All the changes they are making this year should have been done last year. Maybe those changes work and that changes our long term outlook. But even if they work, implementing them a year sooner would have helped.
But beyond that, the team is in dangerous territory because it will need to spend big to keep competing. The team has done a good job to avoid albatross contracts so far but if we sign Vlad to 300+ mil and a number of pricey FAs, which is what it will take to compete, then we are going to hit some landmines.
And that's when things will get REALLY dire. No farm system and garbage contracts eating up payroll = a long full-scale rebuild.