What Can They Do?: A Look at the MLB's Worst
Opinion by Ethan Irish
With just only a little over a month left in the 2022 baseball season these three teams were the worst of the worst this year. I am going to take a look at each of them and explain what needs to be done next year for all of them.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (49-81)
Unlike the other two teams on this list, the Pirates actually have something to look forward to for the time being. Headlined by young names such as Ke'Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds this Pirates team is not that far off from being competitive again. Earlier this year, the Pirates signed Hayes to an eight year, $70 million deal. A lot of people thought that the pirates would sell at the trade deadline this season and they didn't, which tells me they believe in what they have now. I think this season was a gaining experience season for the Pirates to give minor league guys a chance at the big league level.
Now, what do they need to do? Well, for starters they need to be more consistent at the plate, as of now they are 29th in batting average and 28th in both slugging % and on base % this season. That is atrocious. Anyways, while they have some guys that are young already up at the major league level they really will not get any help from their farm system until probably 2024 when 20th ranked prospect, according to MLB.com, Henry Davis is fully ready to be in the majors. So what do they do next year? I say you bring up Mike Burrows to be in the starting rotation next year, he is currently in Triple-A for the organization and has a 1.22 WHIP and has a 9.07 K/9 through 11 games (9 started). Another possible thing they could do is get some bullpen pitching in the offseason. The Pirates bullpen is currently 25th in ERA, 27th in WHIP, and have walked 232 batters making them 29th in that category. A couple names they could grab in free agency are current Minnesota Twins reliever Michael Fulmer who has a 3.27 ERA and 1.22 WHIP this season and New York Yankees reliever Miguel Castro, 4.00 ERA/1.41 WHIP. No one is expecting them to make the playoffs next year, get your young pitchers up and allow them to get experience. It is a rebuilding franchise that is almost ready.
I think that over the next couple years the Pirates may make some moves outside their own system but I do not think they need to. They have multiple guys within the organization right now that will be able to be in the big leagues between 2024 and 2025 due to most of them being in Double-A. They signed Hayes, they signed Reynolds to a two-year $13.5 million deal this year, Cruz will still be there, so I see the Pirates competing at least for a wild card in 2025. Assuming everything goes the way it is supposed to. Just hang on a little longer, Pirate fans.
2. Oakland Athletics (49-82)
The Oakland A's are in year two of a massive rebuild and this season is just part of that. After sending Chris Bassitt to the Mets in a trade, then Starling Marte and Mark Canha signing with the Mets, then sending Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays and Matt Olsen to the Braves the goal is pretty obvious. If it wasn't then I'll add the sending of Sean Manaea to the Padres and Frankie Montas to the Yankees for good measure. Look, if you're going to rebuild that is one hell of a way to start. Even with all of these trades however, MLB.com still has their farm system ranked 17th in the league which is not great. They still have four players in the top 100 prospects in the league so hopefully they work out.
What can they do? Draft good players and be patient. A lot of talent has been sent away over the last two years. For better or for worse they were the right moves because they were not getting anywhere with those players but now it is the waiting game. Another Moneyball incoming? Unlikely... but that does not mean they can't get back to being in the conversation. Look at Seattle, actually don't because it took them 20+ years to get back in the conversation. But hey, they did it so the A's can do it. First they have to get consistent hitting. They are dead last in batting average this season batting .215 and if you can't get that up you have no chance. I understand that batting average is a misleading stat and is not as relevant in today's game but even if you don't focus on that this Oakland team is 29th in runs per game scoring 3.39 per contest, also 29th in OPS% that number being .624 which is so bad. Almost like if you don't get hit the ball you don't get on base and if you don't get on base you don't score runs. Sound logic. What is interesting about this Oakland A's team is their pitching is still pretty young with all starters this season being under 30 years old and all three starters that have started more than 20 games have an ERA less than 5.00. Which not to say the 4-4.99 range of ERA is good but it isn't terrible.
Oakland just has to focus on making the good signings and good draft picks for the next few seasons. The product at the major league level will not be pretty for the time being but there is beauty in the struggle. It is in the hands of management for now.
1. Washington Nationals (44-86)
After winning a World Series in 2019, the rebuilding era has begun in Washington, proven by the blockbuster trade that sent two-time NL Silver Slugger Award winner Juan Soto and his formidable counterpart, Josh Bell to San Diego. It has been a terrible season for the Nationals overall, especially on the defensive side. With a 5.11 team ERA (worst in the MLB) it is hard to find any sort of silver lining with the current state of this team. It has to be one of the fastest riches to rags stories in baseball history, maybe even all of sports.
What can they do? The simple answer is rebuild. There is no reason to rush it at this point, they received some talent in the trade with the Padres at the deadline with RHP Mackenzie Gore, SS CJ Abrams, 1B Luke Voit among them. Start with those pieces and build around them. Actually, maybe not Luke Voit unless you intend to keep him as a DH, that infield is not a young infield with four on the active roster who are 30 or older. However, in the same deal that got Gore and Abrams, they also got prospects that swung their farm system ranking on MLB.com to 15th, from a preseason ranking of 23rd. Among these prospects is 23rd ranked prospect who other than his time in Double-A has had a pretty great minor league career thus far batting .287 AVG/.375 OBP%/.441 SLG%. Hopefully for the Nationals he can start in Double-A and move to Triple-A next season.
Even with these prospects though, the starting pitching is still a nightmare which consists of no one with an ERA better than 5.00. One of these starters is Patrick Corbin who won the Warren Spahn Award in 2019 and since has continuously reminded everyone that he didn't deserve it. The Nationals won the World Series in the first year of Corbin's insane 6 year, $140 million contract so I guess that is a plus. What can the Nationals do next year to help build them back and see the postseason again. Well, they can wait for their prospects to go through and draft young talent. There is no reason to sign a huge free agent to play next year for this team.