Theo and Jed certainly deserve a ton of credit for this stuff, but it's worth acknowledging that there are some things that have gone far better than could reasonably have been anticipated, which has accelerated our timeline. Like we all knew Rizzo was great value for Cashner, but him turning into what he is, which is an MVP type talent (especially while Cashner has been underwhelming at best for SD) is probably in the top 5-10% of all possible outcomes of that deal. Same for Arrieta becoming a top 3 pitcher in the whole NL in exchange for essentially nothing of value, and for Schwarber being able to come up here and be an excellent major league hitter less than a year after being drafted. By the same token, who could've guessed that Billy Beane, the poster child for valuing years of control on good players and getting as many bites at the apple as possible, would go insane last year and trade us a guy like Addison Russell? Or that Houston would take the pitcher that Theo/Jed were rumored to like ahead of the guy who was actually (we assume) the best option at #1 in Kris Bryant? Meanwhile (knock on wood) very few things have gone very badly - in terms of the talents people were talking about as cornerstones when (or soon after) Theo got here, the worst thing that's probably happened has been...? Almora not being that great in AA? I don't know if you call it luck, but that very few things have gone very badly - while a few things have gone as well as we could've ever hoped - certainly is part of the reason we are already as good as we are in year 4.