He also said that Bloomers is way better than Lopez.

He’s not worth my time or yours. Sorry to use your bandwidth on something so dumb, USSM.

Yes, sub-cats would be cool. Not to get too meta-USSM, but there’s a point at which category and the other options become too much of a pain per-post. Sooo… I’m working on possible compromises.

“Billy Beane will NOT be sitting on his butt”

This is why Blowers and Glasgow are pimping Delgado on the postgame show, IMO. If I had to bet on the postseason moves, I suspect they’ll sign him, a FA starting pitcher of some talent, and someone at 3B or SS like Orlando Cabrera, trade someone for the 793 underpowered corner OF’ers not named Ichiro for bullpen help, and try to pass it off as the newly competitive Mariners- ignoring the fact that the Angels started off the 2003-2004 offseason with a BETTER record than the M’s will have going into the 2004-2005 offseason, added Vlad, Colon and Guillen (as good a haul as the M’s could likely get in the offseason, and the M’s are likely to do MUCH worse), and are not a lock to make the playoffs. The package I described above maybe gets you to .500 IF a lot of things go right, 85-90 wins if EVERYTHING goes right (Boone, Jamie, Eddie and Joel all return to their best form, Olivo takes a step forward, etc.)…but if things go wrong (Delgado turns into another post-30 on the decline bust like Rickey/Martin/Sierra/Cirillo/Ibanez/Spiezio, Franklin’s still garbage, the rotation still is fluid), the M’s will be lucky to win 70-75.

I mean, come on:

- Billy Beane will be sitting on his butt
- Showalter may be a control freak but he DOES build good teams
- Moreno will be shoveling out cash

So we’re in a division where likely EVERY other team is a good shot to finish above .500, and has management that ranges from above-average to really astute. A strategy where the M’s try to win in 2005 and invest heavily in over-30 veterans is fraught with disaster, and what the M’s SHOULD do is take a hit in 2005, plan on drawing 20-25K to a team that loses 90 games and continue to evaluate their minor league talent, and after purging the veteran contracts (Boone, Winn, Moyer, Franklin, Shiggy etc.), make a run in 2006.

But that would be a HUGE breach of faith with the fans. Thus the dilemma facing Lincoln, Armstrong and Bavasi for the 2005 offseason- teams RARELY go from 95 losses to 95 wins in a year, and when they do (see the 1961 Reds and 1967 Red Sox for examples) it’s largely because they replace the schlepps with good young players- yet the M’s are going to be stuck with a ton of marginal, barely above replacement level talent on contract for 2005 that it’s nearly inevitable they will play regularly (and lose with regularly): Franklin, Shiggy, Ibanez, Spiezio, Bloomquist, Boone and Moyer (if they don’t rebound). I just don’t see how they pull it off yet. Maybe if they signed Beltran and Beltre in the offseason and managed to move some talent to bring guys like Reed into the lineup I’d feel better…but right now, I don’t see a lot of hope for 2005 aside from the “everything breaks perfectly” scenario that teams like the Brewers and Royals depend on in spring training.

They’re marketing an entertainment product for families, in their mind, and that involves being competitive within the division and keeping those families happy. If that means overpaying for Dan Wilson, they’re happy to do it.

They’re a profit-making enterprise above other considerations, and choose profit certainty over perhaps larger potential returns that involve some risk.