I remember reading somewhere, once, that to have a sustainable contender you need to get a decent 1.5 starting players from your system every year.
I am sticking to my point that going from Devers in the summer of 2017 to Bello and Casas in the summer of 2022 or 2023 to actually get solid results and only getting one guy- Houck, is a major, if not the most significant reason the team went downhill, fast.
Sure, deadwood contracts hurt.
Sure, too many players declining all at once, even some still in their prime hurt.
Sure, slashing the budget after 2019, hurt like hell, but getting no farm infusion of significance was the ball-buster to me.
Not adding anyone in2018 or 2019 added to the demise of the 2019 team. Other factors may have been more significant that one year, grant you that, but overall, from 2019-2022, IMO, little farm help hurt most.