they overachieved last year and drank up all the kool aid. they've had the wrong "we are better than we are playing"attitude all year.

it also hurts much more so that rizzo had an OFF year. only the morse trade seemed to work. not overpaying jackson was smart but Haren was a disaster only mitigated by the shortness of his deal. letting go of burnett (pre-injury) and gorzelanny was a mistake, hairston has been ineffective, and span hasnt adjusted well to NL pitching. soriano is a wash to me when the team loses so much.

next year they still have some of the same problems (CF, 4th/5th starter) that they came into this season with. not a good look.