This is the result, as has been discussed, of sitting on the sidelines for the entire off-season without a GM (and thus, without any coherent plan).
If you are going to lose Verlander and his 1.75 ERA, maybe you shouldn’t assume that the pitching results will be consistent in ‘23. And if you accept that, perhaps you should (1) bolster the rotation, at least in terms of depth, via free agency, to mitigate risk; (2) bolster the lineup and position player depth to mitigate the effect of the pitchers almost inevitably allowing more runs; or preferably (3) some combination of both.
Signing Abreu was a fine move and represents an upgrade at 1B. But nothing was done to address issues related to depth (particularly utility, OF, DH) or on the pitching side. So you’re left in a situation in which you’re depending on guys every day who are unlikely to be good. Altuve’s injury is exposing the lack of quality depth.
@Wulaw Horn was alluding to this all offseason. The way that the GM thing was handled never made sense; the result is a roster that is pretty flawed and didn’t really have to be.