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Two American League East teams are available: the Orioles and Jays.
Baltimore finished 72-90 last year, 31 games out of the division. Until a few years ago, the O's had a fairly active manager who had them in contention. Because of that, they still have a decent group to build around. That said, the longer they go unattended, the worse off they will get. Could be a fun quick rebuild or a longer project. Toronto, on the other hand, is ready to go. They won 103 games last year, had a super-active GM, and a +199 run differential during the season before falling in the playoffs. Once the playoffs were complete, its GM took over the Rays for the challenge. The Jays have only one impact free agent and are the AL East favorite right now.
Out west, we have the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels open. Similar to the Jays, the Rangers had a GM before he took over the Astros. They went 86-76, five games out of the Wild Card. Pitching was their strength surprisingly, allowing the fourth fewest runs. Had their offense come to play, they would have been a playoff team. Unfortunately, they have a bevy of free agents, which could hurt them moving forward without some leadership. The Angels need help. Badly. This is more of a long-term project. There are some pieces to build around, though. Conversely, they could be dealt to help build the farm system that's already ranked 2nd with three of the top 16 prospects in baseball.
The other two squads are in the NL. The Milwaukee Brewers did have a GM a season or two ago who did them few favors. They are a lot like the Angels, though their farm system is ranked 13th. Finally, there is the Rockies. They, too, had a GM fairly recently who tried to build around speed, defense, and groundball arms. He got 2/3. The pitching allowed the most runs in the NL. But they also scored the second-most. With just a little more pitching, this is a contender.
Below is some ranks in terms of what you can expect for any of these teams.
Budget: TOR (4), TEX (12), LAA (14), BAL (19), COL (24), MIL (30)
2039 Payroll: TOR (4), BAL (15), MIL (20), TEX (21), LAA (24), COL (27)
Current Balance:
BAL - $249M
COL - $313M
LAA - $340M
MIL - $87M
TEX - $145M
TOR - $264M
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