Winter Report Cards: Handing out off-season grades for each team
The Hot Stove season is rapidly drawing to a close, but before we turn our attention to teams arriving at spring training camps in Florida and Arizona, let's look back at a busy off-season and hand out grades for all 30 teams in our Winter Report Card series.
SI.com baseball experts Cliff Corcoran and Jay Jaffe have recapped every squad's off-season to see which ones aced the past few months and which ones flunked. They ran down the key additions and departures for each team, revisited the notable signings and trades and highlighted the unfinished business to be taken care of before the season starts. Finally, they weighed in with a preliminary grade on how the team did this winter before checking in with a final grade right before camps open.
Check the list below to find your team's Winter Report Card and see how it did this off-season. Teams are presented in reverse order of their 2015 finish. At the end of the off-season, Corcoran and Jaffe have reconsidered, and in some cases, adjusted the grades they assigned before teams were done wheeling and dealing. To see the updated American League grades, click here. National League grades will be updated on Tuesday.
• MORE MLB: Keep track of every free-agent move with our tracker
St. Louis Cardinals
2015 Record: 100–62
Preliminary Grade: A
Thanks to the team's enviable depth, the Cardinals were able to weather some big free-agent losses.
Pittsburgh Pirates
2015 Record: 98–64
Preliminary Grade: C-
Sticking with smaller roster moves, Pittsburgh failed to keep pace with its NL Central rivals this winter.
Chicago Cubs
2015 Record: 97–65
Preliminary Grade: A
Already boasting a talented young core, the Cubs made some deft additions in a stellar off-season.
Kansas City Royals
2015 Record: 95–67
Preliminary Grade: B+
Re-signing Alex Gordon was the biggest and most necessary move for the defending world champions.
Toronto Blue Jays
2015 Record: 93–69
Preliminary Grade: B
Despite losing David Price, the Blue Jays' winter still featured plenty of smart if small transactions.
Los Angeles Dodgers
2015 Record: 92–70
Preliminary Grade: B-
The Dodgers' off-season was a bit of a mess, but it was far from the disaster that some claimed it to be.
New York Mets
2015 Record: 90–72
Preliminary Grade: B+
Yoenis Cespedes is back in the fold as the Mets focused on shorter-term moves to flesh out their pennant-winning roster.
Texas Rangers
2015 Record: 88–74
Preliminary Grade: B-
Texas didn't do much this off-season, which may come back to haunt them with a leftfield hole that has yet to be filled.
New York Yankees
2015 Record: 87–75
Preliminary Grade: B
No free agents? No problem for the Yankees, who spent their off-season executing some savvy yet risky trades.
Houston Astros
2015 Record: 86–76
Preliminary Grade: C+
The Astros got their closer in Ken Giles, though Houston still has more to do if it wants to stay a contender.
Los Angeles Angels
2015 Record: 85–77
Preliminary Grade: F
The Angels had one job this winter: upgrade their offense. But Los Angeles failed to achieve even in that modest task.
San Francisco Giants
2015 Record: 84–78
Preliminary Grade: A-
They didn't get Zack Greinke, but Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija made for good consolation prizes for the Giants.
Minnesota Twins
2015 Record: 83–79
Preliminary Grade: B+
Thanks to their young and talented core, the Twins didn't have to do much this off-season—and smartly didn't.
Washington Nationals
2015 Record: 83–79
Preliminary Grade: A-
Despite suffering some big losses in free agency, the Nationals had themselves a smart, if small, off-season.
Baltimore Orioles
2015 Record: 81–81
Preliminary Grade: B-
Chris Davis and Matt Wieters are back, but the Orioles still have more work to do if they want to stay contenders.
Cleveland Indians
2015 Record: 81–80
Preliminary Grade: D+
The Indians desperately needed help on offense this winter, but the team was frustratingly quiet in a bad off-season.
Tampa Bay Rays
2015 Record: 80–82
Preliminary Grade: D+
Perhaps no team was as inactive this off-season as Tampa, which had not made any meaningful moves when this WRC was written.
Arizona Diamondbacks
2015 Record: 79–83
Preliminary Grade: B-
Arizona made a huge splash with Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller, though the cost for each was painful.
Boston Red Sox
2015 Record: 78–84
Preliminary Grade: A-
David Price leads an impressive off-season haul for Dave Dombrowski and the revamped Red Sox.
Seattle Mariners
2015 Record: 76–86
Preliminary Grade: B-
New general manager Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners were busy this off-season, but did the team get better?
Chicago White Sox
2015 Record: 76–86
Preliminary Grade: B+
Reloading once again, Chicago made some key improvements, particularly with Todd Frazier at third base.
Detroit Tigers
2015 Record: 74–87
Preliminary Grade: B
Jordan Zimmermann and Justin Upton are on board as the Tigers got good deals in filling some pressing holes.
San Diego Padres
2015 Record: 74–88
Preliminary Grade: C
The once-again retooled Padres remain a work in progress after a productive but incomplete off-season.
Miami Marlins
2015 Record: 71–91
Preliminary Grade: B-
Signing Wei-Yin Chen and not trading Jose Fernandez add up to a positive off-season for once in Miami.
Oakland Athletics
2015 Record: 68–94
Preliminary Grade: B-
A quiet off-season featured some needed upgrades but no major improvements for a stagnant A's team.
Colorado Rockies
2015 Record: 68–94
Preliminary Grade: C-
The Rockies' free-agent moves were bizarre, but the team's focus remains on the future, and not on 2016.
Milwaukee Brewers
2015 Record: 68–94
Preliminary Grade: B-
Milwaukee made no big moves this off-season, but its rebuild got some help with some smaller, solid deals.
Cincinnati Reds
2015 Record: 64–98
Preliminary Grade: D+
The return on the trades of Aroldis Chapman and Todd Frazier could have been better for an overhauling Reds team.
Philadelphia Phillies
2015 Record: 63–99
Preliminary Grade: A
The Phillies continued their long-running rebuild with a strong, smart off-season, including a surprise trade of Ken Giles.
