I don't know how you can put it on the 7-8-9 hitters (even if Stott hit 1st last night). The flaw is clearly that if neither Bohm nor Casty can hit at all high level the offense doesn't click, and even when only one of them does it might not be enough against the best competition. That (plus the fact that Turner is not a slugger) is compounded by the choice to sign Kepler instead of a RHB, and further compounded by trying to play him or Marsh against LHP.
But Stott is off to a perfectly acceptable start offensively, miles better than last year and the same as 2023. If you thought he was going to be Chase Utley instead of Cesar Hernandez, sorry. And JT, like you said, we had to see it coming, and you can't expect the catcher to be one of your Top 5 hitters at this point in his career.
Marsh was very good last year. He's off to a poor start and, perhaps somewhat paradoxically, should be in LF where he's a top defender and a more than good enough hitter 75% of the time. Instead, we signed another player exactly like him and moved him out of his best fielding position too. And Marsh is not elite enough in CF to make up for lesser offense, so he has to hit. You have to at least speculate that one of the reasons he's struggling is because of the position change, even if he originally made it late last year.
Anyway, just try and get the usual .500 road trip and keep at it. They just won a series against the Dodgers, that counts just as much as losing one in Atlanta especially given the circumstances of the series decider (and yeah, it's a joke they had to play under the conditions of those 24 hours in general).
They're all in, and they'll spend the money (or to some people's chagrin) or prospect capital if they have to to upgrade. To a point.
