..." that's not just a Pope thing"
I disagree, we grow players into the rotation all the time going back years. Connor Harding, Zac Seljaas, Dalton Nixon, Skyler Halford, Kolby Lee, Richie Saunders, AAA, Jaxson Robinson, Gavin Baxter, Corbin Kaufusi, Anson Winder, Jordan Chatman, etc just in the past decade.
As for your knock on Tanner, it was fallacious. Nobody said anything about Toolson being "the missing piece". Injuries curtailed his first season home but In the little bit he did play we didn't see anything to indicate he couldn't be a part of the rotation in the future.