craig - I think you are possibly overthinking or over-emphasizing the "determination" thing. I don't think Theo is even capable of being that simplistic in his thinking. Seems to me that he's made clear there were a number of problems with the offense last year...
You may be right. But he does repeat the determination/urgency thing in every interview or conversation that I've heard or seen reported. (It's well possible that I've missed many, though; so my perception may be way off!
And he does so with a persuasive sincerity; maybe Occam's Razor applies and he means it, and sees that as a non-exclusive but really important avenue for improvement?
To some degree, he may have little option? What are the fundamental ways that a team improves itself?
1. By adding new personnel, or 2. By improvement of existing personnel.
Improvement of Personnel: How do you add new personnel?
1. Free Agency 2. Bringing up minor league talent. 3. Trades
1. FA: He's added Descalzo, the one roster addition. But costs for young building blocks are rapidly exploding as they transition from pre-arb through the arb years, and will continue to do so in future years. So to some degree he's already done his free agency spending during the years the kids were still cheap. He's already made the primary investments in Lester, Zobrist, Hayward, and Darvish. And lesser ones in Chatwood, Morrow, Cishek, Duensing, and now Descalzo. For a while, maybe he's just got to ride the investments that he's made?
2. Farm, minor league talent: Theo doesn't have any lineup/hitting improvements available from the minors, this spring or for a while. It's been ≥5 years since the farm glory years (Cease was 2014 draft), and those guys are up or traded (Eloy, Cease, Torres.) Who knows, the pitching might get some help at some point this season? (Maybe Alzolay or Rosario, or perhaps some support work from Norwood or Mekkes or Underwood or somebody like that?) But if something was "broken" with the offense, call-ups from Iowa and Tennessee aren't fixing it this year.
3. Trades: They've talked. But without surplus of talent that other teams want a lot, and without minor-league talent, they understandably haven't found deals that they thought would improve the roster, or the offense.
So, if there was something "broken" with the offense, what is Theo supposed to do in terms of strategy? He can tinker at the edges (Descalzo), or maybe with a small trade, but he doesn't have much to work with. Without discretionary cash, minor league talent, or talent-surplus at any big-league spot, he lacks assets for doing big strategic things to add significantly helpful major personnel from outside. It's just the way it is.
Any improvement needs to come from Descalzo like fringes, or from guys coming back.