Well its not as black and white like that. First of all, not applying buffs or DOTs is a mayor dps loss for DRG, no question about that, if you only spam 1-2-3 you are not playing the job. TTT is very good to burn down adds but other than that you should always focus on putting up everything else first. Secondly the ramp up part of DRG is huge and comes close to a MNK going to GL2. A DRG starts out with HT-PH-FR-ID-DE-CT for 1 buff/1 debuff and 3 DoTs, thats roughly similar to a MNK doing ToD-FR-BS-TS-DM-DK for 1 buff/1 debuff and 3 Dots. Sure you are not at GL3 by then but you have placed all your important stuff in exactly the same time and GL3 will then come by itself at which point you will easily outdamage the DRG.

In terms of positioning you are ignoring a very essential factor, DRGs have only 2 skills with positional requirements while MNKs have 5, however a MNK does not get punished hard for missing a position, at worst you lose 40 potency but the thing is your combo still continues and your DOT/Buff/Debuff is still getting placed. With DRG its far more punishing, not only do you get lower potency but your Buff is also NOT getting placed and your combo does NOT continue, so you need to start over again, completely messing up your rotation.