2025-2026 offseason thread

I'll be honest: it would be swell to have four starting caliber players on the bench but I do not think it's realistic or necessary.

The bench is less important now than it's ever been with the DH.

You don't need particularly a lot of good bench guys to do some load management.

At the end of the day on a team of stars you are going to be dependent on the health of the stars. You can't really injury proof a rotation in free agency against four guys going down.
 
a good team will have an above average bench guy or two. Someone who will get playing time as he rotates around different positions. A well constructed team will have a few guys with position flexibility making it easier to load manage.. If a star gets injured, then the above average guy fills in and you don't give 500 plate appearances to a sub .600 ops guy. In the Braves case, they gave a couple of different sub 600 ops guys a ton of plate appearances. that can't happen again.
 
msstate7 said:
The braves need a rh cf that can platoon if Harris is terrible again. Eli white isn't that guy
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They won't platoon Harris. If Kim comes back and the rest of the team is healthy they'll be fine with Albies and Harris at the bottom. If they don't get another bat with flexibility like Bellinger which would be dumb if they don't then year a RH hitter 4th OF like Bader would make a lot of sense. Castro for the infield would be a good get to bc when not if somebody goes down he won't hurt you playing for a period of time. Strengthen those areas and leave guys in AAA for depth and we'll be fine on offense. Pitching is where AA is gonna spend most of his money. The bullpen needs better high end options and the rotation needs another big arm in it. Getting the manager position is the main priority bc they'll probably want a little input on guys they target.
 
50PoundHead said:
I think it will boil down to 40-man space. A ton of guys coming off the 60-day IL and I don't know if anyone currently not on the 40-man (Burkhalter comes to mind) needs to be added to avoid be exposed to the Rule 5. I agree that it would be nice to have those guys in AAA, but what is their option status or can the reject assignment?
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Farley is the only one that could reject assignment and keep his money. Players with between 3-5 years of service time or have been previously outrighted have the right to elect FA but would have to forfeit their money to do so. So we could do something like tender Manoah Wentz and Allen contracts and then outright them off the roster if needed. They would likely accept assignment to keep their money. If not or if a team claims them it wouldn't cost us anything
 
CyYoung31 said:
And it potentially cost him a season and a half after that.
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Free agency has basically been a good thing for baseball as players continue to play with a pulse throughout the season as their performance will determine their earning power to a greater extent than it did in the pre-free agency era. But there is a downside in that some players just collect somewhat meaningless stats, most notably stolen bases. I don't know how many of Acuna's (or Ohtani's) stolen bases meant little or nothing other than a number on the stat sheet, but players have to balance the value of the action against injury odds or general body fatigue over the entirety of the season.
 
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Elder is fine as a 6th or 7th starter. He’s not fine if he’s the guy you pencil going into your rotation. He’s also not fine if he’s your #7 starter who is likely to be your # 3 starter at some point during the year.
 
yeah, I think the team is seeing a problem with pitching development when all the top pitching prospects and the 3 mentioned have all blow their arm out.. maybe the pitching development needs to be tweaked.
 
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