I still hate tanking, and this is the time to say it because there's no crutch to lean on for me.
But considering they lost 115 freaking games before the "tank" started I'm not sure if it's a suitable label, rather than just an old-fashioned rebuild. That 2018 team still had Jones, Machado, Mancini, Schoop, Bundy, Gausman, Brach, Davis and Trumbo for most of the year. And Alex Cobb and Andrew Cashner. 115 games!!
After the rebuild started in earnest they were only bad for three seasons, and I don't think they were intentionally losing games, they were just a skeleton team. It was the right thing to do. It had to be done. The only doubt in my mind was whether they would do it well or have a bad "rebuild" lasting a decade or more. They certainly did it well.