While the New York Mets have been primarily dormant since re-signing star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and getting second baseman Neil Walker back when he accepted the qualifying offer, there has been plenty of movement and chatter among the other NL East teams.
The Mets biggest need remains a reliever that has closing experience and that pursuit could be altered by it’s NL East foes that have struck out in their attempts to add late inning help.
Let’s take a look at what each NL East team has done recently:
Washington Nationals
Of course the big move for the Nats this offseason is when they traded three of their top prospects for outfielder Adam Eaton. However, they were outbid by the San Francisco Giants for Mark Melancon, then missed out on Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, and Wade Davis, despite showing serious interest in all four.
The Nats are now left without a closer, instead they may have to rely on their in-house candidates that include Shawn Kelley and Blake Treinen. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports recently suggested that the Nats could turn to the trade market for the Chicago White Sox David Robertson and the Oakland A’s Sean Doolittle.
Bringing in Eaton means Trea Turner can go back to shortstop and forced the Nats to trade the disgruntled Danny Espinosa to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for two pitching prospects.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins tried to make a free agent splash by being the highest bidder for both Chapman and Jensen but both attempts were unsuccessful. They have been linked to free agent reliever Neftali Feliz and Brad Zielger as there backup plan to the top tier closers. They do have A.J. Ramos who has saved 72 games over the past two seasons, but saw spikes in his H/9 and BB/9 during the 2016 season. They could also be interested in Fernando Salas according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.
They’ve tried to improve their starting rotation by adding veterans Edinson Volquez and Jeff Locke. Marlins also signed veteran catcher A.J. Ellis and re-signed reliever Dustin McGowan.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves have been pretty active this offseason, beginning with the signing of veteran starters and former Mets R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon to help round out their rotation. Then they went out and traded for St. Louis Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia with a package that included former Mets prospect John Gant and Luke Dykstra (son of Lenny).
Atlanta has also been active on the minor league free agent market signing 17 players, which includes former Mets minor leaguers Rhiner Cruz, Sean Kazmar, and Adam Kolarek.
Earlier this week, the Braves signed former White Sox left-handed starter John Danks to a minor league deal. Danks, 31, made only four starts in 2016 and allowed 18 earned runs in 22.1 innings.
Philadelphia Phillies
Another NL East team that started the offseason with moves to bring in veterans when they traded for reliever Pat Neshek and infielder turned utility guy Howie Kendrick.
Last week, the Phillies signed veteran reliever Joaquin Benoit to a one-year, $7.5 million deal. They also signed veterans Daniel Nava, Sean Burnett and Pedro Florimon to minor league deals.
Yesterday the Phillies re-signed infielder Andres Blanco to a one-year, $3 million contract and claimed infielder Richie Schaffer off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.
Despite the lack of success for Marlins, Nationals and Mets getting bullpen help there are still a ton of quality relievers left on the market. The aforementioned Feliz and Zielger headline the available arms that also include Joe Blanton, Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo, Greg Holland, Joe Smith, Drew Storen and Junichi Tazawa.
