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FOUR REAL?
Near the end of the last decade, four of the most successful teams of the 2010s began to chart a new course.
The Tigers, who won four straight American League Central titles and the 2012 AL pennant, pivoted into a rebuild when they traded Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Alex Avila and Justin Wilson at the 2017 trade deadline, followed by Ian Kinsler at the Winter Meetings.
The Royals, who reached back-to-back World Series and won it all in 2015, let cornerstones Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar leave as free agents and traded closer Wade Davis after the 2017 season. They then dealt Mike Moustakas and Kelvin Herrera the following summer to complete the teardown of their championship core.
The Orioles, who won more games than any other AL team from 2012 to 2016, traded Manny Machado, Kevin Gausman, Zack Britton, Jonathan Schoop and Darren O’Day in a two-week span at the 2018 trade deadline, ending the franchise’s greatest run of success since the late ’90s.
And the Pirates, who made three consecutive postseason appearances to end a 21-year playoff drought, inadvertently positioned themselves for a rebuild at the 2018 deadline when they traded Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz to the Rays for Chris Archer, a lopsided deal that set the franchise back years.
Entering the 2022 season, all four teams are at different points in their rebuilds. Some have been steadily building and appear on the precipice of returning to playoff contention. Others only recently began their rebuilds in earnest and still have years to go.
One thing is certain: not all of the rebuilds will pan out. History shows that for every rebuild that works, there is another one that doesn’t. At least one—and likely two—of the rebuilds undertaken by the Tigers, Royals, Orioles and Pirates will result only in more losing rather than a return to the postseason.
In this piece, we spoke with front office officials around baseball to take stock of the state of the rebuilds the Tigers, Royals, Pirates and Orioles are undertaking.
All officials were granted anonymity in order to speak freely.
