Earlier this week I wrote about the seven teams that have improved the most this offseason. Now it’s time to look at the five teams that seem to be heading in the wrong direction.
Keeping in mind that there are still plenty of potential impactful acquisitions available for these teams to turn their offseasons around, let’s take a look at some of the moves these teams have made or not made so far this winter:
1. New York Mets
The Mets were stubborn in their negotiations with first baseman Pete Alonso, refusing to make him a long-term offer. That approach worked out for them last year as he decided to stay on a short-term deal with an opt-out clause, but he wasn’t going to give them the benefit of the doubt two years in a row. He departed in free agency in December, leaving the Mets without their most consistent power hitter over the last seven seasons.
The Mets replaced him by signing Jorge Polanco, who is a year-and-a-half older than Alonso and has averaged just 23 homers per 162 games over his 12-year career. Polanco is expected to play first base for New York, but he has played just one inning at first base in his major-league career.
The Mets traded 32-year-old outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for 35-year-old second baseman Marcus Semien. Last season, Nimmo posted 25 homers and 13 steals with a 114 OPS+ compared to Semien’s 15 homers and 11 steals with a 97 OPS+. Semien is still an elite defender at second base and from a defensive standpoint, the deal made sense. However, it’s obvious that age and decline are impacting Semien — especially offensively — and those factors haven’t slowed Nimmo’s bat yet. The three-year age difference is a bigger deal than it may seem on the surface.
With Semien taking over second base, the Mets dealt veteran second baseman Jeff McNeil to the Athletics for a teenage pitcher who is still in Rookie ball. McNeil isn’t in the same category defensively as Semien but he is two years younger and did have a better offensive season in 2025.
New York had the league’s best closer last year in Edwin Díaz, who posted a 1.63 ERA with 28 saves and was worth 3 WAR. He departed in free agency after the Mets decided to sign another closer, Devin Williams, before they made their best attempt to bring back Díaz. Pitching for the Yankees, Williams last year finished with a 4.79 ERA, 18 saves and a negative WAR (minus-0.3). Beyond Williams, the Mets added Luke Weaver and Richard Lovelady to their bullpen mix but let Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley walk in free agency (Helsley obviously didn’t pitch well for them after his midseason acquisition but Rogers was effective).
Needless to say, losing Alonso, Díaz, Nimmo, McNeil and Rogers and replacing them with Polanco, Semien, Williams and Weaver is going backwards, at least for the 2026 season.
2. New York Yankees
The AL East featured three postseason teams in 2025 and — with a notable exception — AL East clubs have been aggressive this offseason. The Blue Jays have been dominating the hot stove, signing a trio of impact pitchers (Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers), as well as a power bat (Kazuma Okamoto). The Red Sox have improved their roster with their two pick-ups from the Cardinals — starting pitcher Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras — and the Orioles have improved their offense, adding power bats Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward, and have built up their pitching staff with the additions of Shane Baz, Zach Elfin, Ryan Helsley and Andrew Kittredge. Even the Rays have made a lot of moves, though they have been sellers in two of their trades.
The Yankees have made bringing back Cody Bellinger a priority but haven’t yet been able to get it done. (Kent J. Edwards / Getty Images)
That leaves us with the Yankees, who saw both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver depart to the Mets in free agency and are still trying to persuade outfielder Cody Bellinger to return. In the meantime, the only moves the Yankees have made were to give outfielder Trent Grisham the qualifying offer (a surprising move and one he accepted immediately), bring back utility player Amed Rosario and sign veterans Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn as inexpensive starting pitching depth. They still have several holes to fill beyond just bringing back Bellinger, especially with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Anthony Volpe all expected to miss time at the start of the season recovering from surgeries.
The Yankees have time to make significant moves but with three other teams in their division already bolstering their rosters, the pressure is on New York to do something meaningful in order to keep pace with the rest of the powerful AL East.
3. Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians seem to be taking Ambien this offseason as they’ve done practically nothing outside of adding pitching depth with their signings of Shawn Armstrong, Colin Holderman and Connor Brogdon. For a team desperately in need of middle-of-the-order offense, it is disappointing that they haven’t done anything to address that area.
The Tigers haven’t been particularly active either, but they at least were able to bring back Gleyber Torres and Kyle Finnegan and also add to their bullpen with Kenley Jansen. The Royals, meanwhile, keep adding to their outfield and bullpen and, on paper, have moved past the Guardians in the AL Central. Even the White Sox have made strides with the additions of third baseman Munetaka Murakami and pitchers Sean Newcomb and Anthony Kay.
In a division that’s winnable, the Guardians’ lack of aggressiveness this offseason is puzzling, especially given that they have the depth in their farm system to make deals. There are several players whose names have been floated in trade rumors this offseason who would be impact acquisitions for them, including Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, Brenton Doyle of the Rockies, Luis Robert of the White Sox, Jesus Sánchez of the Astros, and Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals.
4. Cincinnati Reds
The Reds have a future Hall of Fame manager in Terry Francona, a young starting rotation capable of winning the division and an emerging superstar in Elly De La Cruz. What they don’t have is an offense good enough for this team to be playing in the postseason.
The Reds were high on Kyle Schwarber but didn’t pivot to another big bat when he returned to Philadelphia. (Heather Barry / Getty Images)
To give them credit, they did make a significant offer to Kyle Schwarber, hoping he would return to his Ohio roots in leaving Philadelphia for the Queen City. Unlike the Orioles, who also lost out on Schwarber, instead of pivoting to Pete Alonso the Reds closed up shop because they viewed Schwarber’s intangibles as the key to why they were willing to make a financial commitment they really weren’t comfortable extending. Although they were able to bring back closer Emilio Pagán and add bullpen depth with Caleb Ferguson, they really haven’t done anything to improve the offense. They added outfield depth in Dane Myers and JJ Bleday but neither is a starting player on a championship-caliber team.
In the meantime, the Pirates, who also have a great young starting rotation, have added Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn and Jhostynxon Garcia and have an elite prospect on the way in Konnor Griffin. If the Reds aren’t careful, they could watch Pittsburgh go right by them this year.
The Reds have a strong farm system and although they don’t want to trade from that treasure chest, their window to win is right now. There are plenty of bats still available, including free agents Cody Bellinger and Bo Bichette. There are also potential trades they can make to address their offense, with big names like the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, the White Sox’ Luis Robert, the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm, Jr. and the Twins’ Byron Buxton (if he’ll waive his no-trade clause) as possible targets.
Like the AL Central, the NL Central is winnable but the Reds need more offense if they plan on returning to the postseason this October.
5. San Diego Padres
The Padres lost closer Robert Suarez, starting pitcher Dylan Cease and first base/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn in free agency and have done very little to improve the team this offseason. They were able to bring back starter Michael King and acquire infield depth by signing Sung-Mun Song. However, in a division where the Dodgers have added Edwin Díaz and the Giants have reinforced their starting pitching depth with Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser, it suddenly looks like the Padres are slipping down the NL West pecking order.
With Cease now in Toronto, the Padres need at least one more starting pitcher and should be targeting Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito or Chris Bassitt in free agency.
There is still time to field a better roster for incoming rookie manager Craig Stammen, but for now it looks like they’re going in the wrong direction.