1 holiday 🎁 for each MLB team

All Major League Baseball activity is on hold while the league and union try to iron out a new collective bargaining agreement and end the lockout. That being said, the gift-giving season is still upon us, so let's pick a perfect present for each team:

Arizona Diamondbacks

🎁 More sand-colored uniforms: There weren't a lot of reasons to tune into D-Backs games last year in what was an incredibly disappointing season, but the 'Serpientes' jerseys were arguably the best of the preemptive City Connect rollout. More of those, please.

Atlanta Braves

🎁 A blank check for Freddie Freeman: On one hand, owners have a finite amount of money to field a contending team each year, and they also need to think about luxury tax implications. On the other, make Freeman a member of the Braves for life, at any cost.

Baltimore Orioles

🎁 At least 63 wins: The Orioles prevented themselves from losing 100 games in 2020 by only playing 60 contests in the pandemic-shortened campaign. Other than that, though, they've lost at least 108 games over the last three full seasons in a historically terrible stretch. Let's be realistic and hope for 99 losses led by Adley Rutschman?

Boston Red Sox

🎁 An extension for Devers: The Red Sox were surprisingly competitive last year, mainly due to their 25-year-old third baseman. Rafael Devers has been one of the league's most reliable hitters since the beginning of 2019, and he's earmarked for free agency following the 2023 season. He might need to move off the hot corner (perhaps a fielding clinic could be a great additional gift), but keeping Devers would be huge for Boston.

Chicago White Sox

🎁 A slightly harder division: Alright, this might not seem intuitive, but the old adage goes, "Iron sharpens iron." It's clear the White Sox are the class of the AL Central, but they clearly weren't ready for the postseason challenge in 2021. Part of that might be the team is mostly full of young and inexperienced stars, but maybe they'd rise to the occasion a bit better if they had some stiffer competition.

Chicago Cubs

🎁 An undo button (with multiple uses): Spending $71 million on Marcus Stroman is a good sign for the Cubs. Of course, it would've been better if Stroman was joining a roster that included Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Yu Darvish, and Kyle Schwarber, among others.

Cleveland Guardians

🎁 An end to the drought: Whether it was the curse of their previous name or not, the Guardians have now gone 73 years without a World Series championship - the longest active MLB drought. Let's bring good tidings to the new branding. Also, let's not trade away any more stars like Francisco Lindor.

Cincinnati Reds

🎁 A plan: The Reds might be a good team, but their front office sometimes seems to get in its own way. Now, after a couple of underwhelming seasons that saw some great performances from unsung heroes and with Nick Castellanos departing, the team is reportedly considering trading away Sonny Gray and others. The NL Central is a winnable division, if they want it.

Colorado Rockies

🎁 A capable front office: Let's face it, Jeff Bridich's tenure as general manager was a disaster. And, now, the Rockies are managed by ... the guy who ran the draft under Bridich since 2000. It's too early to judge Bill Schmidt solely on his relation to Bridich, but it's unclear whether owner Dick Monfort has any feel for selecting his executives.

Detroit Tigers

🎁 A rebuilt service-time system in the next CBA: Tigers fans could stand to be the biggest losers if the league enters 2022 allowing teams to still gain an additional year of control over their top prospects by delaying their promotion to the majors by a couple of weeks. There's some excitement about this club after adding Eduardo Rodriguez and Javier Baez, but having Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene on the Opening Day roster would make it even better.

Houston Astros

🎁 Verlander's full, healthy return: A pitcher of Justin Verlander's age undergoing Tommy John surgery seems like a potentially career-ending operation. However, Verlander's supposed twilight years have been anything but. The soon-to-be-39-year-old has been reborn since joining the Astros, winning his second Cy Young Award in 2019. It's unclear whether he'll twirl upwards of 200 innings again, but Houston kind of needs it after giving him a $25-million deal with an additional $25-million player option for his age-40 campaign.

Kansas City Royals

🎁 Bobby Witt Jr. on the Opening Day roster: He's arguably the most exciting prospect in baseball, and Royals fans need an additional reason to get excited about this team. It's not a completely destitute roster, with Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez certainly creating reasons to watch the team as well. However, it seems clear that Witt represents the future, and why shouldn't the future be now in Kansas City?

Los Angeles Angels

🎁 Cryogenic chamber: We're getting to the point in Mike Trout's career where the Angels could really start squandering the best player ever. So, why not freeze him as he is now, run the rebuild until they have a truly competitive roster constructed, and thaw Trout out just in time to win the 3021 World Series?

Los Angeles Dodgers

🎁 The real Cody Bellinger back: Whether it was a slew of injuries or aliens came down and stole his talent a la Space Jam, Bellinger wasn't himself this year, and it hurt the Dodgers. Compiling 106 wins still made it a remarkable 2021 season, and L.A. is on track to be a contender again, but potentially losing Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen in addition to Corey Seager and Max Scherzer to free agency hurts a lot more if Bellinger is suddenly a mere role player.

Miami Marlins

🎁 A true ace to emerge: The Marlins have put themselves in a great spot in their rebuild, with a rotation of young arms vying for stardom. Miami's front office just needs one of Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Jesus Luzardo, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez, Max Meyer, or Edward Cabrera to bloom into a bona fide ace to turn this team toward contention. Then, hopefully, further investment in the lineup and bullpen begins.

Milwaukee Brewers

🎁 Hitter development: We'd be amid a Milwaukee dynasty if the Brewers were half as good at developing hitters as they are at developing pitchers. Sadly, the rotation is a trio of aces, and their lineup lacks any punch at all, especially since it now looks like Pete Davidson might regularly be playing as Christian Yelich with the way he's swinging the bat. Get Keston Hiura, Garrett Mitchell, or Brice Turang on a better program immediately.

Minnesota Twins

🎁 Bubble wrap for Buxton: When on the field, Byron Buxton is arguably the most electric player in the sport. Now, the Twins have locked up their star to a seven-year, $100-million contract. The deal was made possible by the fact he's played more than 100 games in a season just once in his seven-year career. Otherwise, Minnesota would've owed him a lot more. Over his last 100 contests, he's hit 32 homers with 11 steals and a 152 wRC+. Find a way to keep him on the field.

New York Yankees

🎁 Even more coal: The Yankees are getting coal for the second straight year. That's right. Sign a player. And no, re-signing Brett Gardner for the 17th consecutive winter doesn't count. You haven't won a pennant for 12 straight years. Sign Carlos Correa. Or it's coal forever.

New York Mets

🎁 Steve Cohen's Twitter password changed: The honeymoon phase of having the wealthiest owner in MLB was short-lived. Sometimes it's fun to have an executive engage with fans. Other times, Cohen has put his foot in his mouth, and he's reportedly cited in a class-action lawsuit by minor leaguers. Someone change his password and don't give him access until he needs to tweet out the World Series parade route.

Oakland Athletics

🎁 Whatever plan keeps them in Oakland: Oakland sports fans have already lost the Raiders and now seem in jeopardy of losing their treasured A's. Whether it's Howard Terminal or somewhere else, stop the politics and find a way to keep the Athletics from following the Raiders to Las Vegas.

Philadelphia Phillies

🎁 A playoff berth: It's getting to be embarrassing at this point. The Phillies finally finished above .500 for the first time since 2011, which happens to be the last time they made the postseason. Hopefully, with Dave Dombrowski at the helm, the spending starts once the lockout ends because it seems odd to waste the early returns of Bryce Harper's $330-million megadeal.

Pittsburgh Pirates

🎁 A season-long lockout: No team should root for games not to be played, but this would at least put the Pirates one year closer to whatever they're trying to accomplish. Also, it's a good way to finish tied for first in fan attendance.

San Diego Padres

🎁 The absence of hype: Heading into 2021, the Padres were defending their title of becoming "Slam Diego." And, as we all know now, it blew up in their face in extraordinary fashion, winning just seven games after August and finishing under .500. Hopefully, not having the spotlight on them and being helmed by veteran skipper Bob Melvin will pay dividends. And, if there's any way of guaranteeing Fernando Tatis Jr. sticking at shortstop, that'd be a great stocking stuffer.

San Francisco Giants

🎁 No regression: The Giants are likely very good, but they almost certainly punched above their weight last year when they won 107 games. Now they have to deal with Kevin Gausman and Buster Posey departing. Heaping Posey-like expectations onto Joey Bart would be ill-advised, and, frankly, it's not the biggest issue on the team anyways. Everyone needs to continue to pull the rope for San Francisco to stay atop a tough division.

Seattle Mariners

🎁 Continued spending: The Mariners have laid the groundwork for a great offseason. However, there's still much to be done to win the winter and even more work for it to translate to on-field production. Another infielder - perhaps Correa or Trevor Story - would drastically improve their chances. Adding a right-handed starter to put between Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales wouldn't be bad either. Of course, calling up Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby might also help.

St. Louis Cardinals

🎁 A direction: Firing a manager is supposed to send a message to fans that the front office is tired of the direction the team is headed. But what happens when that manager gets sent packing for philosophical differences after leading an underwhelming roster to the postseason for three straight seasons as Mike Shildt was? Oliver Marmol has his work cut out for him.

Tampa Bay Rays

🎁 Attendance: Look, Rays fans don't want to talk about it, and you can't blame them. But attendance is an issue. Despite winning 100 games with the best roster they've ever put together, the club averaged the third-worst home attendance record last year - ahead of just the Athletics and Marlins. Whether it's a new stadium in a better place or a more enticing fan experience in some way, something has to change. These players deserve a raucous crowd.

Texas Rangers

🎁 Joey Gallo back: What's perhaps most puzzling about the Rangers' $500-million spending spree to bring in Corey Seager and Marcus Semien is it comes mere months after the club traded away its best player. It was clear Gallo couldn't do it all himself in Texas, but the 28-year-old outfielder would surely make a great complementary piece now. If you knew you were going to spend at least half a billion dollars the following winter, wouldn't you try to keep your only homegrown star?

Toronto Blue Jays

🎁 Semien's replacement: Whoever it is, the Blue Jays have to find someone to replicate Marcus Semien's otherworldly production over his one-year sojourn with Toronto. It'll almost definitely be settling for something fractional since Semien ranked atop the league in FanGraphs WAR since the beginning of 2019. But adding one key bat - especially at third base - could make the Jays division favorites as they get set to call Toronto their permanent home for the first time since the pandemic began.

Washington Nationals

🎁 An amnesty buyout for Corbin: No one could have seen Patrick Corbin turning into a pumpkin when he signed his six-year, $140-million contract with the Nationals in 2018. Assuming the lefty never recaptures that form again, getting out of the remaining $83 million on Corbin's contract while Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz develop could give a much more direct path to building a contender around Juan Soto in short order.