Everybody wants to win. And Dipoto as an elite athlete who reached the highest league in the world almost certainly wants to win more than just about anybody we normal folks ever met. The question, as Daddy puts it, is whether the organization will go the extra mile. From this bleacher it sure doesn't look like it.
On the other hand, as Doc points out, DiPo's self-confidence is over the top. And he probably thinks, as Wish says, that this team can largely because of moves he has made. Given good health (huh!) the everyday lineup and bullpen could be superb. DiPo deserves big credit for that. Which leaves the rotation. Seems like every year or two there is an MLB rotation that comes out of nowhere to be really good. The A's do this over and over. The Cardinals. Even Texas has patched together rotations good enough to get an offensive powerhouse into the World Series.
My guess is DiPo sees exactly this scenario with this group - two proven winners up top, a great Number 3 and then the spaghetti wall out of which some really happy surprises could emerge. Would anybody be shocked to see Marco win 15 games? I wouldn't. I mean if Paul Abbott can do it .. . .
There are lots of ifs on this roster - Felix, Healy, LF the bottom of the rotation. If say they hit on half they'll contend. If they hit em all, they'll be something. My concern all off-season has been what happens at the other end of the dice roll. A team like the Astros needs a couple of really bad things to hapopen to NOT contend. We need a couple of really great things to crawl up the ladder.