Ross Atkins

The most damage that we added in the offseason wasn't as integral into our season, was a piece of the equation in the playoffs in Anthony Santander.

You know, we always have believed in this group.

We have said that a long time.

And the players that are here and Alejandro Kirk and obviously Vladdy and obviously George and they've continued to get better.

They've continued to make adjustments with the league.

And we've always felt that contact would turn into more damage.

And this year it did.

It's obviously...

very powerful.

John Schneider and I were just talking about it.

I think the thing that I think about the most is the relationships, the people that we have hired and the people that we have grown with together.

I've always felt there's a big group of people here that I'm working with that will for sure be lifelong relationships and lifelong friendships.

Success, albeit not done with work to do, not just this year, but well beyond, I think just emboldens that feeling of how powerful these relationships will be.

Pretty, you know, pretty early.

I would say probably in that transition from Vancouver to New Hampshire, that Aval AA transition, as you could see, he was moving pretty quickly.

And, you know, we could, the strikeout rate is just undeniable.

The weapons and the unique nature of them was undeniable.

And he just made the decision for us.

You know, we talk about both sides of the ball all the time.

We also felt that those guys are good offensive players, really good base runners.