I don't think our championship window is necessarily closing. I think our championship window will end up being 10-12 years, during which we'll have some years close to peak performance (2017-2019) and some re-tooling years (2020). Free agency takes its toll. Injury bug eventually bites. Production from older players eventually starts to fall off. At some point a team has to lean on young, unproven guys to do the work.
The Cardinals went through similar phases during their 2004-2013 run when they made 4 World Series and 3 NLCS. They had to replace some key departures during that stretch and it wasn't always pretty. Red Sox have been up and down since 2004 and have 4 World Series titles.
So I guess our initial peak performance window might be closed, but I think we still have a good chance to make some title runs over the next 6-8 years.
The Cardinals went through similar phases during their 2004-2013 run when they made 4 World Series and 3 NLCS. They had to replace some key departures during that stretch and it wasn't always pretty. Red Sox have been up and down since 2004 and have 4 World Series titles.
So I guess our initial peak performance window might be closed, but I think we still have a good chance to make some title runs over the next 6-8 years.