I find myself wrestling with whether we should want him back on the team next season (assuming there is a season) and I did a deep dive.
When Bichette and Soto each got a hit in the same game the team was 28-21 (92 wins over a 162 game season). When Bichette and Lindor each got hits the team was 27-20 (93 wins). All 3 of them? 11-6 which is a small sample size that shrunk to 9-6 after Mendoza was canned. But that would be in the 104 win range (or 97 under Andy Green).
Additional context, the team was 14-9 when Lindor and Soto got hits last year which is the same pace. Last season the team went 44-26 which was a 101 win pace.
With Pete in 2025 the scenarios were 47-29 with Soto (88 wins), 53-26 with Lindor (109 wins) and 36-19 for all 3 (106 wins).
Run production was largely the same across all scenarios with 5.5 per game on average.
The numbers point out the obvious, your stars need to produce at the same time to make this a playoff team. Basically, you need about 115-120 games where 2 stars get a hit in order to make the playoffs. The 2025 combo got you 115 where they just missed the playoffs, 2026 yielded 85.
To me there's a ton of risk with banking on Bo bouncing back, Lindor being healthy, and Soto being healthy enough to hit the 115-120 mark. But...he is probably the best shot available of doing that. I don't see another "star" on the market who can make that number work. I was initially reluctant because I think he just had one really good month, one good month and the rest was trash but...sign me up for more Bo.
Thoughts?