That's pretty much it, yes. Goodberry even halfway called it "embezzlement".
It's not great. For every step "forward" toward modernity, they mask an entire faceplant back into ultra-cap conservatism and, if I am harsh enough in my assumptions, cheating the team and its fans.
These subtleties may have worked before mass social media and before there were 47 daily podcasts, but people catch on these days.