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Doc I have to thank you once again for weighing in on the side of common sense and real world...reality. Please keep the great business-side-of-baseball posts coming, in the M's commentariat we spend a bit too much time arguing about the placement of the deck chairs instead of thinking about the ship (USSM pun not intended...lol).
I think you characterize the "Fangraphs" way of seeing everything through the lens of intelligence perfectly...put another way it is an abdication of true responsibility, because sometimes the problem is big picture not little picture. Sometimes we have to face the (very uncomfortable) reality that the "system" is flawed. Who cares if the M's have the best one-armed swordsman GM in baseball, if his opponents get a free hand or a shield in addition? :) A lot of people emotionally want to put their head down and believe theory is reality (in my job I have noticed that very smart IT dept people are quite susceptible to this). For sports bloggers, the equivalent is to assume a priori that all GMs have equal opportunity and it's just a matter of out-spreadsheeting and out-pondering the enemy. True leaders diagnose systemic issues and fight to change them. Baker is one of these, I don't know if people appreciate how much courage he has to call the M's to task constantly in a "nice" town like Seattle where he presumably has very little "air cover" from any powerful backers.
All that said, GREAT news about the new revenue streams (...assuming the M's got a good price on the deal and won't be telling us all about their burdensome TV debt in 10 years). I suspect you are right, this is a rising tide that will lift the payroll to more competitive levels while not fundamentally changing the nature of ownership and management priorities. At that point we just have to hope Jay-Z or his successor have the smarts and luck to get us to the top!