Giants' 2024-25 Offseason Plan

Four major moves to compete in 2025, while staying away from long-term commitments

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This article will take you through my thinking behind the approach for this offseason plan, write ups on each of the suggested moves, what the roster looks like with these moves, two alternate plans, and a few final notes. I’m interested in hearing your feedback on this article’s proposed ideas, especially so if you feel the trade cost or contract cost is too low. Please respond here, on Twitter @giantsprospects, or email giantsprospectsgpt@gmail.com.

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Introduction

After the Giants spent significant financial and organizational capital in the last offseason, the regular season did not deliver the results that were expected. This led to the end of the Farhan Zaidi’s time as the leader of the Giants and an era with a winning percentage of .520. A lot has been said about this period, so I won’t be re-hashing anything here. We are on to the next chapter with Buster Posey, but I’ll be taking the same approach as I did last season, maximize available resources to make the playoffs, with a couple of wrinkles. I avoided players with qualifying offers and for the main plan, steered away from long-term commitments. It will likely take 86-88 wins to get a playoff spot and my goal here was to build a roster that projects on Opening Day to hit that mark, without relying on the young players making a significant leap.

The priorities in developing the plan:

1. Budget: The Athletic reported that the Giants will have “$30-40 million, beyond their eight players under contract plus the forecasted salaries of four arbitration-eligible players plus pre-arbitration player salaries” to spend this offseason. This is about $20M-$25M short of their theoretical max spend while staying below the competitive balance threshold (which comes with a few penalties especially as a repeater, the Giants were over in 2024).

2. Needs: I see the needs as primarily two-fold, a starting shortstop and a top of the rotation starting pitcher.

   1. Shortstop: Tyler Fitzgerald had a standout rookie campaign, delivering 3 fWAR at SS. There is still a need here because Fitzgerald struggled defensively at the position (-4 OAA), while being above average at 2B/CF/LF (in limited samples). Moving him to second base allows him to accrue positive value defensively to make up for a likely regression offensively (.295 xwOBA vs. .357 wOBA in 2024). Ideally, a starting second baseman is acquired too, pushing Fitzgerald to a utility role, but with the reduced budget, this was a challenging needle to thread.

   2. Starting Pitcher: Beyond Logan Webb, there is a lot of uncertainty with the rotation options:

      1. Injury risk (Ray, Hicks)

      2. Mediocrity in recent past performance (Harrison, Winn, Hicks, even Ray)

      3. Low innings ceilings (Hicks, Birdsong, Roupp, McDonald)

      4. Complete unknowns (Whisenhunt, Seymour, Ragsdale, etc).

      Giants have a good amount of depth made up of interesting and talented young arms, so they’ll be able to mix and match like they did in 2024 and get a decent outcome. But that task would be a whole lot easier doing it for three spots in the rotation rather than four.

   3. Corner Outfield (RF): Jung Hoo Lee will be about eight months from shoulder surgery and should be ready for the early part of spring training, locking up the starting CF spot. Heliot Ramos had an All-Star season and is in line for a starting corner outfield spot, ideally LF. That leaves RF. I expect Mike Yastrzemski to be tendered a contract and in a platoon he is not the worst guy to put out there, but someone a contender would be looking to upgrade

   4. First Base: LaMonte Wade Jr. turned in another solid year and at a low cost. Wilmer Flores had an injury plagued season, but hopefully bounces back to be a worthwhile option. This position like RF above isn’t in terrible shape, but again a situation that a contender would like to get a higher quality player at.

3. High Leverage Reliever: The Giants bullpen threw the second most innings in baseball last season, there will be some repercussions from that this year. So even though they were relatively strong in high leverage situations (even with Doval’s struggles), another reliable veteran reliever here would help support a young staff.

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   The Plan

   1. Giants trade OF Mike Yastrzemski, 1B LaMonte Wade Jr., LHP Carson Whisenhunt, SS Aeverson Arteaga to the Astros for LHP Framber Valdez and RHP Ryan Pressly

   2. Giants trade RHP Landen Roupp to the Guardians for 1B Josh Naylor

   3. Giants trade RHP Camilo Doval to the Rangers for OF Adolis García and LHP Mitch Bratt

   4. Giants trade LHP Reggie Crawford (or LHP Joe Whitman, or INF Walker Martin) to the Twins for INF/OF Willi Castro

The net cost of all these moves to the major league payroll is about $41M, so right at the budget speculated by The Athletic.

1. Giants trade OF Mike Yastrzemski, 1B LaMonte Wade Jr., LHP Carson Whisenhunt, SS Aeverson Arteaga to the Astros for LHP Framber Valdez and RHP Ryan Pressly

   Takeaway: Giants get a top of the rotation starter and a high leverage reliever. Astros shed nearly $18M in payroll to assist with re-signing Alex Bregman, fill holes in the COF, 1B, pick up a 50 FV starting pitching prospect, and a young shortstop.

   Contract Details: Giants add a net $17.6M in CBT payroll with this move.

   

   Giants Outlook: Valdez is entering his age 31 season and the final year of arbitration reaching free agency after the 2025 season. He has been durable and productive, averaging just over 190 innings and 4 fWAR per season over the last three years. He’s primarily a three-pitch guy, relying on a good 93-95 mph sinker that he throws about half the time, an excellent curveball that he throws 30% of the time, and an average change up 17% of the time. Valdez induces more groundballs than nearly every starter in baseball and does a good job staying off the barrel of hitters. He has average control. He slots in behind Webb and can take advantage of what should be a solidly above average infield defense behind him. After the season, he can given a qualifying offer, re-couping some of the trade cost should he sign elsewhere. Pressly has a no-trade clause, which complicates this move, but the news that the Astros are shopping him makes me think he might be open to waiving it. Pressly lost his closer spot to Josh Hader and will likely be behind Bryan Abreu as well in the leverage pecking order, which is another reason he might consider waiving his clause. Pressly wouldn’t get 14M on the open market now, though he is still an above average reliever, so I see the Astros being under water on this deal by about $8M. Pressly slots in as the second high leverage arm for the Giants and can step into the closer role if Ryan Walker has any hiccups.

   Astros Outlook: The Athletic notes that the Astros have around $37M to spend if they want to stay below the first CBT threshold for 2025. Bregman is expected to receive a deal in the neighborhood of $28M-$30M AAV, so if they’re serious about re-signing him, a Bregman deal would eat up nealy all available resources this offseason. The Astros have a desperate need for a first baseman (Jon Singleton is their projected starter) and a left-handed hitting corner outfielder, who they can pair with Chas McCormick. Wade Jr. and Yastrzemski fit those needs well. Both players, but especially Yastrzemski should see notable power increases playing in Houston vs. San Francisco (Savant projected that Yastrzemski in 2024 would have had 26 homers in Minute Maid vs. 15 in Oracle). Astros can absorb the loss of Valdez with the depth that they have, and I’ll quote The Athletic on that:

   Dangling workhorse starter Framber Valdez and his projected $17.8 million arbitration salary would seem logical if there is a directive to trim payroll. Giving away nearly 200 innings of a sub-3 ERA is dangerous, but the emergence of Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti and Ronel Blanco, along with the expected return of Luis Garcia, would soften the blow somewhat. Dana Brown could backfill the rotation with cheaper alternatives that the Astros’ pitching department could tweak or tap into some pitching depth at their upper minor leagues, be it with Ryan Gusto, Miguel Ullola or A.J. Blubaugh.

   Dumping Pressly and his $14M salary is also a benefit. Along with filling two of their bigger needs at the major league level, this move also adds a 50 FV prospect in LHP Carson Whisenhunt and a 40 FV shortstop in Aeverson Arteaga (FanGraphs grades, ymmv). Whisenhunt reached AAA in just his second full-season and possesses one of the best pitches in professional baseball with his changeup. He has above average FB velo for a LHP, and a developing breaking ball. There is some reliever risk here, but a close to the majors lefty arm that has been in Top 100 lists is good value. Arteaga, missed a lot of the 2024 season with thoracic outlet syndrome, but returned late in the year. He has all the tools to stick at shortstop long-term and has some pop. A decent lottery ticket. The totality of this move would allow the Astros to sign Bregman for $30M AAV and still have another $20M-$25M more to add a mid-rotation starter, extend Kyle Tucker, or cut back on overall payroll.

   Why This Trade Is Fair: We have a very good like for like comparison to Valdez with Corbin Burnes from last offseason. The Brewers received INF Joey Ortiz, LHP DL Hall, and pick #34 from the Orioles for Corbin Burnes, who was projected to be just as good as Valdez is for 2025, at a year younger. I attempt to “value” the return below with some assumptions and personal rules of thumb.

   

   Joey Ortiz was a 50 FV player at the time of the trade, which as a position player, I value at $30M, DL Hall was a former Top 100 prospect, but at the time of the trade was a middle reliever with some injury risk, so have him pegged for the value of a 40 FV pitcher. Pick #34 had a bonus pool of $2,700,000 and I consider draft pools to have 5x value to an organization, so $13.5M in value here. That got me to a total of just under $50M as the return for Burnes. The proposed trade matches up closely to this total value. Yastrzemski is projected for 1.2 fWAR, which at $9M/WAR and net his $9.5M projected salary, means a surplus value of $1.3M. Same calculation with Wade Jr. (1.6 WAR, $4.7M salary) shows a surplus of $9.9M. Whisenhunt as a 50 FV pitcher, gets a discounted value of $22M compared to Ortiz’s $30M as a position player. Arteaga as a 40 FV position player, but with some volatility baked in lands him at the same value as Hall. I value Pressly as being underwater by $8M on his $14M contract. Finally, Valdez is projected to receive $2M more in arbritration than Burnes did in 2024, which slightly lowers his value. Lots of assumptions, but I tried to take an art and science approach to it. One could argue that Ortiz’s value was higher at the time of trade than what I have here and Whisenhunt’s lower, I wouldn’t fight too hard against it. If there is someone other than Bryce Eldrige that the Astros prefer over Whisenhunt, I would be open to considering it.

2. Giants trade RHP Landen Roupp to the Guardians for 1B Josh Naylor

   Takeaway: Giants get a pending free agent, who is a slightly above average starting first baseman. Guardians get an arm with one of the best curveballs in the game, can immediately be a part of the major league staff.

   Contract Details: Giants add a net $12M in CBT payroll with this move.

   Giants Outlook: Giants acquire a first baseman who has averaged 2.3 fWAR over the last three seasons. 2024 was the first season that Naylor played exclusively at first base and his career defensive metrics there are good. He hits RHP quite well (120 wRC+ in career) and was average against LHP in 2024. He has a good profile at the plate with above average raw power and excellent swing decisions. He does well against fastballs, decent against offspeed, and has had some struggles against breaking balls. He missed about a month in 2023 with an oblique strain, and has some back spams in 2022 as well as ankle issues. He is not known to be in the best shape that he could be and has had some off the field issues in the past. As a pending free agent, he could be sufficiently motivated to enter the year in the best shape possible and finally break into the 3 WAR tier of first basemen. If he does do something like that, some of the trade cost could be re-couped with a qualifying offer.

   Guardians Outlook: There are cost-controlled internal replacement options for Cleveland with Kyle Manzardo and David Fry. Manzardo likely doesn’t have the power to match Naylor’s production, but could get within distance of it and at a very low cost. Fry having elbow surgery means he will be limited 1B/DH for a good portion of the 2025 season. Guardians have a need for pitching this offseason with Triston McKenzie and Gavin Williams having down 2024 seasons. Dumping the $12M Naylor is projected to receive will create some payroll flexibility, while adding to the pitching depth. Roupp had a solid 50 inning major league debut and Cleveland has the player development group to maximize his stuff. Roupp has long been a favorite of mine, and it hurts to include him in a trade because I think there is a decent chance that it could blow up in the Giants face, but it takes value to get value. I think Naylor’s surplus for 2025 pegs him at around a 45/45+ FV prospect, which is where I have Roupp.

3. Giants trade RHP Camilo Doval to the Rangers for OF Adolis García and LHP Mitch Bratt

   Takeaway: Giants bet on a bounce back season for a recent postseason hero. Rangers beef up their bullpen, while shedding some salary.

   Contract Details: Giants add a net $4.7M in CBT payroll with this move.

   Giants Outlook: Giants take a bet that García bounces back to 2022-23 levels where he was a near 4 WAR player, at an affordable price, providing much needed power in the middle of the lineup. García had declines across the board with performance slipping against all types of pitches, decline in speed, and major issues in right field. In a game in the middle of May, García collided with Marcus Semien, and missed a few games with forearm soreness. The splits before (117 wRC+) and after that injury (82 wRC+) are stark. But it’s hard to assign all the blame to that incident. Chris Young seems to believe García was in good health during the year until the he had a knee issue at the end. If he has the same season he did in 2024, he is at best limited to being a DH, or more likely not playable in any manner. Steamer thinks there will be some bounce back and I think so too. Bratt is a 21 year old starter, who reached AA in 2024. Doesn’t have eye-popping stuff, but has good control and an above average slider. If Rangers balk at Bratt, someone lower down the pipeline who I like is RHP Caden Scarborough.

   Rangers Outlook: Rangers too get a bounce back candidate albeit at a smaller salary ($5M is savings) with the upside of two additional years of team control. Rangers bullpen is projected to be the third worst in baseball in 2025 by Steamer, so Doval will certainly be filling a major need. Rangers have a hitter friendly ballpark, the fifth friendliest for home runs, so Doval generating a high amount of groundballs makes him a good fit.

4. Giants trade LHP Reggie Crawford to the Twins for INF/OF Willi Castro.

   Takeaway: Giants get a versatile defender, who has had good metrics at SS and an above average bat over the last two seasons. Twins fill a need for a lefty reliever, while dropping some salary.

   Contract Details: Giants add a net $6.2M in CBT payroll with this move.

   Giants Outlook: This is somewhat of a gamble that Castro, who has only appeared in 156 games in his career at SS, could take that responsibility on as the everyday guy there. 2024 was easily his most time there, appearing in 56 games, starting 51. The results in that somewhat small sample were good, +3 OAA. He has displayed the needed arm strength to play there and has the raw foot speed as well. Playing there everyday is taxing on the arm and could lead to worsened performance over a long period of time. With the bat, Castro has been a slightly above average hitter over the last two seasons. He had a big first half in 2024 and a slow second half, the reverse in 2023. He has average raw power, showed some good improvement in swing decisions in 2024. He is good against fastballs, decent against breaking balls, has struggled against offspeed. As a switch hitter, he’s notably better from the left side, and his weakness against LHP could be controlled by sliding Fitzgerald to short and playing Flores or Schmitt at 2B.

   Twins Outlook: Castro is a pending free agent, without a clear starting role other than maybe at DH. He does hold value for them though, as demonstrated in 2024. Twins are having some payroll constraints this offseason, so $6M for a utility player (albeit 2024 team MVP) might be a luxury. Crawford has some high octane stuff, but has struggled to stay on the field. Despite that, he’s on track to make a major league debut next year and should immediately step into a high leverage role. Edit: It completely slipped my mind that Crawford will miss 2025 after having shoulder surgery. Obviously, a shoulder injury is concerning for a pitcher, so Crawford’s value is lower than what I initially pegged him at. I would be ok with substituting LHP Joe Whitman or INF Walker Martin as a replacement. Though the Twins have a quality bullpen, a lefty is still a need there. If Crawford can show some health and ability to log innings, a future conversion to starter isn’t out of the question. I see Castro having just a bit less surplus value than Naylor and I see Crawford in that 45 FV range, so see it as a fair trade for both sides.

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   Projected 26-man Roster

   C: Bailey

   1B: Naylor

   2B: Fitzgerald

   SS: Castro

   3B: Chapman

   LF: Ramos

   CF: Lee

   RF: García

   DH: Flores

   C: Murphy

   INF: Wisely

   INF: Schmitt

   OF: Matos

   SP1: Webb

   SP2: Valdez

   SP3: Ray

   SP4: Hicks

   SP5: Harrison

   RP1: Walker

   RP2: Pressly

   RP3: Rogers

   RP4: Rogers

   RP5: Miller

   RP6: Winn

   RP7: Rodriguez

   RP8: Beck

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   Upsides and Downsides

   Upsides:

   1. Not a single dollar in guaranteed commitments is added to the 2026 payroll, which means the Giants would only have $110M on the books heading into next offseason, leaving perhaps $65M-$75M in room at currently spending levels. Current expected free agents for next offseason include Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, and Framber Valdez among others. Giants would be in position to retain Valdez (30M) and still add a couple of notable names.

   2. Giants would be aligning their top starters’ profiles as groundballers with a good infield defense. I think all the infielders can be considered at least above average at their position in this plan.

   3. All needs heading into the offseason are addressed with average to above average players, while remaining within budget, and not taking any qualifying offer penalties.

   4. Though a number of prospects are being moved, Giants are trading from a position of strength (young pitching). I have my doubts about Whisenhunt (if you can’t spin it, can you ever spin it?) and Crawford, so see this as selling when they still have value. With Roupp, it is expending organizational capital to help the team now.

   Downsides:

   1. If Pressly has issues with waiving his no-trade clause, the biggest of these moves is in danger as I’m relying on taking on his underwater contract to make the values work. I hesitate to include even more prospect capital cost to make up for it if Pressly can’t be included

   2. Giants would be giving up two internal top 10 prospects (maybe top 5), another in the teens, a potential back end major league starter (Roupp), and won’t have anything to show for it after the 2025 season other than a pick in the 70-80 range as compensation for Valdez (and maybe Naylor as well). If they are out of the running at midseason, they can recoup some of this value then.

   3. There is a healthy amount of risk being taken on. Valdez has been reliably good, so not as concerned about him. Naylor too has been consistently average over the past few years. García might just be done even at just age 32. Castro has had limited time at short, so can he really play there everyday is an open question. If he can’t, then the Giants don’t really have a good option other than moving Fitzgerald back there and taking the lumps on defense.

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   Alternatives

   There are two alternative offseason plans that I worked through. I will be brief with the writeups. I would be satisfied with either of them, some of you might even prefer one of these. I think they have lower risk, but also lower upside for the 2025 season.

Alternate Plan #1

1. Giants sign LHP Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $57M contract. Kikuchi is projected at 3/60M by MLB Trade Rumors, 3/51M by FanGraphs. I like Kikuchi the most of the ~20M AAV, no qualifying offer starters (Flaherty, Eovaldi).

2. Giants sign OF Jurickson Profar to a three-year, $45M contract. I really like Profar as a target for the Giants. If the budget was higher, I would prefer Profar to Adolis García in the main plan. The Giants might be able to still fit in him under that plan by shedding a bit of salary. Profar slots in as the everyday RF.

3. Giants trade OF Mike Yastrzemski and LHP Joe Whitman to the Twins for INF/OF Willi Castro and RHP Chris Paddack. The Twins have a need for an outfielder and get to dump Paddack’s near $8M salary, and pick up a prospect who has had a good year and will be in the Giants top 10. Giants add a starting SS and some starter depth with Paddack.

   Upside: Commitments made to lock up SP2 and starting RF for the next few years, with players projected to be above average. Find a starting shortstop and backend starter depth. Only one top 10 prospect given up.

   Downside: Multiple three-year commitments to players in their early 30s. Profar a year ago was struggling to get a major league deal. Kikuchi is worse than Valdez, Naylor is better than Wade Jr., Profar is better than García, so see overall team being worse than the main plan.

   The net cost of all these moves to the major league payroll is about $38M.

Alternate Plan #2

1. Giants sign SS Ha-Seong Kim to a two-year, $38M contract with an additional team option for $25M. Kim had surgery for a small labrum tear in his right shoulder in September. I haven’t been able to confirm it, but it sounds like it was a SLAP tear, which has a return time in the 6-9 month range for position players. That timeline puts Kim’s return sometime around the late June, early July mark. On the public side we have no information about whether it is indeed a SLAP tear, the extent of it, nor the prognosis. The literature on return to play post a SLAP tear surgery is limited, but not extremely positive.

   RTP (return to play) rates were 59% for pitchers and 76% for nonpitchers (P = .060). Subjectively, the percentage of patients who felt the same or better at follow-up compared to preinjury was significantly higher among nonpitchers (66%) than pitchers (43%).

   So depending on the severity, this surgery could be carrying some notable amount of risk. I think this is why there is a wide range of salary predictions for Kim. MLB Trade Rumors has it at 1/$12M, FanGraphs 5/$100M, The Athletic 4/$72M. Depending on what you know about the injury or how you account for it, gets you that spread. I’m leaning a bit more to the cautious side with the proposed deal. It gives Kim some security and the team some upside if he plays well. I didn’t go with Kim as part of the main plan because I’m seeing more risk here than the average observer. Apart from the surgery, I see Kim as a three-win player, which is not enough to pencil in no value for half the year, and pay close to 20M AAV. If the surgery risk is less than what my guess suggests, then he is a better fit.

2. Giants sign LHP Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $57M contract. See note under Alternate Plan #1

3. Giants trade OF Mike Yastrzemski and RHP Camilo Doval to the Phillies for INF Edmundo Sosa. Sosa has been an above average defender at short, second, and third for a few years now. Though he had an above average season with the bat in 2024, he projects to be a below average one going forward. Still, he serves as a good bridge to Kim and then a reliable glove off the bench, who can give you something with the bat. Sosa is under team control through the 2026 season. Phillies are projected to start Nick Castellanos in RF, and he had a rough 2024 and is projected to have another poor season in 2025. In LF, they are also needing a better option. Yastrzemski can fill either spot as an upgrade. With Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez hitting free agency, Doval fits as a high leverage reliever replacement.

4. Giants trade LHP Carson Whisenhunt and 2B Walker Martin to the Marlins for OF Jesús Sánchez. Sánchez is a player that I kept coming back to during this planning exercise. I kept trying to find ways to make him fit because I really like the power and think there is more to get out of him. Though the Marlins looking mainly for prospects rather than major league pieces made it a tough fit. I worked him in with this plan using Whisenhunt and Martin. Sánchez has three years of team control including 2025, for what should cost around $15-$18M in arbitration and has trended as a ~1.5 WAR type of player. He hits RHP well (112 wRC+ career), but has major struggles against LHP and is unplayable against them. He has the raw power that will play better at Oracle than a lot of left-handed bats. He is decent in RF with a strong arm. Platooning him with move #5, gets you to at average production, with some upside. Marlins flip a platoon player for a fringe top 100 prospect and another prospect who recently received a seven-figure bonus. I think it’s possible that I’m valuing Sánchez a bit too much with this return, but it feels appropriate to me.

5. Giants signed OF Harrison Bader to a one-year, $8M contract. Bader hits lefties ok (though not in 2024) and is excellent in CF. He would be a good fit with Sánchez in the expansive Oracle Park RF (or Jung Hoo Lee moves over for him) and offers some depth behind Lee in CF. Giants don’t have a reliable CF defender on the 40-man apart from Lee and Fitzgerald. McCray has a good reputation, but poor numbers in a small sample, Matos and Ramos have struggled there, and Meckler is an unknown.

   The net cost of all these moves to the major league payroll is about $37M.

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Final Notes

1. A few other free agents I like, but don’t see a great fit with the Giants: 2B Gleyber Torres (undervalued), LHP Matthew Boyd, RHP Trevor Williams, OF Michael Conforto (yep), RHP Shane Bieber, OF Max Kepler, RHP Spencer Turnbull, and David Robertson.

2. A few other trade targets I like, but don’t see a great fit with the Giants: 1B Nathaniel Lowe, SS Bo Bichette, SS Trey Sweeney, OF Tyrone Taylor, LHP Adrian Morejon (conversion to SP).

3. Four trades and no free agent signings in the main plan feels aesthetically off, I mean what team just makes only trades for their major moves in the offseason? I think what might be a bit unique about this offseason are the number of teams looking to shed payroll. I didn’t go through every team, but feels I keep reading about it over and over. That belt tightening lends itself to mid-market teams looking to move off of late arb, average starters.

4. My plan last year was a mixed bag. Yelich had a great year before missing the last ten weeks of the season with a back issue, which due to its chronic nature I suggested would be a good reason for why Milwaukee should move him. Chapman was clearly a hit and giving him the long-term deal that I proposed would have made it work out even better. Gray had a great year, but had forearm tendinitis to end the year. The alternatives to Gray (Lugo and Imanaga) turned out great as well. Kepler’s season ended early with an injury but was having a down year. The trade cost being Slater and Flores worked out, because they struggled as well. Soler didn’t work out, but they were able to move on from him without any further obligations. Carlson didn’t have a great year, but the Rays saw something in him, so counting that as win. Andrus didn’t appear in the majors, so a major league contract for him was a big whiff.

5. There is a lot of guess work, assumptions, and personal intuition that may not be tied to reality in this article. I make sense of things in my head, but that isn’t always going to lead to the best frameworks. My goal was to design a paper playoff team without gutting the system, while building off ramps to pivot to other approaches if this doesn’t work. Up to you all to decide if I achieved that or not.

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