I just don't understand what is wrong with his point. The five biggest problems with this team last year were:
1) The starting pitching
2) Injuries (or GMs building a team with many injury prone players, your pick)
3) Bullpen's failures in late innings, despite strong general stats.
4) Power failure mid season
5) Manager destroyed clubhouse chemistry.
#3 and #5 are pretty much fixed. #2 and #4 will be something we watch for, but so far most of the team is healthy, or there has been a solid replacement for them. That leaves #1.
This staff has done absolutely everything they could to impress us over the last few months. Almost the entire pitching staff went to ST weeks early. Lackey lost somewhere from 20-40 pounds. Buchholz and Lester were #1 and #2 in baseball for ERA in ST. They need to show results in real games. But if they pitch like they did in ST, what's stopping this team?