2025-2026 offseason thread

[msstate7]

Have you seen Freeland’s statcast page since 2019? Yikes.

I mean, what do the other options look like? He's projected at about the same as the rest of the remaining guys left on FA. I just think getting him out of Colorado could perhaps give him a boost, and plus, I like different styles on a staff. I would much prefer one of the twins' guys or Mitch Keller, but I doubt they're realistic

 

[msstate7]

Think the rays would move Shane mcclanahan or ras? Both are arbitration eligible, so maybe they move one for for a Richie or Fuentes+ deal.

 

[Enscheff]

The whole point is the Braves should not be in this position. They don’t suddenly need a SP. This need did not come unexpectedly out of the blue. They needed 1-2 legit SPs back when there were many good options available.

At this point AA probably just punted another season before it even started. The only realistic path forward now is to hope almost every single position player hits their 80th percentile projection, and no other SPs get injured….even though they’ve yet to throw a single pitch in a ST game.

 

[msstate7]

Seems a little dramatic saying he's punted before ST game 1. There are still some inning eater FA SP out there, SS#2 and Waldrep aren't for sure done this season, and fangraphs' top 100 has 2 braves' SP

 

[Carp]

Yeah, saying we "punted" this season is pretty hilarious. Not getting a TOR SP simply kept us from being considered an elite team. We still project to be one of the 6 best teams in the NL currently.

You can rightly criticize AA's decision making while understanding this is still a really good team.

 

[UNCBlue012]

The whole point is the Braves should not be in this position. They don’t suddenly need a SP. This need did not come unexpectedly out of the blue. They needed 1-2 legit SPs back when there were many good options available.

At this point AA probably just punted another season before it even started. The only realistic path forward now is to hope almost every single position player hits their 80th percentile projection, and no other SPs get injured….even though they’ve yet to throw a single pitch in a ST game.

Yes, we know. We all fucking know.

 

[Hudson2]

It's still a really good team on paper but paper don't win games. AA has assembled the riskiest team in baseball and has yet to fill the biggest need the past 2 years in a SP. The season is obviously not punted but we are behind the 8 ball before the first ST game with blah SP options available. I'm just shocked that AA and the whole world knew coming into the offseason that we needed SP help after last year and he still hasn't gotten one.

 

[ChapelHillMatt95]

It’s only a really good team if the offense carries the pitching. Puts a lot of pressure on them. Chances are they will have to score 5-6 runs a game with this SP. The back end of the pen could be elite but can we get it to them with the lead on a consistent basis? He better hope Sale and Strider have great yrs. Frustrating we didn’t do more to address the problem we all knew we had.

 

[Enscheff]

Yeah, saying we "punted" this season is pretty hilarious. Not getting a TOR SP simply kept us from being considered an elite team. We still project to be one of the 6 best teams in the NL currently.

You can rightly criticize AA's decision making while understanding this is still a really good team.

I’ll come back to this post when Lopez and Holmes are injured. Then you guys can try to accuse me of arguing with myself after quoting your silly comment again.

These projection systems are not accurately accounting for the Braves elevated injury risk.

 

[thewupk]

I’ll come back to this post when Lopez and Holmes are injured. Then you guys can try to accuse me of arguing with myself after quoting your silly comment again.

These projection systems are not accurately accounting for the Braves elevated injury risk.

So assuming Lopez and Holmes get injured. With SS #2 out and Waldrep likely out for a bit. You think the Braves should have acquired 4 additional starters? At some point it just becomes unrealistic to injury proof a rotation.

 

[bravesnumberone]

No but two was not unrealistic back in November. AA has put some out of date parameters around his spending on a starter, and he’s too gun shy to make another major trade.

 

[SJ24]

OK...and I'm going to assert the owners and players, the people actually at odds in this dispute, don't care about "variance in team spending". So if they don't care about it, they aren't going to tank a season because some fans on social media care about it. Players care about being paid, and couldn't care less who pays them. Owners care about growing the value of their organizations, and that is happening despite complaints about parity.

Exactly.

I would be surprised if there's a lockout of any significant duration.

I would be beyond shocked if there were a salary cap instituted.

Never. Ever. It's probably the most powerful labor union in the United States.

The loser fans of loser teams just hate to suck it up. The Dodgers are good for baseball.

 

[rawwr]

So assuming Lopez and Holmes get injured. With SS #2 out and Waldrep likely out for a bit. You think the Braves should have acquired 4 additional starters? At some point it just becomes unrealistic to injury proof a rotation.

while i do think enscheff probably needs to lay off the horse that is clearly dead, it's pretty clear that's not what he thinks

everyone on the board knew the braves needed 1-2 SP going into this offseason and they acquired 0. had they done that, it would suck if holmes and lopez also got injured but everyone here would be able to put their hands up and say "well AA did his best, that's just bad luck"

 

[Slippyjms]

while i do think enscheff probably needs to lay off the horse that is clearly dead, it's pretty clear that's not what he thinks

everyone on the board knew the braves needed 1-2 SP going into this offseason and they acquired 0. had they done that, it would suck if holmes and lopez also got injured but everyone here would be able to put their hands up and say "well AA did his best, that's just bad luck"

So if AA signs a SP now then all is good right?

 

[Carp]

I’ll come back to this post when Lopez and Holmes are injured. Then you guys can try to accuse me of arguing with myself after quoting your silly comment again.

These projection systems are not accurately accounting for the Braves elevated injury risk.

If we had acquired Joe Ryan 2 months ago, you'd have called it great off-season and we'd still be down 2 starters right now and looking at Bryce Elder as our likely 5th starter.

Were we supposed to acquire 3 additional quality starters on top of the 6 starters we already had coming into this season?

The only gripe I could see is that AA has invested this much into pitchers that already had injury issues. But that isn't really something that could be changed in 1 off-season, short of trading everyone in the rotation and rebuilding the rotation from the ground up.