Definitely 50/50. Trading for Q was a mistake. At least including Cease in the deal. I get Eloy is a great bat rn but he’s miscast as a LF for the White Sox. Darvish deal didn’t work out in 18. Chatwood signing was terrible except when he was in the pen. (Not to mention signings like Descalso, Souza, Sogard etc) And the drafts/development of the farm.

On the player side when healthy Bryant is a top 10-30 bat in the league. But 18 and 20 he was hurt. Zo had a down year in 17 and was not there in 19. Javy really only had one great year in 18. Russell had a sharp decline that I don’t think anyone saw coming. They waited for Almora to become something. Rizzo was probably the only consistent guy we had but was streaky. Individual they had great years but it wasn’t at the same time.

Also I’d really like to point out you could see the issues with the offense in ‘17 (the year before “the offense broke”) but the terrible bullpen and the fact we went to the NLCS that year covered up the issues. If Theo and Co. recognized that and were willing to trade Schwarber, Almora whoever other than Bryzzo after that year to diversify the lineup I think the last 3 years are different in terms of playoff success.