I can remember a lot of Phillies teams where everything had to go right, both collectively and in terms of individual career years, for them to win. Those teams rarely did.
I don't think this was one of those teams. It needed two out of three things go right - a big offense and a deep bullpen behind an average starting rotation (and an average defense for that matter). Had it worked out, we'd be a few games up in first right now and adding that big rotation piece, plus a bigger bullpen upgrade (because a few injuries or disappointments were always going to be inevitable. Just not seven of them).
Even then, it was probably a team that was going to lose in the NLCS without some breaks, not win a championship. Now we've got a team that's just trying to get to the NLDS, where they'll probably lose without some breaks. But I'm okay with the modest moves they made in pursuit of that. More ambitious moves were not going to measurably change the outcome in mid-late October, I don't think.
And if a few of these salvage jobs pan out they will be on the team next year, for a lot less money than Hunter/Neshek/Robertson. Or Arrieta.
There's really no excuse for getting so little production out of the leadoff spot though. That's where Hernandez's swoons hurt.
