It's ownership imo. It's a completely different management group with the same fatally flawed plan (age gap players, not trading for futures, reluctance to use buyouts, reluctance to take on cap dumps for futures, etc). The execution and pro-scouting is perhaps a bit better than the former regime but their employer (ownership) is telling them what they want and it's their job to try to do it.
I'm starting to believe more and more that it won't matter who the GM is or even who the players are as long as Aquilini is setting the direction at the top. I mean we all know this is true but I guess it bears repeating here and there as many (including myself) start judging management as though they had some sort of independence or agency.