Or it can just turn into a DC-located version of the Pirates.
When you trade stars for prospects, those prospects better hit at a high enough rate and to a high enough degree and get you into serious playoff contention. Otherwise you're just in a perpetual rebuild.
The reason this seems worse than 2008-09 is because it started from a much better place. To get from a World Series win with several young, core pieces remaining to the present state in two seasons is pretty jarring. Yes, there's nowhere to go but up, but there's no guarantee the height of that rise is any more than mediocrity.
But I choose to believe in the optimistic case. I think at least three of these dudes will be quite good. I just hope it's all at the same time.
But for the last paragraph, this post really belongs in a Revival of the Legion of Doom thread.
However, as much as folks talk about how old the 2019 squad was, there was a core of Turner (team control 3 more years), Soto, an impressive Robles, plus the highly touted Kieboom, a successful Corbin, 2 years of Max, all before you get to whether you could extend the world series MVP or, longer shot, the guy who was a top 5 MLB WAR leader for 4 or 5 years. Even the come down from 6/30/21, as Boz wrote, is spectacular. At least there's no place left to go but up. When that happens and how far are the questions.
