drewski6

I think its silly to when someone asks why we didnt win as many games last year - to point to pitching when our pitching greatly improved 2025 to 2026 and our offense greatly regressed from 2025 to 2026. Just for fun - if the team had gotten Alonso and kept Bregman - how many games do we win?

My issue is people premaking excuses for losing and not getting bats in the offseason if we do. Hit this playoff run, or we'll need to go get bats.

Ill give you that. They were great additions. We would not have had the third best pitching in baseball, despite losing the third best pitcher in baseball - without them. But here we are , with the third best rotation - adding Crochet to that. Wow! And you are talking about why we need Skubal , and no hitters, despite the fact that our offense fell to 23rd. All Im saying is if we dont need bats, then we should hit tonight, right? I understand their pitching is good, but you have to hit good pitching in the playoffs.

But our pitching was better than last year. We won less games, with better pitching. Our offense is 23rd. Are you fine with that number?

Offense - 23rd in baseball Pitching - 3rd in baseball SImple as that.

When that 153 becomes a 113, because hes 35, where do you think the #23rd ranked offense is going to go? Up or down?

My point is not that we are doomed. My point is that last year , we noodle-batted right out of the playoffs. And everyone and their mom was like lets add some bats. Even Breslow. Then he didnt and started with the "well, i had to pivot to pitching and D". Joe B didnt think it was enough of a pivot. He was talking aout trading for Corbin Burnes in spring training. Most neutral on-lookers looked at our O and said "not scary". Then when we started cold, you and Joe B high fived not having Bregman, Alonso, and Devers. Hooray all these thumpers we dont have. B-b-b-b-but ranger suarez. Id be fine with Crochet + rejuvenated Bello in game 3. We were able to weather an above average amount of pitching injuries, but on the position side, it wasnt so bad. Plus we got some good luck with Gasper, Monasterio, and Contreras giving us more than we could have imagined ....but even with that good luck , it was only good for 23rd. And now, it feels like we are in the same position as last year. Underdogs because we dont have the bats. And what are you and Joe B doing? Looking for reasons to not add bats, and starting your excuses early. Where positions can the #23rd best offense improve: MOST OF THEM

I want stars, and I care not where they play.

Depends on who I can get. But my point is not that we need to prioritize upgrading Contreras. My point is that our 23rd best offense was carried by a 35 yr old guy with an attitude problem. Usually, if a 35 yr old with an attitude problem is the position where you feel you have the strongest bat - and you have the 23rd best offense - those 2 things together are a problem. My concern about Contreras is that hes 35 yrs old and crazy. Hes not exactly a franchise bat. I want franchise bats, and I fit them in anywhere. If one is a 1B, that prob means COntreras to DH. Or the 1b we acquired to DH. Or if its an OF, Roman to 1b and Contreras to DH. I dont mean to single out Contreras as a bad offensive contributor. Jsut that you roll over these bats with no upgrades, dont be shocked if 35 contreras shows a little aging and suddently we are moving south from 23rd best. Meanwhile, Joe B is convinced the problem with this team is that Crochet got hurt.

A 35 yr old can move to DH. And who is his backup? Are you confident hes not going to be in jail by December for like a bar fight? Wouldnt some of your beef with Duran apply to Contreras? I doubt very much we can find a better hitter than Contreras. The fact that our best hitter by a significant margin was a going to be 35 yr old with a terrible attitude problem - is another reason why I am rolling my eyes at people telling me pitching, pitching, pitching....lets save money on the O and go get pitching. Same guys who fived plenty at all the bats we didnt sign. Arf. Arf. Arf.

No offense additions and we could be 28/30 next year.

35 yr old with a bad attitude. And he carried us this year. And we had a 23rd best offense. We had the 23rd best offense, and that was carried by a 35 yr old with an attitude problem. Im fine with Willson for next year, but the position is not exactly one where Im like - okay - THAT one is locked down.

Durbin? Jobs not safe. Contreras? 35 yrs old and a terrible attitude. Roman Anthony - worm killing by day, martini killing by night, Mead - TBD, Story - declining , Arias - proven nothing,

shut me up by scoring runs tonight, not jibber jabbering about how the 23rd best offense has no room for improvement.

A team full of 100 OPS+ guys is how you lose in the first round. Reporting live from groundhog day.

Only Cedanne, Abreu, and Adley are safe. Everyone else, Im shopping for upgrades.

Here is the list of positions, where I feel we could use an infusion of hitting: DH, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF Positions where I feel the incumbent is fine and so we cannot bring someone in and should not look to upgrade: CF, RF, C

What positions do we need to improve, well considering 23rd in offense = most of them.

anything but "we didnt get the bats". Even Breslow was like i failed to get that bats i wanted. But the bean counters hate paying for bats.

A team that noodlebatted their way out of the playoffs, and the neutral power-ranker looked at our O and said "not scary", then our offense turned out to be not scary, exactly as predicted. But hey nobody knows why a team that was 23rd in offense wasnt better, right?

We dont know why we dont have more wins, Says the top 5 pitching team and bottom 5 offense team.

Thats not a long list of hitter injuries. We should plan to always be down a couple bats.

I like my argument better. We went from 10th in pitching and 7th in hitting (2025) to 3rd in pitching and 23rd in hitting (2026) - Joe Brady told us that our problem was not enough pitching going from 2025 to 2026. And here Joe Brady is again to tell us that our biggest needs are pitching because of this great offense we had that finished 23rd and the excuses hes making our injuries to guys that he wanted off the team (Story). I think that the Crochet injury was surprising, and its the best thing that could have happened to Breslow. Because we ended up needing all the pitching depth that Breslow acquired due to an unforeseen avalanche of injuries.....on the pitching side. My point is no matter what - people are going to say that our priority should be pitching. Because right now, we are 3rd in pitching and 23rd in hitting, and Im hearing that we have enough hitting but need Skubal and relief pitchers. I give it one hours until the cliches come out "everyone knows good pitching beats good hitting" "cant have enough pitching" "pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching"

The same crew that told us we didnt need offensive additions last year , are here to tell us we dont any offensive additions this coming year. The 23rd ranked offense just frankly has no places for anyone to break in. Bros, even Durbins job isnt guaranteed next year.

our pitching was better in 2026 than it was in 2025 though, so that doesnt explain why we had 2 less wins despite a weaker division.