These teams have made the biggest gains at each position

The Hot Stove isn’t done cooking just yet. A number of impact players who could alter teams’ fortunes are still available, including starting pitchers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, closer Josh Hader, outfielder Cody Bellinger and third baseman Matt Chapman.

With that said, a lot has already changed from 2023 to ‘24. Some stars have changed teams. Others have changed positions. Still more are returning from injury-marred seasons.

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Because of that, we can look at which clubs appear to be the most improved at each spot on the field -- with the caveat that rosters are not fully settled. For this exercise, we’re comparing FanGraphs’ 2023 positional leaderboards for wins above replacement (WAR) with their 2024 projections.

Here are the teams that stand out the most:

Catcher: Astros
2023 finish: 25th | 2024 projection: 9th

The Martín Maldonado Era is over in Houston, as the widely respected veteran signed with the White Sox after serving as the Astros’ primary catcher in each of the previous four seasons. Now, it should be said that the Astros tasted immense success during that time, including a World Series title in 2022, with Maldonado earning quite a bit of credit for his handling of the team’s pitching staff. It’s certainly possible that a metric like WAR does a poor job of capturing Maldonado’s contributions. It’s also true that he was one of the weakest-hitting regulars over that period, and even his measurable defensive value plummeted last year.

Yainer Diaz doesn’t have Maldonado’s reputation, but as a rookie last year, he hit .282/.308/.538 with 23 home runs and ranked in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage. He also graded out well as a blocker and thrower behind the plate, albeit not as a pitch-framer. If Diaz can take the lessons he learned from Maldonado and continue to have success with the bat despite an ultra-aggressive approach, it could be a big upgrade for Houston.

First base: Phillies
2023 finish: 17th | 2024 projection: 5th

Alec Bohm, Kody Clemens, Jake Cave and Darick Hall combined for roughly 500 first base plate appearances for the 2023 Phillies, and while Bohm hit well there, the overall results were not spectacular. But then along came Bryce Harper, who had begun the season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and returned to the lineup as a DH on May 2 before starting 36 games at first after the All-Star break. Once he shook off some rust, Harper recaptured his two-time MVP form down the stretch, slashing .299/.431/.665 with 16 homers over his final 49 games. Now he’s the Phillies’ full-time first baseman, with the club opting to move on from free agent Rhys Hoskins, who missed all of 2023 due to injury.

Second base: Dodgers
2023 finish: 12th | 2024 projection: 1st

Like with the Phillies above, this is about an established star moving into a regular role at a different position. And like Harper, Mookie Betts dipped his toe in the water last year, with great results, delivering a .996 OPS in 65 games at second. Betts’ 2023 stint was out of necessity, but now it’s the plan heading into ‘24 -- one that makes a lot of sense. The Dodgers weren’t bad at the keystone last year, but that was entirely due to Betts’ stint there, as he accrued 3.5 WAR at the position, while the team’s other second basemen (most prominently Miguel Vargas and Amed Rosario) combined to be roughly replacement level. Now Betts will be there much more often, a big reason the projections rank them No. 1.

Third base: Orioles
2023 finish: 13th | 2024 projection: 1st

What a wealth of young infield talent the Orioles have. This past season, 22-year-old AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Gunnar Henderson split his time between shortstop and third base, holding his own at both spots while excelling at the plate. This coming season, 20-year-old AL Rookie of the Year Award contender Jackson Holliday could be in the Majors sooner rather than later, and with the projections seeing him taking the vast majority of the playing time at shortstop, that would allow Henderson to settle in at the hot corner. Assuming that happens, Baltimore could have the best third base production in the Majors, with the potential for Henderson to take another step forward in his second full season.

Shortstop: Pirates
2023 finish: 30th | 2024 projection: 10th

After Oneil Cruz’s promising rookie campaign, 2023 was supposed to be a full-on breakout for the 25-year-old who possesses jaw-dropping tools. Instead, Cruz fractured the fibula in his left leg during a home plate collision nine games into the season and didn’t return. In his absence, Pittsburgh had four players take at least 100 plate appearances at shortstop, and all four recorded a negative WAR, with the club finishing at -1.1 overall. Needless to say, the Pirates will be happy to welcome back Cruz, who recently proclaimed himself 100%. It remains to be seen how Cruz will readjust in 2024 -- and if his 6-foot-7 frame ultimately allows him to stick at short. For now, though, the projections are optimistic, and having Cruz’s big bat back in the lineup should be a boon to the Bucs’ hopes of returning to contention.

Outfield: Yankees
2023 finish: 25th | 2024 projection: 1st

Because outfield positions can be fluid, we’re combining them and picking three teams from that pool. First up are the Yankees, who saw little go according to plan on the grass in 2023. There were injuries, most notably to Aaron Judge. There were struggling young players, such as Oswaldo Cabrera. In the end, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney all got at least 140 outfield plate appearances for the club. The outlook is far different for 2024, however, with the Yanks projected as MLB’s No. 2 team at all three spots. That obviously assumes better health for Judge, after last year’s freak toe injury. It also accounts for New York’s flurry of offseason activity to address this issue -- a pair of trades that netted Juan Soto, Trent Grisham and Alex Verdugo. With a touch more luck this year, this could be a powerhouse unit featuring two of the game’s top five hitters.

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Outfield: Cardinals
2023 finish: 20th | 2024 projection: 6th

Even less went right in St. Louis last year than in the Bronx, and while the outfield wasn’t the Cardinals’ foremost issue, it also didn’t deliver in the way the club had hoped. So far this winter, Tyler O’Neill and Richie Palacios have been traded, with no notable additions from outside. Rather, it’s more about the Cards paring down their options, figuring out the most productive alignment and hopefully being able to stick with it. Among the reasons for optimism? Jordan Walker could take a significant step forward in his age-22 season, after more than holding his own with the bat as a rookie (114 OPS+) but struggling to make the transition from third base to right field. There’s also the possibility of Lars Nootbaar avoiding the injured list better than he did in 2023, and/or a rebound from Dylan Carlson. There are plenty of questions still to answer here but also plenty of opportunities for improvement.

Outfield: Giants
2023 finish: 28th | 2024 projection: 11th

While San Francisco has not made the sort of offseason splash it may have hoped for, it did land Korean center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, aka the Grandson of the Wind. Known for his impressive contact ability at the plate, the projections see Lee making a successful leap from the KBO in his age-25 season, with a .354 OBP, 116 wRC+ and nearly as many walks as strikeouts. His 3.2 projected WAR in center field would be a massive jump from the 0.4 the Giants got last year (30th in MLB), when they used a smattering of 10 players at the position, including right fielder Mike Yastrzemski and 21-year-old rookie Luis Matos.

Designated hitter: Mariners
2023 finish: 25th | 2024 projection: 14th

The DH spot is probably the most difficult to pin down, because many teams don’t go into the season with a single everyday DH, and the lack of defensive value holds down everyone’s WAR totals. (There are also a number of big bats remaining in free agency who could tilt the scales here.) At this moment, we’ll go with Seattle, which has not been particularly aggressive this offseason but did sign Mitch Garver away from the AL West rival Rangers, reeling him in with a two-year deal. Garver can rake, and with the Mariners planning to use him as their primary DH -- his days as a catcher may be mostly behind him at this point -- there’s a chance he could really flourish in 2024. Seattle cycled a lot of players through the DH spot in 2023, to varying degrees of success, so perhaps a bit more stability will do the trick in ‘24.

Starting pitcher: Reds
2023 finish: 25th | 2024 projection: 5th

The Dodgers (21st in 2023; projected third in ‘24) are another strong candidate here, after adding Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow to the top of their rotation. But let’s give the upstart Reds some love, even though their offseason acquisitions (Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez) have not been as attention grabbing. As MLB.com’s David Adler just covered in greater depth, Cincinnati is a dark-horse contender to be considered among the top tier of MLB rotations. That might seem like a big stretch -- and maybe it will prove to be -- but the Reds do have quite a bit of intriguing young talent (including Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and prospect Rhett Lowder), as well as a high-ceiling, if risky, rebound candidate in Montas. Perhaps those pieces don’t all come together in 2024, but the potential, at least, is there.

Relief pitcher: Mets
2023 finish: 29th | 2024 projection: 13th

This one is pretty simple: The Mets lost Edwin Díaz for all of 2023, after the star closer sustained a freak knee injury while celebrating a win in the World Baseball Classic in March. Díaz, who re-signed with the Mets on a five-year deal earlier that offseason, never returned to the club as it finished out a disappointing year. But Díaz should be healthy again in 2024, and if he returns to anything approaching the world-beating form he showed in 2022, that obviously will be a huge “addition” for a Mets bullpen that sorely missed him. Despite the lost year, the projections see Díaz returning as one of MLB’s elite relievers.