1. Washington Nationals
2013 record: 86-76 (Second place)
Offseason grade: B-
This is the same as last year's disappointing team, except Doug Fister replaces Dan Haren. I call that an upgrade. I also think there was some roster-wide underachievement last year that's unlikely to repeat itself. Maybe more importantly, I can't talk myself into any other team in this division being as good as Washington should be. All the high draft picks from the lean years are on the team and producing. If it doesn't happen now, it's not happening.
2. Atlanta Braves
2013 record: 96-66 (First place. Lost NLDS to Los Angeles.)
Offseason grade: A-
Everything that was in Atlanta's control this winter, they did right. They were coming off an impressive year with a young, experienced, and talented team. Just two of their important players were free agents, and it looked like they had replacements locked and loaded. It made every kind of sense to just sign the best players long-term and try to pull a '90s Indians in the 2010's. Then the ligaments started snapping. Sure, Ervin Santana was still waiting for a team and he'll help once he catches up, but throwing three rookies into the fire from day one was not part of the plan.
3. New York Mets
2013 record: 74-88 (Third place)
Offseason grade: B
Maybe this team will stick in a holding pattern for another year while man-with-the-golden-arm Matt Harvey recovers from Tommy John, but I like the way Sandy Alderson attacked the offseason nonethesame. Bartolo Colon is a massive gamble in every sense of both words. Chris Young and Curtis Granderson flanking Juan Lagares actually sounds like a pretty good outfield. There have even been reports of signs of life in the Mets farm system. They aren't going to be a sad sack forever, and you can see the turnaround starting to take shape.
4. Philadelphia Phillies
2013 record: 73-89 (Fourth place)
Offseason grade: D
OK, so their run ended in 2012 and I was a year late in noticing. We're good with that, right? The thing is, Ruben Amaro didn't really do anything to Ruin Tomorrow this winter. Yeah, yeah, the Marlon Byrd contract is about the same as setting $16M on fire, but it's only two years. The late winter yoinking of A.J. Burnett for one year was a decent value play with the possibility of a deadline trade. My giving them a D is sort of a product of circumstances- I don't know how anyone is supposed to make anything good happen there for a while. They're farther from contention than any other team in baseball because of their expensive, aged roster and weak farm system, but at least they didn't throw money at every available free agent in a futile attempt to patch holes. And if the hangover from that great 6-year run takes a few years to pass, I don't think Philly fans have any right to complain about it. They went for it and they got there, then they went for it some more and almost got there again. It's fun to root for a team like that.
5. Miami Marlins
2013 record: 62-100 (Fifth place)
Offseason grade: C+
The pitching is fine for now, so I base my grade on the likelihood that Miami's offense is again an embarrassment- not just bad, I'm talking the kind of bad that will make Jose Fernandez want to quit baseball and do something less soul-crushing, like mining diamonds or seeing what that whole human trafficking thing is all about. The Furcal, McGehee, and Jones signings are just throwing stuff at a wall to see if anything sticks, but Saltalamacchia looks like a real addition at a position of need. Throw in the outfield of Stanton, Yelich, and Ozuna/Marisnick and it almost looks like a major league team. There's a ton of work to do here, and it will be very disheartening the next time they burn the rubble down instead of keeping players. But if they ever decide to support a payroll with money instead of bits of string, they could home-grow a contender before too long.
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