The snow is thawing, the grass is green and players are in the best shape of their lives. The sounds of birds chirping and the welcomed sight of clouds parting confirm it: spring training is here, and baseball is officially back.
Technically, the offseason doesn’t end until Opening Day. But with the bulk of transactions over and done with, now felt like the right time to hand out our official offseason grades for all 30 clubs. We handed out midterm progress reports two months ago, but there’s been plenty of activity between then and now to shake things up.
As we inch closer and closer to actual, real-deal games returning, it’s time to check out the report cards. After grading the National League teams on Tuesday, it’s the American League’s turn.
Baltimore Orioles
Key acquisitions: 1B Pete Alonso (five years, $155 million), OF Taylor Ward, SP Shane Baz, RP Ryan Helsley (two years, $28 million), SP Chris Bassitt (one year, $18.5 million), SP Zach Eflin (re-signed, one year, $10 million), RP Andrew Kittredge (one year, $10 million), IF Blaze Alexander
Key departures: SP Grayson Rodriguez, SP Tomoyuki Sugano, C Gary Sánchez
While the Orioles would have loved to land an ace-level pitcher like Framber Valdez, the team did well in adding volume to its rotation, signing Bassitt and Eflin on one-year deals and acquiring Baz in a trade with Tampa Bay. Baltimore added serious power to its lineup with Alonso and Ward, who combined for 74 home runs last season. After last season’s flameout, the O’s look poised to return to the playoffs.
Grade: A
Seattle Mariners
Key acquisitions: 1B Josh Naylor (re-signed, five years, $92.5 million), IF Brendan Donovan, RP Jose A. Ferrer, OF Rob Refsnyder (one year, $6.25 million)
Key departures: 2B Jorge Polanco, RP Caleb Ferguson, 3B Eugenio Suárez, C Harry Ford
Seattle prioritized re-signing Naylor, then helped its offense even more by adding the versatile Donovan in a trade with the Cardinals. After years of watching the offense lag behind a loaded pitching staff, the Mariners appear to have a balanced roster capable of winning in a multitude of ways. Expect another deep October run.
Grade: A
Toronto Blue Jays
Key acquisitions: SP Dylan Cease (seven years, $210 million), 3B Kazuma Okamoto (four years, $60 million), SP Cody Ponce (three years, $30 million), RP Tyler Rogers (three years, $36 million)
Key departures: SS Bo Bichette, SP Chris Bassitt, RP Seranthony Dominguez, IF Isiah Kiner-Falefa
After a return to the Fall Classic, the Blue Jays have remained aggressive, making significant additions to their pitching staff and landing Japanese star Okamoto to handle third base. It’s a veteran team still, but one that looks like one of the most talented in the league and very much poised to make another deep October run.
Grade: A-
Detroit Tigers
Key acquisitions: SP Framber Valdez (three years, $115 million), 2B Gleyber Torres (re-signed, one year, $22 million), RP Kyle Finnegan (re-signed, two years, $19 million), RP Kenley Jansen (one year, $11 million), SP Drew Anderson (one year, $7 million), SP Justin Verlander (one year, $13 million)
Key departures: RP Jason Foley, IF Andy Ibañez, RP Chris Paddack, RP Paul Sewald
Adding Valdez to the rotation makes Detroit the frontrunner in the AL Central, as he and Skubal should form an elite top two. The bullpen got better with Jansen and Finnegan at the back end, and a reunion with Verlander should provide more than just warm fuzzies, as the 43-year-old was quietly effective in San Francisco. The Tigers lost some face in the Skubal arbitration hearing, but for 2026, the forecast looks promising.
Grade: B+
Boston Red Sox
Key acquisitions: SP Ranger Suárez (five years, $130 million), SP Sonny Gray, SP Johan Oviedo, 1B Willson Contreras, 2B/3B Caleb Durbin, IF Isiah Kiner-Falefa (one year, $6 million)
Key departures: 3B Alex Bregman, SP Dustin May, SP Steven Matz, SP Richard Fitts, RP Hunter Dobbins, OF Rob Refsnyder
Losing Bregman wasn’t part of Boston’s Plan A this offseason, but the team did well to load up its rotation by signing Suárez and trading for Gray and Oviedo. Landing Durbin from the Brewers helped fill the void at third base, and Contreras should be a great fit in Fenway Park. The pitching staff looks playoff ready, and whether or not the Red Sox can get there will depend on how quickly the young bats can shoulder the offensive load.
Grade: B+
Texas Rangers
Key acquisitions: SP MacKenzie Gore, OF Brandon Nimmo, C Danny Jansen (two years, $14.5 million), RP Jakob Junis (one year, $4 million), RP Chris Martin (re-signed, one year, $4 million), RP Tyler Alexander (one year, $1 million), RP Alexis Díaz (one year, $1 million)
Key departures: 2B Marcus Semien, SP Merrill Kelly, SP Tyler Mahle, RP Shawn Armstrong, RP Phil Maton, RP Hoby Milner, OF Adolis García
Hiring Skip Schumaker to take over for Bruce Bochy was a great move, and the team did well to bring in Gore and Nimmo in trades. While the Rangers added several bullpen pieces, there’s still some serious depth concerns on the offensive side behind an oft-injured core that includes Corey Seager, Evan Carter, Josh Jung and Wyatt Langford.
Grade: B
Chicago White Sox
Key acquisitions: 3B Munetaka Murakami (two years, $34 million), RP Seranthony Dominguez (two years, $20 million), SP Anthony Kay (two years, $12 million), OF Austin Hays (one year, $6 million), RP Sean Newcomb (one year, $4.5 million), IF Luisangel Acuña, RP Jordan Hicks
Key departures: CF Luis Robert Jr., RP Steven Wilson, RP Tyler Alexander
The White Sox have been quite active since our midterm grades, landing Japanese slugger Murakami on a lighter deal than many expected when he posted and bulking up the bullpen with veteran additions. The latter should at least give Chicago some trade chips to flip at the deadline for more prospects as the franchise’s rebuild continues.
Grade: B
Kansas City Royals
Key acquisitions: OF Lane Thomas (one year, $5.25 million), RP Matt Strahm, OF Isaac Collins, RP Nick Mears
Key departures: OF Mike Yastrzemski, RP Angel Zerpa, RP Hunter Harvey, SP Michael Lorenzen
The best moves the Royals made this offseason were extending Maikel Garcia and manager Matt Quatraro (though moving in the outfield wall was a good call as well). Otherwise, not much here qualifies as headline-worthy news. Strahm is among the league’s best lefthanded relief pitchers, while Thomas and Collins help the outfield depth. Still, this offense is a step behind the rest of the American League’s playoff contenders.
Grade: B-
Tampa Bay Rays
Key acquisitions: SP Nick Martinez (one year, $13 million), OF Cedric Mullins (one year, $7 million), SP Steven Matz (two years, $15 million), OF Jake Fraley (one year, $3 million), IF Gavin Lux
Key departures: 2B Brandon Lowe, OF Josh Lowe, OF Jake Mangum, RP Mason Montgomery, RP Pete Fairbanks, SP Adrian Houser, OF Christopher Morel
I liked that the Rays paid Martinez and Matz, adding some relatively boring yet dependable arms to a rotation that can get quality innings (but not much length) out of Drew Rasmussen and (eventually) Shan McClanahan. The offense likely got worse in the aggregate, losing the Lowes and essentially replacing them with Mullins and Lux. It probably won’t be enough to keep pace in the AL East, but the Rays have surprised before.
Grade: C+
Athletics
Key acquisitions: SP Aaron Civale (one year, $6 million), RP Mark Leiter Jr. (one year, $3 million), 2B Jeff McNeil
Key departures: RP Sean Newcomb, OF JJ Bleday
Extensions for Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom were the biggest moves by the A’s this offseason, and the team did well to add some much-needed pitching with Civale and Leiter. The roster is lopsided in favor of offense, though the pieces are beginning to fall into place to get the franchise closer toward a winning product.
Grade: C
Houston Astros
Key acquisitions: SP Tatsuya Imai (three years, $54 million), SP Mike Burrows, SP Ryan Weiss (one year, $2.6 million), SS Nick Allen
Key departures: SP Framber Valdez, C Victor Caratini, RP Craig Kimbrel, IF Mauricio Dubón
Houston is betting that the trio of Imai, Burrows and Weiss can offset the loss of Valdez, and it’s possible that they can. But there wasn’t much here to address an offense that ranked 21st in runs last year, and the team’s core hitters aren’t getting any younger. Getting a healthy season from Yordan Alvarez is a must for the Astros to return to the playoffs in 2026.
Grade: C-
New York Yankees
Key acquisitions: OF Cody Bellinger (re-signed, five years, $162.5 million), OF Trent Grisham (re-signed, one year, $22 million), 1B Paul Goldschmidt (re-signed, one year, $4 million), SP Ryan Weathers, IF Amed Rosario (re-signed, one year, $2.5 million), SP Paul Blackburn (re-signed, one year, $2 million), RP Ryan Yarbrough (re-signed, one year, $2.5 million)
Key departures: RP Devin Williams, RP Luke Weaver, RP Mark Leiter Jr.
When Aaron Judge describes your team’s offseason as “brutal” to watch, you know things aren’t going well. The Yankees didn’t add much from outside the organization, with their most impactful moves coming in the form of re-signing Bellinger and Grisham. The trade for Weathers, a talented but oft-injured lefty, was intriguing, though bringing Goldschmidt back was puzzling given that the veteran’s presence seemingly takes playing time away from Ben Rice. A lot of contenders got better this offseason, but it’s hard to make the case that the Yankees were one of them.
Grade: C-
Los Angeles Angels
Key acquisitions: SP Grayson Rodriguez, OF Josh Lowe, IF Vaughn Grissom, RP Kirby Yates (one year, $5 million), 3B Yoán Moncada (re-signed, one year, $4 million), SP Alek Manoah (one year, $1.95 million), RP Drew Pomeranz (one year, $4 million), RP Jordan Romano (one year, $2 million)
Key departures: RP Kenley Jansen, OF Taylor Ward, RP Brock Burke, SP Kyle Hendricks, IF Luis Rengifo
To date, the Angels have signed six free agents to big-league contracts, all of them one-year pacts. Add in the minor league deals to familiar names like Adam Frazier, Chris Taylor, Jose Siri, Nick Madrigal and Trey Mancini, and the team’s approach to contending in 2026 is clear: buy a bunch of lottery tickets and hope. That said, the trades for Rodriguez and Lowe were the kinds of buy-low moves for players with multiple years of team control that an organization in this position should pursue.
Grade: D
Cleveland Guardians
Key acquisitions: RP Shawn Armstrong (one year, $5.5 million), C Austin Hedges (re-signed, one year, $4 million), RP Colin Holderman (one year, $1.5 million)
Key departures: RP Sam Hentges, OF Lane Thomas, RP Jakob Junis
Points for signing future Hall of Famer José Ramírez to another contract extension, but otherwise this has been a dull dolt of an offseason for a team that should be looking to add after back-to-back division titles. The Guardians have done nothing to address the American League’s lowest-scoring offense from a season ago, and thus they appear to have been passed up in the AL Central pecking order by the Tigers and Royals. It’s been a disappointing winter to say the least.
Grade: D-
Minnesota Twins
Key acquisitions: C Victor Caratini (two years, $14 million), 1B Josh Bell (one year, $7 million), RP Taylor Rogers (one year, $2 million), C Alex Jackson, RP Eric Orze
Key departures: 2B Edouard Julien
How high of a grade can you get when your team president leaves less than two weeks before the start of spring training? The Twins, who sold off nearly every recognizable big-league name on their roster at last year’s deadline, are an absolute mess at the moment. Monday’s news that ace Pablo López will undergo an MRI on his elbow was the cherry on top of what’s been a disaster of an offseason.
More MLB on Sports Illustrated
- Predicting the Results of Seven Spring Training Position Battles
- Kris Bryant Gave a Depressing Update on His Chronic Back Injury
- MLBPA Releases Statement on Tony Clark’s Controversial Resignation
- MLBPA Leader Tony Clark Resigns Due to Inappropriate Relationship With Sister-in-Law
This article was originally published on www.si.com as American League Offseason Grades: Orioles Lead, Yankees Lag.
