MLB: The Losers of the Off-season

We all know about the huge contracts that were shelled out over this baseball off-season.

A picture on August 24th,2010, now worth 1,000 words. Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta (center) gives starting pitcher Fausto Carmona (55) a pat on the back as he leaves the game for the night during the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field. If this was only the worst for Fausto, or a whatever his name is, things would be good.(photo by: US PRESSWIRE/Jason Miller)

Prince Fielder became an extremely wealthy man when he signed the dotted line to play for the Detroit Tigers and is expected to combine with Miguel Cabrera to make one of the most powerful infields in all of baseball.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever the team goes by now) drastically improved with the signings of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson and now have a top-tier offense and pitching staff.

There is a lot of buzz around dominant Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish for the Rangers. Even the Yankees improved exponentially trading for Hiroki Kuroda and Michael Pineda.

But what about the teams who missed out?  There are 5 who were really stung by the moves in baseball this offseason.

5. Oakland As/Seattle Mariners

The Mariners lost out on a potentially great young pitcher in Pineda in a trade with the Yankees. They didn’t make any huge moves either. Oakland didn’t lose anyone significant to free agency, nor did they lose out on any significant players. However, both of these teams are going to be the punching bags of the AL West. The Angels were already a playoff contender and the Rangers were literally an out away from a world championship. They each improved and for the other two in the division this is a true case of “if you’re not improving, you’re getting worse.”

4. Baltimore Orioles

Buck Showalter got this team to play incredible baseball at the end of the 2010 season and early in the 2011 campaign. However, by the end of the year, they were in the cellar of the AL East. The New York Yankees improved its pitching staff so that the rotation won’t be near the bottom of the league as it had been the past few seasons. Let’s not forget the Bombers always have a killer offense. Combine that with the Boston Red Sox being “who we thought they were” and your Rays getting Carlos Pena back through free agency makes for a long summer in Baltimore.

3. New York Mets

The Miami Marlins got better when Jose Reyes decided to take his talents to South Beach. That team has “swagger” on the infield and speed to burn in the outfield. That same Reyes spurned the Mets by leaving them in free agency. The Yankees’ upgrades won’t make Mets fans feel better either.

2. Washington Nationals

Along with the Combine that with the fact that Prince decided to go to Motown rather than the nation’s capital will make for a sad summer in D.C.

1. Cleveland Indians

The number one team is basically everyone in the AL Central not named the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers picked up Prince Fielder to create a monster infield with him and Miguel Cabrera possibly on each corner. Also, down the road Victor Martinez will help when his knee recovers next season.

I chose the Indians to represent the team most hurt by this move because they were hopeful to try to compete for the division as they did last year. Factor that with the “Carmona” experience makes for a long summer.