CHICAGO — Depending on which team you root for, this has been the longest or shortest offseason in baseball history.
If your team accomplished everything it set out to do this winter, the wait for spring training may have been relatively easy. If the owner mostly stood still while his peers added on, it probably has been as excruciatingly slow as waiting on a CTA bus during a polar vortex.
But now, with one week remaining until pitchers and catchers report in Arizona and Florida, everyone is on the same page and ready to get this thing going. The start of spring training always brings hope to the hopeless, even when your team’s front office spent the last three months in hibernation.
Thanks to the owners’ lockout in the winter of 2021-22, the last offseason started with a bang, stopped dead in its tracks on Dec. 1 and proceeded with a flurry of signings once the new collective bargaining agreement was reached March 10.
This offseason returned to the old norms, with the bulk of the action taking place in the weeks immediately before and after the winter meetings in San Diego. The money was flowing, and it was almost as though the lockout never happened after the head-shaking spending spree.
While some talented free agents remain unsigned, most teams are pretty set as they prepare to gather at their camps to begin the long journey to October.
The Chicago Cubs were one of the busier teams this winter, part of President Jed Hoyer’s “intelligent spending” mantra that saw an increase in payroll for the first time in years. He netted one top-of-the-line free agent in shortstop Dansby Swanson, a potential front-line starter in Jameson Taillon and a few low-risk pickups, including center fielder Cody Bellinger and first baseman Eric Hosmer.
The rebuild that couldn’t be called a rebuild officially can be called over, and if the plan works as Hoyer expects, David Ross will manage meaningful games in September — and perhaps longer.
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, who said in October the team that flopped so miserably in 2022 didn’t need a major makeover, stayed true to his word. He signed free-agent left fielder Andrew Benintendi to a team-record five-year, $75 million deal after giving a one-year, prove-it contract to starting pitcher Mike Clevinger, whose status is unknown as MLB investigates domestic violence allegations.
The rest of Hahn’s offseason moves were so low-key, some wondered if Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wouldn’t spring for a new phone charger for the front office. In grading every team’s offseason moves, The Athletic handed out an F to the Sox, suggesting they made no attempt whatsoever to improve. That’s harsh, but few dispute the failing grade.
Of course, the only difference between the Cubs expecting rebound seasons from new players Bellinger and Hosmer and the Sox doing likewise with returning players Yasmani Grandal and Yoán Moncada is that the Sox are paying considerably more for their comeback candidates.
The bottom line is all four must revert to form for the Cubs and Sox to contend. And no matter what you thought of the Cubs’ moves — or the Sox’s lack of moves — both teams will head into camp talking postseason, as it should be.
The Sox look at 2022 as an aberration after turning the corner on their rebuild in 2020, while the Cubs point to the second half of ‘22 as a jump start after the much-debated summer sell-off of 2021.
Expectations may not be as high outside their clubhouses, as plenty of questions remain for both teams. Sox closer Liam Hendriks will miss time while receiving cancer treatment, and they haven’t named a replacement. The Cubs are also without a bona fide closer, and their lineup remains strikeout-prone.
But that shouldn’t matter in the long run if the key players live up to their billing on both sides of town. The National League Central and American League Central are both winnable. If not, even a wild-card spot should be acceptable for weary Cubs and Sox fans.
The two managers will be under the spotlight, albeit for different reasons. Ross is entering his fourth year on the North Side after compiling a .466 winning percentage in his first three seasons. Of the 14 managers in Cubs history with four or more seasons in Chicago, only Jimmie Wilson’s .452 percentage from 1941-44 is lower than Ross’s current mark.
Ross received an extension before last season, which showed Hoyer’s faith in his manager’s ability to get the Cubs back to being an annual contender. After all the roster moves this winter, it will be on Ross to prove Hoyer made the right call. No more talk about “playing hard” and “showing character.” Winning is the only goal.
Hahn hired Kansas City Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol to replace Tony La Russa, bypassing bench coach Miguel Cairo, who was let go after serving as interim manager during the stretch run. Grifol has a blank slate in his first managerial assignment, though without SoxFest this winter, he didn’t get much of a chance to explain how he’ll change course.
But at the very least Grifol seems to have a sunny disposition, which should lighten the mood come spring training. Good spring vibes are vastly underrated. Some of us can recall former Sox manager Terry Bevington perpetually scowling during his first camp as manager in 1996, which created a tense relationship with his players that bled into the season.
“I’ve never been a real jovial guy,” Bevington explained after a week of camp. “Even when I was in Little League. There’s always something on my mind. Sometimes my wife is talking to me and I’m like that, and she says I’m grouchy. But that’s just how I am.”
Grifol has all spring to nurture a group that should remember how much fun it had playing together under Rick Renteria. Then we’ll find out whether that vibe can translate into a more relaxed and focused team in the 2023 season.
So the countdown to spring training continues, and anticipation mounts.
Starting over always feels good, no matter how long it took us to get there.
