Offseason Roster Thread 2025-26

[G-Snarls]

2 minutes ago, HomeRunHomer said:

It does feel like the best option is to sign Bo and try to run it back doesn't it?

YES!!!!!!!

[jmomcc]

25 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Lukes is a great guy to have on the team. Literally just league average across the board but that kind of plays up because he's a left handed bat. Also, please note that I was pumping his tires long before anyone else was. I literally was getting tarred and feathered for wanting to stick him in the starting lineup but once we did the team took off.

With that said, I think the original point is that if we want to improve the offense beyond just bringing Bo back we are going to have to trade someone!

If we re-sign Bo then it's the same 13 position players heading into next year. That's fine so long as we go wild on the pitching side of things, but if you want to improve the lineup you'll have to trade somebody. That's all.

I'd happily trade lukes but not for a reliever. If he was the 4th piece that got us skubal, let's do it. 

[Governator]

If it ain't broken, don't break it.  We got a winning formula, with majority coming back.  Keep the same approach, high contact team.  Bo is essential for our make up.

[Olerud363.354]

1 minute ago, jmomcc said:

I'd happily trade lukes but not for a reliever. If he was the 4th piece that got us skubal, let's do it. 

Could we do a Gord Ash Roger Clemens style trade?

Jose Berrios, Mason Fluharty, Joey Loperfido ... for ... Skubal!

I jest.  Ash traded 9 WAR or so of Clemens for about 6 WAR over 3 players and those 3 actually out-wared Clemens in 1999. 

Ash kind of liked to trade Major leaguers for their replacements (like Mondesi in return for Shaun Green).  If Berrios was healthy could potentially do Berrios/Lukes/Little or something if Tigers wanted major league players.   Of course that is ridiculous given what Berrios is, and maybe ridiculous even Berrios was at his best.  Just that there was a time when trades like that happened. 

[Terminator]

The Steamer projections are in:

Hitters

Pitchers

I kind of prefer the Steamer600 projections for hitters and those are out as well just click on the tab.

[SuperFuzzBigMuff]

I wonder what they could get in return for Hoffman, Little, Santander and Gimenez? 

[jmomcc]

11 minutes ago, Olerud363.354 said:

Could we do a Gord Ash Roger Clemens style trade?

Jose Berrios, Mason Fluharty, Joey Loperfido ... for ... Skubal!

I jest.  Ash traded 9 WAR or so of Clemens for about 6 WAR over 3 players and those 3 actually out-wared Clemens in 1999. 

Ash kind of liked to trade Major leaguers for their replacements (like Mondesi in return for Shaun Green).  If Berrios was healthy could potentially do Berrios/Lukes/Little or something if Tigers wanted major league players.   Of course that is ridiculous given what Berrios is, and maybe ridiculous even Berrios was at his best.  Just that there was a time when trades like that happened. 

Could you centre a skubal trade around barger?

[Laika]

6 minutes ago, SuperFuzzBigMuff said:

I wonder what they could get in return for Hoffman, Little, Santander and Gimenez? 

Nothing! 

[SuperFuzzBigMuff]

1 minute ago, Laika said:

Nothing! 

Addition by subtraction. 

[Laika]

12 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The Steamer projections are in:

Hitters

Pitchers

I kind of prefer the Steamer600 projections for hitters and those are out as well just click on the tab.

11 hitters with 2+ WAR projected lol

probably the most in baseball! 

[jmomcc]

The barger projection is encouraging.  As is the Tieddeman one. 

[Terminator]

Varsho's projection is laughable since it assigns him negative value defensively lol

[G-Snarls]

27 minutes ago, Governator said:

If it ain't broken, don't break it.  We got a winning formula, with majority coming back.  Keep the same approach, high contact team.  Bo is essential for our make up.

100%

And with all the post season $$$ and savings from Green and Bieber they can afford to keep him

Bo just needs to want to stay and be willing to move to 2B.  

[BTS]

24 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The Steamer projections are in:

Hitters

Pitchers

I kind of prefer the Steamer600 projections for hitters and those are out as well just click on the tab.

It's November 5th and the team has 11 hitters and 5 pitchers projected to be league average or better. Insane depth.

Feels like just yesterday when everyone was longing for the days of AA and his insistence that roster spots 15-40 don't really matter. 

[G-Snarls]

1 minute ago, BTS said:

AA and his insistence that roster spots 15-40 don't really matter. 

Yeah that didn't work out well for the Braves this year either

[Brownie19]

55 minutes ago, Terminator said:

With that said, I think the original point is that if we want to improve the offense beyond just bringing Bo back we are going to have to trade someone!

If we re-sign Bo then it's the same 13 position players heading into next year. That's fine so long as we go wild on the pitching side of things, but if you want to improve the lineup you'll have to trade somebody. That's all.

We were 4th in MLB in runs scored and 4th in wRC+ last year (finally! after years of our wRC+ being much higher than runs scored).

I think you can reasonably expect similar results in 2026.  There will be declines from some (Springer is the obvious one), but you can also project some improvements from several players (Santander, Gimenez, Barger, even Vlad), which should help offset that.  IMO, you need to resolve the Bo situation (either sign him, or target a similar impact back as a replacement) and then you pour the rest of your resources into the pitching.

[jmomcc]

AA won several divisions and a world series so i'm not sure it will ever be the time to dunk on him. 

[Terminator]

Random thoughts on the projections:

• Varsho's defensive projection is puzzling, you could probably add at least another WAR
• Tony Taters sucks, he was a 2+ WAR player and now he's a 1+ WAR player
• Bieber exercising his option is huge. 3 WAR pitcher for 16 mil (or 12 mil depending on how you look at it) is a steal and sets us up well this offseason

 

[G-Snarls]

3 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

AA won several divisions and a world series so i'm not sure it will ever be the time to dunk on him. 

We'll dunk in years that we can, man! LOL

[BTS]

3 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

AA won several divisions and a world series so i'm not sure it will ever be the time to dunk on him. 

The problem with AA is that he has no social skills and doesn't consider his players to be people. That's how you end up assuming nobody on your team will ever get hurt, making a franchise legend cry because you don't want to offer him a contract, taking advantage of all of your players on horrible contract extensions, and assembling one of the most joyless teams baseball has seen in decades. Contrast with the sweater-vest wearing dork who just assembled the greatest vibes team of all time. If AA really wants to turn the corner as a GM he should intern here for a few years. 

 

[G-Snarls]

13 minutes ago, BTS said:

The problem with AA is that he has no social skills and doesn't consider his players to be people. That's how you end up assuming nobody on your team will ever get hurt, making a franchise legend cry because you don't want to offer him a contract, taking advantage of all of your players on horrible contract extensions, and assembling one of the most joyless teams baseball has seen in decades. Contrast with the sweater-vest wearing dork who just assembled the greatest vibes team of all time. If AA really wants to turn the corner as a GM he should intern here for a few years. 

 

Freddie Freeman has probably let this go by now at least.  He's doing OK.  :)

But Lopez, Harris, Acuna, Albies and others must feel like prisoners.  

 

[abola2121]

What if the FO could swing a trade with the Cubs for Kevin Alcantara? He'd be the perfect replacement for DV when he leaves next offseason. Nimmala as the centerpiece should do the trick (if they're willing).

[Terminator]

18 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

We were 4th in MLB in runs scored and 4th in wRC+ last year (finally! after years of our wRC+ being much higher than runs scored).

I think you can reasonably expect similar results in 2026.  There will be declines from some (Springer is the obvious one), but you can also project some improvements from several players (Santander, Gimenez, Barger, even Vlad), which should help offset that.  IMO, you need to resolve the Bo situation (either sign him, or target a similar impact back as a replacement) and then you pour the rest of your resources into the pitching.

Yeah and that's despite the slow start. Seems like Popkins got our bat speed up significantly as the year went on so the offense should be pretty good.

But I want to overkill the roster additions this offseason. Let's build a damn superteam. Trade and sign stars and improve everywhere possible. I realize we won't have an unlimited budget, so most of that probably goes into the pitching side of things. But if there are opportunities to add to the lineup let's do it.

[Spanky__99]

8 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Is Woodruff expected to miss the start of 2026?

If I signed Woodruff, would hold him back in the first half and get him built up starting in June. You want him healthy for the Postseason. If you could get 15-20 starts out of Woodruff during the regular season + 4-5 starts in the Postseason, would take that.  

Don't care about him making starts in April or May if I'm a team. Can fill the void with other junk ballers.

Look at what the Dodgers did: guys like Glasnow (18 starts), Snell (11 starts) and Ohtani (14 starts) weren't exhausted and burnt out during the regular season. Yes some guys were on the IL early and they were working Ohtani back slowly, but these guys were all back to full strength when it mattered - down the stretch and in October. As we saw, you don't need these guys making 30+ starts each during the regular season. The goal is to have them healthy and fresh for the Postseason. 

 

 

He was supposed to return in the WS, so no, that won't be an option.

[The_DH]

There's only one player I really don't want to see again: Santander.  When Bo is playing with that knee issue and Springer with everything else, I just find no value in Santander.  

[Ball4Life]

1 hour ago, BTS said:

It's November 5th and the team has 11 hitters and 5 pitchers projected to be league average or better. Insane depth.

Feels like just yesterday when everyone was longing for the days of AA and his insistence that roster spots 15-40 don't really matter. 

AA is and was a below average executive. 2021 luck aside.

[Jimcanuck]

2 hours ago, Terminator said:

Why are you on Gallen's nuts so much? I can only assume that you own him on a fantasy team or something given your past behavior

Im not on his nuts.  Framber, Ranger, or Gallen suit me fine.  In that order given that the 1st two have high groundball rates and the Jays have elite IF defense.

Capisce?

[Jonn]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

Random thoughts on the projections:

• Varsho's defensive projection is puzzling, you could probably add at least another WAR
• Tony Taters sucks, he was a 2+ WAR player and now he's a 1+ WAR player
• Bieber exercising his option is huge. 3 WAR pitcher for 16 mil (or 12 mil depending on how you look at it) is a steal and sets us up well this offseason

 

Santander should be shipped out with money for whoever will take him. He has a lot of deferred money anyway. Just eat it and make the team better. I don’t want to see him play the OF and do nothing of value for a few more Homeruns. And thats if he actually manages to stay healthy.

[Laika]

56 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

Im not on his nuts.  Framber, Ranger, or Gallen suit me fine.  In that order given that the 1st two have high groundball rates and the Jays have elite IF defense.

Capisce?

Why do you keep lumping Zac Berrios in with a bunch of frontline pitchers?

Projected WAR

• Cease 3.7
• Valdez 3.7
• Suarez 3.3
• Woodruff 2.9
• King 2.8
• Kelly 2.5
• Gallen 2.3
• Bassitt 2.1
• Eflin 2.0
• Littell 1.7
• Verlander 1.6
• May, Mahle 1.5
• Scherzer 1.4

Literally just sign Chris Bassitt back if you think the team needs SP5 slop and one more poo chucker 

[Terminator]

57 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

Im not on his nuts.  Framber, Ranger, or Gallen suit me fine.  In that order given that the 1st two have high groundball rates and the Jays have elite IF defense.

Capisce?

Sure but grouping him with Framber (estimates have him getting $150M) and Ranger ($130M) is generous.

Gallen is looking at $36M and is grouped closer to Kelly, Imanaga, Imai, etc. than he is Framber and Ranger.