Analyzing The Off-Seasons Of Each National League East Team

The National League East was one of the best divisions in baseball last season. The division saw three teams move on to the playoffs, it housed two 101-win team, and supplied the National League’s representative in the World Series. Once again, it’s projected to be one of the most competitive divisions in the league. The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves each have top-five odds to win the World Series, and the pennant-winning Philadelphia Phillies are not far behind.

Given the above, it is no surprise that several of the NL East teams were active this off-season. How active you may wonder? Let’s take a look at each team’s additions and subtractions.

Parameters

Next to each player’s name under the ‘subtractions’ section is last year’s WAR generated by the player. This year’s projected WAR for the player will be listed next to their name in the ‘additions’ section. The net WAR added/subtracted will be disclosed at the bottom of each section.

All WAR projections and figures from last year are per Fangraphs.

Not all subtractions and additions are included. The only subtractions are the ones that played a valuable role, for better or worse, with the club last year. As for the additions, only players listed on the Fangraph’s 2023 projected depth charts for the specific clubs are listed.

Atlanta Braves

Additions:

• Sean Murphy, C (trade): 4.0 WAR
• Joe Jimenez, RP (trade): 0.6 WAR
• Jordan Luplow, OF/1B (free agent): 0.6 WAR
• Lucas Luetge, RP (trade): 0.2 WAR
• Sam Hilliard, OF (trade): 0.1 WAR
• Nick Anderson, RP (free agent): 0.0 WAR
• Dennis Santana, RP (trade): 0.0 WAR

Total Projected WAR Added (per Fangraphs): 5.5 WAR

Subtractions:

• Dansby Swanson, SS: 6.4 WAR
• William Contreras, DH/C: 2.4 WAR
• Kenley Jansen, RP: 1.1 WAR
• Adam Duvall, OF: 0.9 WAR
• Jesse Chavez, RP: 0.9 WAR
• Robbie Grossman, OF: 0.2 WAR
• Jake Odorizzi, SP: 0.1 WAR
• Ehire Adrianza, OF: 0.1 WAR
• Guillermo Heredia, OF: 0.0 WAR
• Darren O’Day, RP: 0.0 WAR

Total WAR Subtracted (per Fangraphs): 12.1 WAR

Net WAR Added/Subtracted: -6.6 WAR

New York Mets

Additions:

• Justin Verlander, RP (free agent): 4.0 WAR
• Kodai Senga, SP (free agent): 2.2 WAR
• Omar Narváez, C (free agent): 2.0 WAR
• Jose Quintana, SP (free agent): 1.9 WAR
• Tommy Pham, OF (free agent): 0.5 WAR
• David Robertson, RP (free agent): 0.4 WAR
• Brooks Raley, RP (trade): 0.2 WAR
• Elieser Hernández, RP (trade): 0.2 WAR

Total Projected WAR Added (per Fangraphs): 11.4 WAR

Subtraction

• Chris Bassitt, SP: 2.7 WAR
• Taijuan Walker, SP: 2.5 WAR
• Jacob deGrom, SP: 2.2 WAR
• Trevor Williams, SP/RP: 0.6 WAR
• James McCann, C: 0.4 WAR
• Joely Rodriguez, RP: 0.4 WAR
• Seth Lugo, RP: 0.2 WAR
• Trevor May, RP: 0.1 WAR
• Mychal Givens, RP: -0.1 WAR
• Dominic Smith, 1B/DH: -0.1 WAR
• Tyler Naquin, OF: -0.1 WAR

Total WAR Subtracted (per Fangraphs): 8.8 WAR

Net WAR Added/Subtracted: 2.6 WAR

Philadelphia Phillies

Additions:

• Trea Turner, SS (free agent): 4.5 WAR
• Taijuan Walker, SP (free agent): 1.5 WAR
• Craig Kimbrell, RP (free agent): 0.5 WAR
• Gregory Soto, RP (trade): 0.5 WAR
• Kody Clemens, INF/OF (trade): 0.2 WAR
• Matt Strahm, RP (free agent): 0.1 WAR

Total Projected WAR Added (per Fangraphs): 7.3 WAR

Subtractions

• Kyle Gibson, SP: 1.8 WAR
• Jean Segura, 2B: 1.7 WAR
• Zach Eflin, SP/RP: 1.4 WAR
• Noah Syndergaard, SP: 1.1 WAR
• Nick Maton, INF: 0.8 WAR
• Odúbel Herrera, OF: 0.4 WAR
• Johan Camargo, INF: 0.4 WAR
• David Robertson, RP: 0.3 WAR
• Brad Hand, RP: 0.3 WAR
• Corey Knebel, RP: 0.0 WAR
• Matt Vierling, OF: 0.0 WAR

Total WAR Subtracted (per Fangraphs): 8.2 WAR

Net WAR Added/Subtracted: -0.9 WAR

Miami Marlins

Additions:

• Luis Arráez, INF (trade): 3.3 WAR
• Jean Segura, 2B (free agent): 2.4 WAR
• Johnny Cueto, SP (free agent): 0.9 WAR
• JT Chargois, RP (trade): 0.1 WAR

Total Projected WAR Added (per Fangraphs): 6.7 WAR

Subtractions

• Pablo López, SP: 2.8 WAR
• Miguel Rojas, SS: 1.2 WAR
• Brian Anderson, 3B/OF: 0.5 WAR
• Jeff Brigham, RP: 0.2 WAR
• Cody Poteet, RP: -0.1 WAR
• Cole Sulser, RP: -0.2 WAR
• Lewin Diaz, 1B: -0.7 WAR
• Elieser Hernández, RP: -0.9 WAR

Total WAR Subtracted (per Fangraphs): 2.8 WAR

Net WAR Added/Subtracted: 3.9 WAR

Washington Nationals

Additions:

• Jeimer Candelario, 3B/1B (free agent): 1.6 WAR
• Dominic Smith, 1B (free agent): 1.1 WAR
• Trevor Williams, SP (free agent): 0.9 WAR
• Corey Dickerson, OF (free agent): 0.6 WAR
• Stone Garrett, OF (free agent): 0.4 WAR

Total Projected WAR Added (per Fangraphs): 4.6 WAR

Subtractions:

• César Hernández, 2B/OF: 0.5 WAR
• Erick Fedde, SP: 0.4 WAR
• Anibal Sánchez, SP: -0.2 WAR
• Luke Voit, 1B: -0.3 WAR
• Steve Cishek, RP: -0.3 WAR
• Nelson Cruz, DH: -0.8 WAR

Total WAR Subtracted (per Fangraphs): -0.7

Net WAR Added/Subtracted: 5.3 WAR

Summary

• Nationals: +5.3 WAR
• Marlins: +3.9 WAR
• Mets: +2.6 WAR
• Phillies: -0.9 WAR
• Braves: -6.6 WAR

Final Thoughts

As you can see, it was a busy off-season for several teams in the NL East. The division added some new stars in the likes of Trea Turner, Justin Verlander, Sean Murphy, and Luis Arráez. The division also saw the departure of some familiar faces in Jacob deGrom, Dansby Swanson, Miguel Rojas, Pablo López, and Zach Eflin. Regardless, expect the competition to be at an all-time high.

Loose projections have the lowly Nationals being the ‘most improved,’ with the Marlins right behind them. It appears Fangraphs also likes what the Mets did this off-season, showing a net improvement.

As for the Braves, despite adding Sean Murphy, overall, they did not add a lot and lost the likes of Dansby Swanson, William Contreras, and Kenley Jansen all depart. Thus, a potential for some regression this upcoming season. Lastly, despite adding superstar Trea Turner, the Phillies lost a decent number of depth producers (Segura, Eflin, Maton, Syndergaard, etc.) resulting in a lackluster overall value being added.

Despite all this, projections are only that. Only time will tell how all these off-season moves pay off for the each team. Certainly an exciting season in the making, nonetheless.