I don't think Theo was totally lying on the duel fronts thing. They clearly, and rightly so, made strengthening the minor leagues their first priority, but I believe the 2012 team was built as an "If everything goes right, we have a chance" type of team. Garza (coming off of an ace season), Dempster, Samardzija (high upside), Wood, and Volstad (he's never been this bad before) isn't a bad rotation on paper. They brought Stewart over who did have upside but he was bad/unlucky/injured, Byrd was terrible and they probably weren't expecting Jackson to struggle as much as he did at AAA, Soto didn't bounce back like he did in 2010. That's not a 100 loss team on paper, but they played poorly to start out, so the best pitcher and the hottest pitcher were both traded. Combine that with the most talented pitcher being injured, and we are even worse the second half. It seems right now that Theo wasn't telling the truth, but I'm not sure that's totally the case.