by "improved" i mean not tank within the first 2 months of the season. by "do something" i mean be at least somewhat competitive. look at some of the teams in the wild card chases this year. by the beginning of the 2014 season, i think we'll have enough in the system to be excited about to the point where we can say "if we get some stuff to fall our way, we could actually be playing for something late in the season this year" it's baseball, and there are 2 wild cards now. i think writing off the 2014 season at this point is silly, even if theo/jed continue to operate the way they have been. OK, that's a pretty low bar though. Somewhat competitive would still mean missing the playoffs in a all likelihood. I'll just say I expect the Cubs to miss the playoffs in 2013 and 2014, and make the playoffs in 2015.