From both a present perspective, as well as 20/20 hindsight, Breslow's off-season was flawless. These are his off-season additions:
Contreras
Durbin
Monasterio
IKF
Seigler
Gray
Suarez
Bennett
Guerrero
It is a real possibility that this is the best off-season the RS have ever had, and one the best off-seasons any GM in history has ever had.
The miserable start that Bregman had wouldn't have helped us at all. Adding Bregman + Alonso instead of Durbin, Contreras and Ranger would've made us worse, worse off.
I've probably posted the results over overlaying the 2025 results of Story, Duran and Narvaez over the 2026 results a dozen times. It shows us having a very good offense. I thought this was accepted science by this time.
This was one of the best off-seasons I have ever seen. Everyone has injuries, but one could argue that, if we had the Crochet and Anthony from last year, we'd have the best record in the league.
I think what Fred is saying is that, if the only missing piece was another top-notch hitter, then, had Anthony and Mead not gotten injured, we'd have had a top-notch team. Good of him to finally admit it.
Yup, you won't hear of it until it's done. That's why I shake my head at the fans when they claim their GM couldn't close the deal on a three-way trade where they were getting Ohtani, Yordan and Judge.
Given that no pitcher coming back from an injury is a sure-thing, it would pretty nice to see a strong game from Sandy. If he could take every start between now and the end of the season, I'd feel a lot more comfortable about our rotation, now and hopefully the post-season.
I don't understand the logic. We got unlucky, but isn't this still trading one IL slot for another IL slot? Does the Cardinal's version of SS think that the Cards got nothing because Early is on the IL?
You can change how you pitch, but probably cannot due much to change your physical attributes. With Tyron, it was a matter of throwing strikes. That said, I can easily see Alcantara morphing into a 2027 version of Gray.
When a team in the middle of a pennant race wants to trade you one of their best, controllable SPs, you hang up.
But Alvarez is intriguing. But I have no idea why the Mets would trade him. He'd be worth some non-Arias prospects, but likely unattainable.
I'd put him the same boat as Neto. If we won't be playing him at SS, then we go back to needing a SS (assuming Arias is involved), and having three guys to split up 2B and 3B in 2027.
I don't think it would take much more than us picking up salary. I'd bet he probably still has a couple of months left in him, and having him pick up some ABs supporting Yoshida, Duran and Abreu could work.