The newspaper looked at every single transaction made this past offseason and, using Wins Above Replacement (WAR), ranked teams based on “volume of moves it made and the net quality of the players it ended up with.”
According to the analysis, the Red Sox actually had the eighth-best offseason, trailing the following teams:
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Washington Nationals (tie)
4. Oakland A’s (tie)
6. Cleveland Indians
7. Pittsburgh Pirates
It’s unknown yet if the Red Sox will be able to compete with MLB powerhouses like the Brewers, Nationals and Pirates, but you might be able to add this to the argument against analyzing baseball strictly using modern stats like WAR. Or, more accurately, you could just note that losing players like Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez is going to tilt the scales, even if you do add Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
The Orioles “won” the offseason not because Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds and Vladimir Guerrero are the key cogs in turning around a last place team, but more because they didn’t really lose anyone.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, the Yankees ranked 26th. The Rays, with Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez hopping on board, finished dead last.
Check out the WSJ’s chart by clicking here.
