Agree or Disagree: Responding to Bleacher Report’s “8 MLB Teams That’ll Have a Worse Record in 2024”

Feb 25

Today, I’ll be looking at Bleacher Report’s “8 MLB Teams That’ll Have a Worse Record in 2024”, and giving my verdict as to whether or not I agree. Let’s get right into it.

Baltimore Orioles

Verdict: DISAGREE

The Baltimore Orioles finished 101-61 in 2023, a breakout season considering the Orioles’ past struggles. Although reaching 100 wins in an extremely difficult task in a long, tiring 162-game season, I believe the Orioles will finish right around the 101-win mark again in 2024, or even better, barring no injuries.

For starters (haha) the Orioles acquired superstar Starting Pitcher Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers, who adds an ace-level pitcher with postseason experience to a team that was lacking it in last year’s postseason. They have the MLB’s Number 1 prospect Jackson Holliday waiting to take over second base, and if he can build off of the tools he flashed in his 18 games at AAA (.267/.396/.400 with 16 walks to 17 strikeouts) and provide the high level defense he flashed in the minors, it would be a clear upgrade over last year’s second baseman Adam Frazier.

Grayson Rodriguez improved throughout the season (7.35 1st half-earned run average, 2.58 2nd half-earned run average), and his strong second half came with a bigger sample size. There’s no reason to believe that he can’t continue to pitch at the level he did in the second half, and I believe he will.

Thus, I feel as if the Orioles have the potential to be even better than last year.

Miami Marlins

Verdict: AGREE

The Marlins did not have an inspiring offseason.

They lost their best power hitter in Jorge Soler, will not have Sandy Alcantara for most of if not all of the 2024 season, and with the addition of Tim Anderson, the Marlins may have the worst fielding infield in the Major Leagues (Josh Bell, Luis Arraez, Tim Anderson, and Jake Burger had a combined —26 defensive runs saved in 2023).

Anderson, the Marlins’ only significant offensive addition to a team that was 26th in team scoring in 2023, had a dismal 60 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus) in 2023 en route to the worst offensive season of his career.

This team will probably finish under .500 this year. Sorry, Marlins fans.

Milwaukee Brewers

Verdict: AGREE

The Brewers are definitely not reaching the 92-70 mark they reached in 2023.

Their rotation was pretty much gutted, losing Corbin Burnes in a trade with the Orioles (193.2 innings pitched), Adrian Houser in a trade with the Mets (111.1 innings pitched), and Eric Lauer (a free agent). Brandon Woodruff will not pitch in 2024 as well.

Their projected 2024 rotation via Fangraphs shows one established starter in Freddy Peralta, and a plethora of question marks after that. There are 11 pitchers projected to clear 100 innings, a bad sign for the stability and consistency of that rotation.

Their offense might keep them around .500, with mega-prospect Jackson Chourio on the doorstep of the Major Leagues, and free-agent signing Rhys Hoskins providing power, but this pitching staff will very likely cap their ceiling at around .500.

Minnesota twins

Verdict: AGREE… tentatively

The Twins had a brutal offseason in terms of departures, but some positives could propel the Twins to around the 87-win mark.

They lost their Ace Sonny Gray, longtime fan-favorite and lineup staple Jorge Polanco, Defensive stalwart Michael A. Taylor, rotation staple Kenta Maeda, and more.

These are tough losses. However, full seasons of Royce Lewis and Eduoard Julien should elevate the offensive potential, and a bounceback season from Carlos Correa should only add to that as well.

Thus, tentatively, I believe that the losses might outweigh the potential, however, if Royce Lewis and Julien can become all-star caliber players, and Correa bounces back, they could be better than their 2023 record.

San Diego Padres

Verdict: DISAGREE

I’m not too confident in this pick, but I feel like the article was being a bit harsh. Yes, they did lose Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha from their rotation, but they added a solid starter in Michael King, and extremely promising pitching prospects Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, and Jhony Brito. They also still have a reliable top-of-the-rotation arm in Joe Musgrove, and hopefully will get a healthier, rejuvenated Yu Darvish.

Although they lost Juan Soto in a trade with the Yankees, and haven’t added much to the outfield since then, Manny Machado should bounce back from his down 2023 season, and the trio of Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, and Ha-Seong Kim should provide value on both sides of the ball, especially since Bogaerts probably needed a move to second base to regain defensive value.

Young Catcher Luis Campusano posted a .319/.356/.491 slash line (163 At-Bats) in 2023, and looks primed to take over as the Catcher of the future. He should be a boost to the offense if he can continue that momentum.

Although the pitching will be more volatile, additions to the bullpen, and improvements on offense should help the Padres exceed the 82 wins they posted in 2023.

Tampa Bay rays

Verdict: AGREE

The Rays will likely see some regression in 2024.

They lost their two best Starting Pitchers, one to injury (Shane McClanahan), and the other in a trade with the Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow). Their starting shortstop situation looks bleak with the unfortunate situation of Wander Franco, with either the light-hitting Jose Cabellero or the defensively-limited Amed Rosario likely to be the opening-day Shortstop.

They have superstar prospect Junior Caminero waiting in the wings, who got a taste of MLB action last year, but he is still just 20 and has room to develop.

As the pitching lab of the league, their rotation still may be formidable with 2023 breakout Zach Eflin leading the rotation, and hard-throwing prospect Ryan Pepiot ready for MLB innings, but not having rotation staples Jeffery Springs or Drew Rasmussen will not help either.

Overall, mid-to-high 80s wins is where I see this team finishing.

Texas Rangers

Verdict: Uhhh… definitely DISAGREE

Bleacher Report is basing this pick off the fact that the reigning World Series champion was one of the teams that got at least 10 games worse in three of the five two-year stretches Bleacher Report looked at in these type of articles.

Come on.

This team will likely lose Jordan Montgomery but will be getting Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer back at some point early in the season. They’ll get a full season of breakout rookie Evan Carter, and top prospect and baseball masher Wyatt Langford could see MLB action this year and be a real contributor to the team.

So no, I don’t think the Rangers will post below 90 wins this year. This was a blasphemous take.

Washington Nationals

Verdict: AGREE

The Nationals were not expected to be good. And they definitely won’t be good.

Improvements from young cornerstone C.J. Abrams will be a welcome sight, and the potential arrival of top hitting prospects James Wood and 2023 first-round pick Dylan Crews will generate a lot of buzz around this team.

In reality, however, these are incredibly young players, and expectations will likely need to be tempered.

Their rotation will not be good, and neither will their bullpen. The fact that they reached 70 wins last year, with such a young team, was a commendable achievement. But with a few significant subtractions, and no additions that move the needle, 70 wins seems like a tough sell.