I admit that I do keep hoping against hope that the Cubs will somehow wind up getting Harper. He would be an enormous addition, obviously.
I try to remind myself, though, that the existing team has three genuine offensive stars: Bryant, Baez and Rizzo, with at least one other guy who has the potential to be: Contreras. Their supportive cast (Zobrist, Heyward (overpaid though he may be), Schwarber, Almora and Happ) ain't exactly chipped beef.
No one, including, me and least of all Theo, wants to enter 2019 without at least one more proven bat. But, if some of the youngsters were adversely affected by mixed signals (launch angle vs. putting the ball in play), it's entirely possible that we'll see an offense more like 2016 and 2017. And while that offense had its own issues, it was damned good at producing runs. If Darvish, Lester, Hamels, Hendricks and Quintana perform anywhere near their potential and the bullpen steps like last season, a 2016-2017 level offense should make for a team that is capable of going deep into the playoffs.