Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The NL East is off to a strong start this season, but each team already has a major offseason decision they regret.
- The Phillies chose to run it back this offseason, which continues to look a bit questionable.
- The Mets, Braves, Nationals and Marlins didn't completely ace their offseason either, though.
Two weeks into the MLB season, the NL East looks like one of the most formidable divisions in the league. Despite a slew of injuries the Atlanta Braves are alone in first place with the Miami Marlins, a team MLB fans ought to pay more attention to, close behind. Both the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies are hovering around .500 despite remarkably inconsistent play, and have very high ceilings. Even the Washington Nationals have been a bit more competitive than expected, despite their 5-8 record.
While the division looks pretty solid as a whole, it's far from perfect. Each team has at least one major offseason regret to focus on.
Atlanta Braves: Not adding starting pitching depth
I can't blame the Atlanta Braves for not preparing for yet another Jurickson Profar suspension or for Ha-Seong Kim's unlucky injury, but I can blame them for not adding quality starting pitching depth. The Braves dealt with a myriad of starting pitching injuries in 2025, so wouldn't it have made sense to do whatever they could to add as much depth as possible?
Unfortunately, the Braves began the season with Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Strider all on the IL, and the depth options are very subpar. Now, to be fair, guys like Bryce Elder have stepped up, but is what the Braves have rotation-wise sustainable?
It was surprising that the Atlanta Braves refused to add any quality starting pitching depth over the offseason after a 2025 season full of starting pitching injuries, and sure enough, it's come back to haunt them. Elder has been a stud, but Jose Suarez and Perez have each made a start in the No. 5 spot in Atlanta's rotation, and they combined to allow eight runs in 8.2 innings of work in their two starts.
The Braves could promote a top prospect like Didier Fuentes or JR Ritchie, but they'd be in better shape with a reliable veteran anchoring the back end of their rotation. Instead, they're relying on a pair of shaky options to start games for them every fifth day, which isn't great.
Miami Marlins: Trading Ryan Weathers
The Miami Marlins made a pair of controversial starting pitcher trades this offseason. Parting with Edward Cabrera coming off his breakout year stung, and he's pitched well with the Chicago Cubs thus far, but getting Owen Caissie back in that deal made it worthwhile. The Ryan Weathers deal, however, isn't looking as good.
Sure, there's a chance that prospects like Dillon Lewis and Brendan Jones will pan out someday, but the Marlins didn't acquire a single MLB-ready player for Weathers. The Marlins, a team on the rise, traded a starter with a whole lot of upside in Weathers and didn't acquire a single MLB-ready player in return. That isn't great.
Weathers didn't pitch well in spring training and didn't pitch particularly well in his start against Miami but combined to allow just two runs in 12.1 innings in his other two regular-season starts, striking out 14 batters in those outings. He'd certainly be a major upgrade over Chris Paddack and Janson Junk in the back end of Miami's rotation.
I understood the idea of trading Weathers, a pitcher who hadn't quite put it all together at the big league level and had dealt with some injuries, but a Marlins team on the rise, trading him for only prospects, didn't make much sense, and they're paying the price for that, at least right now.
New York Mets: Signing Luis Garcia
The offseason changes the New York Mets made to their lineup and starting rotation generated most of the headlines, but the bullpen has a new look, too. Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, the big-name additions to the 'pen, have been mostly as advertised, but the same cannot be said about Luis Garcia, who has really struggled.
Garcia has allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits in 5.1 innings of work in five appearances. He's allowed multiple runs in two of his five outings, and has allowed multiple hits in three of his five appearances. Perhaps what's most concerning is that his average fastball velocity (93.9 mph), is down by three mph from where it was in 2025 (96.5 mph). Perhaps the extreme April cold has something to do with this, but it's still a concern.
Even if Garcia was throwing as hard as he was in 2025, was he the right fit? He's most known for generating a ton of ground balls, ranking in the 82nd percentile with a 49.7 percent ground ball rate in 2025. When healthy, Mets' infield defense features Bo Bichette at third base and either Jorge Polanco or Brett Baty at first base on most nights, meaning that the corner infield positions are occupied by players who are brand new to their respective positions most of the time.
The fit was weird, and the results, albeit in a very small sample, have been quite poor.
Philadelphia Phillies: Not adding a single big bat
The Philadelphia Phillies haven't had trouble getting to the postseason, as their four straight postseason appearances and back-to-back NL East titles would indicate, but they've gone ringless in that stretch mostly because of their offense. The lineup consistently falls short in October, and that led Phillies fans to assume that after a second straight NLDS elimination, Dave Dombrowski would make much-needed changes.
Instead, Dombrowski signed Adolis Garcia, coming off two straight down years, to a one-year prove-it deal to replace Nick Castellanos in right field, and promoted Justin Crawford to the majors. That's it. Re-signing Kyle Schwarber was a big deal, but there wasn't a single major addition to this lineup.
It wasn't for a lack of trying. It felt like a near certainty that the Phillies were going to sign Bo Bichette before he spurned them for the Mets. The big issue is after Bichette's decision, the Phillies turned around and re-signed J.T. Realmuto. They did not make the kind of big change needed, and instead prioritized re-signing their declining catcher.
Maybe this is the year the Phillies put it together in October, but history suggests that another disappointing early exit awaits, barring a major trade deadline splash.
Washington Nationals: Not adding a single reliever
The Washington Nationals are easily the worst team in the NL East, but they've played better than their 5-8 record suggests. The Nationals have already blown three games in which they led by three or more runs after six innings and lost. Their 5.92 bullpen ERA is the worst in the National League, and their -1.7 bullpen fWAR is the worst in the majors.
Bullpen is the least of Washington's concerns right now, when most of their roster leaves a lot to be desired. This is why the team traded its best reliever, Jose A. Ferrer, for Harry Ford in the offseason. Still, they couldn't sign a single notable reliever? I understand that this team isn't in position to make major splashes right now, but relievers historically don't cost much money.
If the Nationals signed a single quality reliever this offseason, they might be 8-5 instead of 5-8, and even assuming they fall out of the postseason picture, they'd have an exciting trade asset to dangle in July. Just because your team isn't expecting much record-wise, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve. It feels like Washington just ignored the bullpen, and that isn't a good thing.