Sure the ship has sailed, but that doesn't mean that it is not the cause of this team's problems. I am not going to point fingers at the strong aspects of the team. That would not be fair. They are doing their job. The offense will ebb and flow over the course of a season, but this is a high performing offense.
The glaring weakness of the rotation is the problem. If DD can't fix it, he can't fix it, but it is still the problem. The offense is not going to score double digits every game. No offense can. Any success that this team has had has been due to the high octane offense. We have lost games where they have scored 8, 9 and 10 games much too often. No, the problem is the pitching just as it was last year. last year the problem was the entire staff. This year the problem is a couple of rotation spots. Fix those and this team is a strong contender imo.