2025-2026 offseason thread

I'm admitting the benefit of hindsight, but damn you can tell we back to offseason where AA is never to be questioned around these parts. I didn't say the move was stupid at the time, but there were absolutely some here who questioned it hard. It was a horrendous move, and those posters were right.

Horrendous move? It was a move that had minimal impact on one season.
 
It was POoR, not HOrreNdOS!!!

Damn, you argue over the stupidest shit
I would say that the opportunity cost was very low, his performance had little to do with the Braves problems, and there was zero long term fall out.

It didn't work out well but it was worth trying.

Much as folks would like it to be so, the Braves aren't going to sign starting caliber backups and 6th starters and completely injury proof their team like the dodgers seemingly have tried to do.

Be nice if they had that money but they don't.
 
I would say that the opportunity cost was very low, his performance had little to do with the Braves problems, and there was zero long term fall out.

It didn't work out well but it was worth trying.

Much as folks would like it to be so, the Braves aren't going to sign starting caliber backups and 6th starters and completely injury proof their team like the dodgers seemingly have tried to do.

Be nice if they had that money but they don't.
They better find some money or hit on 2 rookies a year instead of 1 bc the once rock solid lineup has some major cracks showing.
 
Having more injuries than any roster could reasonably overcome is not an excuse for having zero depth. It's literally the most illogical argument anyone could make in defense of having zero depth.

Furthermore, the Braves did not lose the most projected WAR to injury, not even close. The Astros, Orioles, Dodgers and Red Sox all lost more WAR than the Braves. The Dodgers and Red Sox went to the playoffs. The Astros won 87 games, which would have been an NL WC team. Only the Os had a worse season...by 1 game.

At the end of the day the Braves missed the playoffs by 7 games. Maybe if the Braves had more depth (or any depth at all) so they didn't give Nick Allen and his 53 (yes...fifty three) wRC+ 416 PAs (yes...four hundred and sixteen), they would have made up some of those 7 games. Maybe if the Braves had anything resembling MLB depth they wouldn't have had to give Verdugo and his 66 wRC+ 213 PAs to go along with putrid defense. Or Stuart Fairchild and his 68 wRC+ over 55 PAs. And on and on with the absolute garbage players Snit rolled out there for significant playing time. There were garbage players on this roster on opening day, and it never got any better.

Let's talk pitching depth. Elder led the team in starts. Great plan!! You know who was 6th in starts? Joey Wentz...a complete scrap heap filler. Let's not forget the amazing work guys like Fuentes, Carrasco, Quantrill, Blewett, and Cox contributed in their starts.

There was no depth to cover any injuries, so of course a lot of injuries sunk the season. If the roster couldn't cover 1 injury, how in the world could it cover 5? And the season ended up being sunk by 7 whole games while guys who aren't even AAAA players got serious run with a tomahawk on their chest.

The lack of depth is 100% on AA. He fucked up. Period. No "yeah but what about" comments change that fact. AA fucked up and made a bad season a catastrophe.
 
Didn't have a LF
Dude, we had an absolutely stacked roster heading into 2023.

It was a decent gamble on a pre-arb 23 year old former elite prospect who was coming off a very solid season in a pitcher friendly park (and who could also cover CF). We ended up rolling snake eyes on this gamble, but there was plenty of reason to be optimistic that we had just pulled a potential 3+ WAR pre-arb player while giving up no prospects of actual value.
 
Hind sight and all, but we shoulda saw this one coming anyway...

Arcia in the 2nd half of 2023: .560 ops, 40 wrc+. He hadn't hit before in his career.

Absolutely positively no depth among position guys, so any injury was gonna be a killer
Well this is just not true. Going into 2024, Arcia had 8 professional seasons under his belt. Half of those seasons, he finished with an OPS of .730 or better and a wOBA of .309 or better. Now those aren't amazing offensive seasons by any means, but they are slightly above average for a SS. Certainly there was enough there to assume he could continue hitting like he had in Atlanta (combined .738 OPS and .321 xOBA in 2022 and 2023).

Now sure, there were plenty of red flags on Arcia. And I had been advocating finding a better option since Swanson left. But to say Arcia had never hit before is flat out wrong.
 
Dude, we had an absolutely stacked roster heading into 2023.

It was a decent gamble on a pre-arb 23 year old former elite prospect who was coming off a very solid season in a pitcher friendly park (and who could also cover CF). We ended up rolling snake eyes on this gamble, but there was plenty of reason to be optimistic that we had just pulled a potential 3+ WAR pre-arb player while giving up no prospects of actual value.
It was 2024
 
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