter is a time for dreams, the spring is a time for solutions. Your team may have been going after Juan Soto or Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani, depending on the offseason, but short of something going weird in free agency (like the unsigned Boras clients last year), if you don’t have them under contract at this point, they’ll be improving someone else’s club. However, that doesn’t mean that spring training is only about ramping up for the daily grind. Teams have real needs to address, and while they’re no doubt workshopping their own solutions – or possibly convincing themselves that the problem doesn’t exist, like when I wonder why my acid reflux is awful after some spicy food – that doesn’t mean that we can’t cook up some ideas in the FanGraphs test kitchen.

This is the first piece in a three-part series in which I’ll propose one way for each team to fill a roster hole or improve for future seasons. Some of my solutions are more likely to happen than others, but I tried to say away from the completely implausible ones. We’ll leave the hypothetical trades for Bobby Witt Jr. and Paul Skenes to WFAN callers. Also, I will not recommend the same fix for different teams; in real life, for example, David Robertson can help only one club’s bullpen. Today, we’ll cover the 10 teams in the East divisions, beginning with the five in the AL East before moving on to their counterparts in the NL East. Each division is sorted by the current Depth Charts projected win totals.

New York Yankees: Get rid of DJ LeMahieu already
ZiPS is strangely bullish on DJ LeMahieu’s ability to contribute this season, but I’m far less confident. Still owed money for 2025 and 2026, LeMahieu is likely to miss the start of the season with a calf injury, but the Yankees have not yet laid out a timetable for his return, and their third base situation is still muddy entering the 2025 campaign. Let’s clear it up for them by releasing LeMahieu. Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza may not be the most exciting players, but they’re both legitimate options at third. The Yankees should let them fight it out without having to worry about the 36-year-old LeMahieu supplanting either of them for the starting job as soon as he recovers. If the Yankees want to push the duo with more options at the hot corner, they can add Jorbit Vivas and Pablo Reyes to the competition; Reyes specifically is coming off a shockingly good season in the high minors. LeMahieu should be able to get a job elsewhere, especially if the Yankees are covering his salary. He is no longer an impact player on a contending roster, and the sooner the Yankees stop hoping he can return to being the player he was a few years ago, the better off they’ll be.

Boston Red Sox: Figure out a Garrett Crochet extension
The Red Sox are riding high after picking up Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman this offseason. They’re becoming a trendy playoff pick, and this is one of those I agree with; I think the Red Sox have a solid offense, a sneaky-good rotation, and enough depth that they’re in as good a position as any team in baseball to make midseason trades. Nothing would wipe away the last of the awkwardness from the Mookie Betts situation than making sure Crochet stays in Boston long term. He clearly wants to get something done, and the Red Sox shouldn’t have made the trade at all if they weren’t willing to keep him around. Here’s how ZiPS expects Crochet to perform over the length of a possible extension.

Ignore the games started column because Crochet’s situation is a bit unusual. ZiPS is factoring in his messy health history and conservative usage in the past, but there are reasons to believe he’ll carry a different workload moving forward. Most teams wouldn’t do what the White Sox did last year, when they converted him to a starter while he was coming off a major surgery, and he excelled where most pitchers presumably wouldn’t have. His projected innings here are more solid, and they already reflect the significant injury risk that should be considered for any possible Crochet extension. After also taking into account his $4.5 million salary for 2025 and the fact that he’s still arbitration eligible for 2026, ZiPS suggests offering Crochet a seven-year, $175 million contract starting this season. That doesn’t need to be Boston’s final offer, but it is a solid framework for what an extension could and should look like. Yes, there are risks, but the Red Sox shouldn’t sit at the high rollers table if they’re not willing to push in their chips.

Baltimore Orioles: Move Chayce McDermott to the bullpen
The Orioles have developed a lot of high-end offensive talent during their rebuild, but the pitching returns have been more mixed. Grayson Rodriguez looks good, but not Skenes-like, and most of the arms they had in the system five years ago are no longer around. Chayce McDermott is a Top 100 prospect in our official FanGraphs rankings, and he just missed in the ZiPS version of the exercise, coming in at 111. The problem is that he’s unusually old to be on a prospect list for someone who is not coming over from an Asian professional league; he turns 27 later this season, and he was unfortunately injured last year at an obvious entry point to get him some time in the majors. He’s recovering from a minor lat injury at the moment, but I don’t think he would’ve had a real shot at opening the season in the rotation anyway.

Especially with Trevor Rogers expected to get another shot at the rotation at some point and Kyle Bradish targeting to return in the summer, there’s not a clear route for McDermott to start much for the O’s in 2025, if at all. McDermott still wants to start, but a move to the bullpen might be his best route toward getting a starting spot down the line. He has four usable pitches but struggles with his command, and a trip to the bullpen has ironed those issues out for a lot of pitchers in the past. Scaling down his challenge with a relief role would also give him a clearer path to a job in the majors. There’s no reason that would have to be forever, either; teams treat the starter/reliever roles with more ambiguity these days than at any time since the start of the Expansion Era. If he’s getting guys out in the late innings, there’s no permanent barrier preventing him from returning to the rotation in the future.

Toronto Blue Jays: Trade Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
I hate, hate, HATE that I’m saying this, but once the moment passed for the Jays to extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr., I think so did the argument that they should hold off on retooling. Unlike Bo Bichette, who is coming off a disappointing year, Guerrero’s trade value won’t be higher for Toronto than it is now. Pretty much any team in the wild card hunt without Vladito would automatically jump to the front of the race upon acquiring him, and for a full season of his services, the Blue Jays could expect a serious prospect package in return. They probably won’t get as much for him once the season starts. Last week, a few days after the extension deadline expired, I went into more detail about the Guerrero’s situation and long-term outlook. You should check that out for more info.

Tampa Bay Rays: Embrace Joe Boyle as a reliever
One thing I noticed in the ZiPS projections is that this is the weakest Tampa Bay bullpen the computer has projected in some time, though it’s still an acceptable one. The Rays seem to like the idea of Joe Boyle as a starter, but his profile just screams “overpowering fastball-slider reliever dude.” His woeful 52% first-strike percentage in Oakland last year, and his even worse 48.7% mark in the minors last year, won’t do anything to dampen the general concerns about his command. ZiPS gives him a projected 4.60 ERA if he’s used primarily as a starter; that’s surprisingly not awful for someone who has regularly walked seven or eight batters per game at all levels. But he has one of the biggest starter/reliever splits in the ZiPS projections, with his projected ERA all the way down around 3.00 in a full-time relief role. If the Rays can fix his command enough for him to be a viable starter, they certainly could do the same for him as a reliever, and this is an organization that views pitcher roles as fluid anyway. If things work out for him in the bullpen, the Rays could always move him back to the rotation in the future.

Atlanta Braves: Add an outfielder for extra depth
A healthy Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II would give the Braves one of the better outfields in baseball, and Jurickson Profar should be a valuable addition to the lineup, even if he regresses from his career year in 2024. But Atlanta’s backups there aren’t promising, and considering how tight things are expected to be at the top of the NL East, the Braves should buttress their depth on the grass. They don’t need to do anything too fancy here, just some kind of fringe prospect fielder or minor league veteran who doesn’t have a clear path to playing time on his current club, like Colby Thomas of the A’s or DeShawn Keirsey Jr. of the Twins. Atlanta could also target Toronto’s Addison Barger, who disappointed in the majors in 2024 but is probably a good bit better than his numbers suggest. I find guys like these more interesting than Eli White or Jake Marisnick, the types who are expected to fill out the Triple-A Gwinnett roster.

Philadelphia Phillies: Try to trade for Luis Robert Jr.
I’m not positive that the White Sox are even at a place where they would seriously consider trading Luis Robert Jr., but Philadelphia should certainly see what it would take to get him. It’s not center field that’s so much the problem for the Phillies, but right field, though I suspect they’re happier with Nick Castellanos there than I would be. But if we’re addressing team weaknesses, it would be malpractice not to talk about the fact that Castellanos’ bat has been below average for the position in four of the last five seasons, he’s one of the worst defensive outfielders in the majors right now, and he’s entering his mid-30s. The Phillies get a lot of their production from older players, so their current contention window isn’t going to be open forever. I’d start by offering the White Sox their pick of whatever young players they want from the Phillies system not named Andrew Painter or Aidan Miller, hoping I can dazzle the rebuilding South Siders with quantity. Robert comes with some risk after he was injured and struggled last season, but that also means he could come cheaper. But even if the White Sox aren’t asking for less in return than they would’ve if Robert were coming off a year of his typical production, he still would probably be worth it for Philadelphia. There just aren’t a lot of other quality outfielders available.

New York Mets: Find a lefty reliever
The Mets have a decent bullpen, one that’s solidly above average if you believe the projections, but ZiPS at least thinks the vast majority of this bullpen’s value comes from the top four pitchers on the depth chart. One thing the Mets are not deep on here is lefties, which is why I’m going to suggest something that sounds frightening at first read: Sign Patrick Corbin. Now, he should never start a game in the majors ever again, but he has notable platoon splits, his slider was more effective in 2024 than it has been in years, and he’s had more time to refine the cutter he’s been working on. If he doesn’t get an offer for a guaranteed contract, perhaps the Mets could get him on a minor league deal with the ability to opt-out if he doesn’t get called up by a certain date, and see what he looks like in a month. I’d also like to explore signing Brooks Raley to an incentive-filled one-year contract for the second half, when he’s expected back from Tommy John surgery, with some sort of option for 2026. Little moves like these may keep the Mets from having to retool their bullpen in July.

Washington Nationals: Sign Spencer Turnbull
If you look at the Washington Nationals, you can see the foundation for their next contending club in the coming years. There’s real offensive upside here with James Wood, Dylan Crews, CJ Abrams, and Luis García Jr.. They also made two smart short-term adds in trading for Nathaniel Lowe without giving up much and signing Josh Bell. But Washington’s pitching staff projects to be among the worst in baseball, and if this team is going to make a surprise wild card run, it’ll need to add some quality arms. I’d like to see the Nationals go after Spencer Turnbull, who I think is the most interesting pitcher left out there. Between injuries, he’s flashed some potential to be a no. 2 starter, and if he isn’t quite that good, he definitely has a higher ceiling at this point than hurlers like Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson.

Miami Marlins: Sign (in order to trade) J.D. Martinez
J.D. Martinez is definitely on the down slope of his career, but at least according to ZiPS, he is still projected to have a higher OPS+ than every Marlins hitter except Jesús Sánchez. Miami needs an awful lot to go right to be anywhere near contention come September, but if there’s even a chance to be competitive this year, it’ll need to grab whatever shred of offensive value it can find. Of course, the Marlins don’t care about winning in 2025, but that’s all the more reason to scoop up Martinez on the cheap. Come July, they can flip him for a minor prospect return to whatever contending club realizes its DH position is a dumpster fire.

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