apparently more perceptively than you are
In general, I'm pretty optimistic about our team. I think I'm one of the few who thinks we can make a quick turnaround next year with the right moves and some solid progression from our farm. But this year? Our offense is absolutely squalid, historically bad, and while you could expect some positive regression it's not like we have major pieces extremely ready to contribute in AAA or on the DL, just waiting to come out and save us. Our pitching, while promising in a number of guys, is still going through a lot of rough patches. And it's not like we're gonna be big buyers at the deadline to give us a push; in fact, we're much more likely to sell off our best contributors to seal up our future. So where, exactly, is the extra perception that you magically have that I don't?
Let's take a look at the teams that might catch us at the moment: Twins are obviously playing just as terribly as we are, they have a good chance at the number one pick. They also have Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, as well as Jose Berrios and Max Kepler, at the MLB level. While we might have the stronger farm overall, those are some very potent young pieces to have in the bigs at one time, and should any of them figure it out they could start winning games in a very even AL Central. The Reds are dominated by mental mistakes and a ****tastic bullpen, but they've also been missing AN ENTIRE MLB ROTATION to injury, with Cody Reed and Tyler Stephenson waiting in the wings. Bruce, Duvall, Votto, Phillips are very potent offensive pieces. The Padres are very likely to slide down closer to us in winning percentage, not a lot of good things happening for them and they're likely to be sellers as well. The Athletics are another team completely dominated by injuries.
So...where exactly are you seeing these teams that are gonna completely unseat us if we continue on our current trajectory? Or even if we pick up the pace a little? I hate being negative, I don't think it serves much purpose, but at this point it's absolutely realistic to consider ourselves the worst overall team in baseball, let alone one of the 3 worst.
