The MLB offseason is all but over, and spring training games will soon commence.
How do you feel about that news? Well, your reaction might hinge on which team you root for. Our friends in San Diego are probably champing at the bit to see Xander Bogaerts on the field in a Padres uniform. Same for fans of the Texas Rangers, who can’t wait to see Jacob deGrom take the mound for the first time.
But if your team wasn’t quite so active, your reaction to the sudden onset of spring training might be something like, “Wait, what? That’s it?”
Obviously some teams were more active than others. Some spent a lot, some spent virtually nothing. But no team checked off every single item on the offseason wish lists their fans conceived in November.
In a tradition we started a year ago, we’re going to look at one possible outstanding item on each team’s to-do list. But we’re not going to grumble about these items. Instead we’re going to channel the likely mindset behind the unfinished business and explain why the heck your team didn’t bother to make the move you thought they needed to make.