Original Rosters: What Every MLB Team Would Look Like if Trades and Free Agency Didn’t Exist

There are so many things that go into building a Major League Baseball team. Even if you started with a full system of players you had drafted and signed, there would still be coaching them up, trades, free agency. There are so many ways of acquiring players who are already pros.

But what if there weren’t?

Obviously this is just a thought exercise, but today, we’re undoing every transaction. How would every team in Major League Baseball look if it comprised only players the organization brought in from outside? The White Sox get back Fernando Tatis, the Nationals get back Juan Soto and Bryce Harper. Everyone goes back to where they started.

If you want an analytic bent to this, it’s not a terrible way to look at teams’ amateur scouting abilities. But really, this is just for fun: What would the teams look like if the general manager was handcuffed outside his office after drafts and international signings?

Overall Takeaways

Below I’ll offer up 26-man rosters for all 30 teams around the league. First, some notes and thoughts:

• I didn’t make up a single name in this space … but man, for some teams, you might think I did (looking at you, Giants infielders and A’s pitchers).
• Guys get placed with the team they first signed with, not necessarily the team that first drafted them. So if a guy was drafted out of high school but didn’t sign and went to college, only the team that drafted him out of college counted here.
• We like to say that the richest teams just break out the checkbook and that’s how they accumulate good players. And sure, that’s true (particularly for the 2023 World Series champion Rangers, who … didn’t fare well in this exercise). But also, the teams that had the best starting rosters were (I think) very clearly the Dodgers and Braves). A healthy bank account is valuable, but if you’re rich and nothing else, you end up as the Mets or Angels. You want to be rich and, you know, savvy.
• In the same vein, most of the teams that do particularly poorly in this exercise are also just really bad teams generally. That is probably informative!
• I tried to build full 26-man rosters for all these teams. I chose to do 14 hitters and 12 pitchers on each team, which is not actually how any teams do it anymore (pitcher overload for the win), but … well, no one really cares who the eighth- and ninth-best relievers a team drafted were. Also, sometimes I just couldn’t make a logical roster. Some of these teams lack a backup catcher. Some will be hoping a guy who has never played first base or shortstop can adapt to the position. We did our best!
• We’ve granted some guys health here that they don’t really have, and in a couple of cases, guys who played last year but look done now had their careers resurrected for one more theoretical ride. Just go with it. It’s fun.

Now, on to the rosters.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Hey, Daulton Varsho, you remember how you kind of became a full-time outfielder and left catching behind? Yeah, that’s over now, sorry. Our only other available catcher was a 27-year-old with a career .503 OPS, so get your mitt back, young man.

Atlanta Braves

The Braves have built an unstoppable Megazord offense in recent years … except they forgot to build a shortstop. It’s like if you built a self-driving car but forgot to make it sense for children. (Forget I said that.) So we’re stuck with Vaughn Grissom back at short, and being backed up by … Brandon Drury?

Baltimore Orioles

It’s basically just the Orioles we have now, plus Christian Walker and Manny Machado. Nice work if you can get it.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox have utterly failed in drafting (or signing internationally) a big-time in-house starting pitcher since … Jon Lester? This offense is all well and good, but your ace is Brayan Bello, guys. (All these criticisms apply to the real 2024 Red Sox as well, to be fair.)

Chicago Cubs

In nine seasons in the big leagues, Kyle Schwarber has played 11 games and 75 total innings at first base. I’m sure it’s not that hard to learn the position, though. Tell him, Wash.

(There’s an argument for putting Schwarber at DH and letting didn’t-even-make-the-roster DJ LeMahieu or Daniel Vogelbach play first, but that would push Jorge Soler to the bench and knock Eloy Jiménez or Jeimer Candelario off the roster altogether. The Cubs have good hitters!) 

Chicago White Sox

So when Chris Sale was drafted, a lot of the smart guys said he’d end up as a reliever. Yet here he is, still starting in 2024. I think the lesson the White Sox took from that was “never draft relievers”? Because in this exercise, their closer is a 33-year-old with 8 career saves who has pitched 78.0 innings of 6.35 ERA ball the last four years.

Putting Fernando Tatis next to Luis Robert in the outfield is cool, though.

Cincinnati Reds

This version of the Reds has the same issues as the real one — too many infielders for too few spots, a bit of an underwhelming outfield, a starting rotation that is an arm away from being an arm away. That said, woo boy that bullpen would paper over a lot of issues.

Cleveland Guardians

Near as I can tell, players named “Y. Diaz” have amassed 2,871 plate appearances in Major League Baseball. 2,869 of them (Yainer and Yandy) started out as Guardians. Dammit for screwing things up, Yennsy and Yusniel.

(Also, do you think this Cleveland offense would like to have guys like Francisco Lindor, Nolan Jones and Anthony Santander added to things? I think that.)

Colorado Rockies

I started this exercise by going down the 2024 fantasy baseball ADP list and putting players on their original rosters in order. The Rockies were the second-to-last team to get its first starter pitcher, with Jon Gray at 305. Things … didn’t exactly improve from there, and this offense is not one that’s going to paper over pitching staff deficiencies. 

Detroit Tigers

Did you remember Willy Adames started out as a Tiger? Traded in a deal that included Austin Jackson and David Price almost 10 years ago now! He was 19! Man, baseball ages are weird.

Houston Astros

This roster is a bunch of guys who have been on one or both of the Astros’ World Series teams, but man, how is a team this dynastic stuck with Jake Rogers and Abraham Toro at catcher and first base? Weird. But man, that outfield/DH group is gonna hiiiiiit.

Kansas City Royals

I mentioned above how the Rockies were the second-to-last team to get its first starter. Here’s your last, with the Royals landing Sean Manaea and then having to dive even deeper for guys who are barely starters or barely even big-leaguers (here’s hoping you get one more year, Zack Greinke). 

Los Angeles Angels

I unretired C.J. Cron for this exercise, because the Angels kind of forced my hand with their organizational ineptitude. And it’s a good thing we can un-injure guys as well, because that underwhelming rotation minus Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Bradish would be even underwhelming-er.

Los Angeles Dodgers

I love putting Yordan Alvarez on the Dodgers in Immaculate Grid, just because it’s hilarious to imagine adding that bat to the teams they’ve had the last few years. It doesn’t work quite as well here with no Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman or Shohei Ohtani, but still, they traded that guy for Josh Fields. Come on.

Also funny? The Dodgers’ pitching was so stacked that guys like Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Dustin May and Ross Stripling (and Julio Urías, but I tried to avoid guys like him because this is for fun and he isn’t fun) didn’t even make the roster. The Royals are out here Sean Manaea-ing, while the Dodgers’ Triple-A rotation would be an MLB playoff team.

Miami Marlins

Phenomenal outfield. Excellent catcher. Good pitching staff, if we’re just granting health. Good bullpen, especially if some of these now-converted starters really let it loose in short outings. And who’s playing infield for this juggernaut? Maybe you!

Milwaukee Brewers

Another team that just hasn’t really done much at first base the last few years. But maybe Mitch Haniger can stay healthier there instead of roaming the outfield.

Minnesota Twins

The Reds aren’t really sure how to deploy Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand in real life. The Twins have a similar problem here. They also have an elite bench, one strong enough that Alex Kirilloff, Akil Baddoo and Brooks Lee can’t crack the roster. And that’s good, because the rotation is somewhat less impressive.

New York Mets

I maintain that it’s going to be very mean forcing the Mets to watch Jarred Kelenic join the Braves and spend the next 10 years being who we always thought he’d be right in their own division, but also we all know that’s what is going to happen.

Anyway, this roster is solidly “fine” everywhere and “oh wow, that’s great” almost nowhere.

New York Yankees

Lest you think I ever have an original idea, the immortal Grant Brisbee did this idea eight years ago, in which he opined that the Yankees’ history of success works against them in this exercise, because having a late draft pick every year makes it hard to draft elite players. That appears to still be very true!

Oakland Athletics

Their only shortstop has never played the position in the big leagues and was traded in February for “cash considerations.” Their bullpen doesn’t include any names I made up, but I bet I could convince you otherwise. Their starting rotation includes A.J. Puk, who has never started a game in the big leagues. But hey, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Max Muncy are back!

Philadelphia Phillies

Just a weirdly underwhelming outfield for a team that is more or less fine at all the other positions. Right? It’s weird, right?

Pittsburgh Pirates

A rotation of Cole-Glasnow-Keller-Baz-Taillon, with Holmes closing and Skenes making his debut, would be a playoff contender. And it’s all in support of an aging outfield and something called a “Pablo Reyes” at shortstop.

St. Louis Cardinals

Just a hilarious roster. We’re reuniting Randy Arozarena and Adolis García and absolutely forcing a Hard Knocks­-style reality show featuring those two. And while I’m not saying this team would be running away with titles or anything, somehow guys like Harrison Bader, Tommy Pham, Luke Voit and Matt Carpenter don’t even crack the roster.

San Diego Padres

I didn’t tally this, but the Padres have to be the leader in “guys in our imaginary rosters who did not actually play for the team in 2023.” Between all the trades they’ve made over the years and the still-to-come prospects like Jackson Merrill and Ethan Salas (and so many relievers signed this offseason), there’s almost no overlap between the real Padres and these.

San Francisco Giants

Maybe Ron Washington can have a “so your team never develops a first baseman and that means you, an outfielder, will learn the position now” seminar, because Adam Duvall is our latest entrant. And while the Giants sport a perfectly fine pitching staff, yes, we had to dive far enough that Pablo Sandoval makes our roster (still only 37!).

Seattle Mariners

I could have given this Mariners team something like 20 pitchers, had I been so inclined. Meanwhile, I was diving to something like my 1,200^th players in this exercise to find their backup hitters. The starting lineup is fine enough, but the bench is “Please please please don’t get hurt, starting lineup.”

Tampa Bay Rays

A total monopoly on “guys named Lowe.” A host of good pitchers. A team that wouldn’t have anything like an MVP candidate but would still win 94 games and then lose in the ALDS. Checks out.

Texas Rangers

I joked last year that the Rangers don’t really draft that many infielders who pan out. I didn’t realize how right I was about that. The bullpen here is pretty fine, the outfield even moreso (and we might get to see that outfield in real life in much of 2024!), but we’re doing some real finagling on the right side of the infield, and the pitching staff drops off in a hurry.

Toronto Blue Jays

Catcher University, for one thing. Yan Gomes didn’t make our roster, and while he’s not exactly a superstar, there are a lot of teams here who would love to have him. Also, did you remember Joe Musgrove started as a Blue Jay? Traded 12 years ago! The trade included guys like Francisco Cordero, Asher Wojciechowski, J.A. Happ and Brandon Lyon, so it’s a Remember Some Guys All-Star Team.

Washington Nationals

I was this close to moving Bryce Harper back to catcher for this exercise before I finally found Israel Pineda, who played four games last year. Only catcher in Washington. Also, Darren Baker, a 25-year-old minor leaguer who has never played shortstop professionally and is most famous for J.T. Snow saving his life in the 2002 World Series, is our shortstop … unless it’s 27-year-old Jackson Cluff, who has a .647 career OPS in 304 minor-league games.