Add new comment

I look at the article and see one GM who was given a top 10 payroll every year because he convinced the front office he could reload rather than rebuild, consistently whiffed in the draft and had the benefit of a young Felix Hernandez and only achieved a similar win-loss record to a GM who received a team loaded with bad contracts, has faced payroll reductions every year in an environment of salary inflation, inherited one of the worst farm systems in baseball.
If Z received another 20-25 million a year to play with, I find it hard to believe the win-lose record will be close. Z would have 4-5 more wins a season and things would look much better. The lesson I've learned from this rebuild is the difficulty of building a team from the ground up with no money. How many free agents has Z been able to sign to multi-year deals to plug holes in the organization. One, and that was Chone Figgins who flopped. And Figgins wasn't even making top dollar for a free agent. Imagine the Bavasi years if he hadn't been able to sign Sexson, Beltre, Washburn, Ibanez, Eddie Guerrero, Scott Spiezo, Batista, Johjima and Silva. Granted some of these players were flops, but as a whole they were a net positive.