My... realistic optimism about all of this...
- Assuming he is fine, Jimenez is a good pitcher. Not great, because of the mysterious velocity drop, but good. If you ignore what was given up, or that there are other needs, the fundamental idea of having another "good" pitcher is a nice one. And leaving Coors can only help him.
- The offense being this bad for this long is pretty inconceivable. Well, I think. Any time I try to figure out why they have struggled for so long, I can't come up with a concrete answer. Injuries are a part of it, but Choo and Sizemore weren't all that productive when they were healthy. Youth is a part of it. The fact that we have played a lot of terrible players for substantial amounts of time is a part of it. I guess it's all of it, but any day, you just feel like it could stop happening and never happen again.
- They can still win the division. And Jimenez and Masterson leading the rotation could even give a team some problems. Damn sure not good enough to win a championship, but making the playoffs would still be important, especially this soon after the past three seasons. Momentum, development, money... it would help. And, of course, it would be awesome.
- Even if the offense does continue to scuffle, and there is no postseason, a majority of the team should be better in 2012.