I gave a B considering the circumstance ... Yeah they are playing horrible, but bottom line is they are still very much in the hunt for a WC... Tell me any other team can lose 2 MVP caliber players ( Crawford receives votes every yr but last yr and ells should of won last yr ) has 2 of their best healthy offensive players struggle the 1st half ( gonzo/petey ) lose their closer in free agency then lose his replacement.... Then all the various injuries to petey/youk/WMB/bucholz/Sweeney/Ross/etc..etc...etc
That's alot to deal with, yeah being 9 gms back for the division sucks ball, but this team is about to be healthy real soon..... Remember the cards being 10 1/2 back last yr?? All we have to do is get in, then get hot
For that reason they get a B.... If all the above happened to almost any other team in the majors, they would be 20 gms out of the WC