Current state of the team:
As we hit the offseason, it seems that 2025 will be a transition year of sorts as the team we built to win a World Series accomplished its mission and now there will be some key departures. Specifically we'll lose about 13 WAR between Juan Soto and Alex Bregman, both of whom are free agents. Other free agents we'll say goodbye to include Lorenzo Cain, who patrolled CF for us the last couple months and had a good postseason, and bullpen mainstays Jeffrey Springs and Andrew Kittredge. We also bid adieu to Ryan Pressly, who pitched in 5 games for us before getting hurt and ending his season. Finally, Austin Meadows is out the door too after a miserable return to the team following a couple of hot weeks after his re-acquisition. I'm also non-tendering a couple of mid-season veteran waiver pickups who were unimpressive with us in Lou Trivino and Caleb Ferguson.
Stu Sternberg has given me a payroll of $130M which will be more than enough to keep the remaining squad intact, which will total about $93M and that's assuming I decide to pay a combined $17M to the back end of the bullpen in Pete Fairbanks and Josh Taylor, who were both very good last year.
A position-by-position look at where things stand:
C-The Christian Vazquez/Rene Pinto combo is back, and that's fine. Vazquez had another Gold Glove-caliber season even if he isn't much of a hitter (although he came up big in the playoffs) and Pinto is a capable backup, both offensively and defensively.
1B-Curtis Mead had a monster postseason and although he's a little light in the power department for the position he's a fine all-around hitter and has a good glove at the position.
2B-Ozzie Albies certainly was an upgrade at the position even if his defense was kinda awful (-7.7 ZR) and he's back.
SS-Wander Franco. The franchise cornerstone had a decent season last year but is capable of better with the bat, and his glove is below average.
3B-This is a transition spot with Casey Schmitt, who averaged 5 WAR the last two years at Durham, taking over for Bregman. We got a taste of Schmitt at the position in the World Series when Bregman broke his thumb and he was alright (we did win the Series after all).
LF/RF: I'm lumping the corners together since Randy Arozarena can play either one with Gold Glove-caliber defense; which one he mans will depend on who wins the the other corner job. Joshua Mears has hit 58 HR and earned 8.2 WAR at Durham the last two seasons and deserves a shot; his best position is RF. Zach DeLoach was decent off the bench for us and eventually took over LF against righties from Meadows and Andrew Vaughn and could force his way into a platoon with the righty-hitting Mears.
CF: This is a problem position, which is why we traded for Cain at the deadline. Josh Lowe was excellent (3.6 WAR) in 2024 but tailed off badly last year to the point he was sent back to Durham, and while he raked there he didn't carry that over back up here in his September callup. Also his defense at the position is average at best; we can live with it if he hits 251/315/453 like 2024 but not 196/272/373 like last year. Arozarena can play the position if I want to go with DeLoach/Vaughn in left and Mears in right but he'd be about Lowe-level defensively if I stuck him there and I'd lose his Gold Glove D in the corners. A position for upgrade.
DH: This was where Juan Soto spent most of his time and he simply isn't going to be replaced. Vaughn has the inside track but I was kind of hoping for more than the 17 and 16 HRs he's hit the last two years. With Soto gone we don't really have a guy I can count on for 30+ homers, although Mears has that potential. All through the lineup we have guys who are "good" but not necessarily "great" with Bregman and Soto gone. So if a true impact bat becomes available I may very well make a move.
Bench: In addition to Pinto, Jeremiah Jackson served as the backup infielder last year and was OK with occasional pop and a decent glove. I once envisioned him as the starting 2B before we acquired Albies but I don't see him as a starter any more. OF backups could be DeLoach, Lowe or Heliot Ramos (remember him?).
Rotation: 4/5 of the rotation returns with McClanahan, Swanda, Patino and Rasmussen all back (Shane Baz tore his UCL and will miss 2025). They were pretty inconsistent throughout the year but we did win 102 games and the World Series with them, although one could say that was because of the league's best offense and a great bullpen - perhaps they could be exposed more with a less potent offense next year. Taj Bradley is the front-runner for the 5th spot and there is some depth with Ian Seymour and JP Sears, who had their brief stints with the team, and JJ Goss, who didn't. And we ended up wasting $6.6M on two years of Carlos Rodon which netted us 2 long relief appearances in the World Series sandwiched between a pair of torn UCLs, although he could return late in the year.
Bullpen: As mentioned, the key end-game guys are back in righty Fairbanks and lefty Taylor, they're just going to be a bit pricey but we can afford them. Setup guys JP Feyereisen and Tanner Scott are back too, as are 2-WAR multi-inning marvels Chris Gau and Forrest Whitley. The departures of Springs and Kittredge open a couple of spots and one of those will go to Sandy Gaston, who was brilliant in his first MLB action in the postseason and fanned 136 in 86 IP at Durham. If I want a third lefty to go with Taylor and Scott, Jovani Moran was very good at Durham (94 whiffs in 53 IP) although he's been inconsistent at the big-league level.
I'm not averse to adding an impact starter or reliever though, especially a starter as the rotation seems a lot like the offense: good but not great.
Speaking of JP Sears:
His 50 stuff/45 movement/60 control profile might be a good fit on a better defensive team; I'm not sure how much he'd succeed with us and some rough outings early in the year confirmed that (although he did have a nice start on the season's final day for us).