I'm inclined toward that conclusion as well. Even so, he'll have to be a credible candidate at that point or they might as well nominate a turnip with a "Hillary For President" button on.
Turning 5% of the delegates into 51% is going to take a lot more than a little backroom finagling. And so far Yeb's team isn't displaying any ability to pull it off, rather the opposite: idiotic campaign slogans such as "Yeb!", which is reconstituted "Lamar!", and heaven help us, "Yeb can fix it!" which leads the cynical to suspect that Yebbie's running for dog catcher. Awful stuff.
"Stay on the attack" means something different in politics than "call the other guy names", and Yeb sounds like a petulant little boy shouting "poopie-head" and is being taken just as seriously. Trump especially, and to a lesser degree Cruz, are called "abrasive" for their manner and forgiven instantly for their positions. It's the positions, stupid! We're in January now, and the contest isn't for Miss Congeniality. Amnesty is a losing position. So are gun control, "social justice", academic racism, and civil rights for perverts. Expressing any of these forcefully will, in the current politically correct media environment, get a candidate a reputation for being abrasive. Embrace the abrasion.
Or quit. Because brokering in a loser is the way to lose.
Brokering....as in coming in with entire armored trucks full of cash.