Some of these comments look almost comical now. Ah, ye of little faith….

Rich Who?

What I’m worried about now is either overpaying for mid-level players or else just not spending any more money at all and trying to pick up the scraps at the end. I’m not real excited about many of the free agents left but if we don’t go after any of them, the chances of our being competitive is slim.

Sounds like you’re still suffering from the Bavasi hangover.

Why does everyone assume that once the free agents are gone, that’s it? Or that the only (or best) players available to the M’s are free agents? Need I remind you that the M’s vastly improved last year without signing a significant free agent? Free agents are sexy and fun and are topmost in the mind of fantasy players, but they’re hardly the end of the story; moreover, they’re the most expensive way to add wins to a team.

The end of the winter meetings doesn’t mark the end of the offseason. It marks the beginning. Now the real work, the hard work, of the offseason starts. The obvious names have come and gone, and the GMs have done all the ass-licking the agents demand. But the orgs also spent a lot of time schmoozing with one another, opening up the lines, getting the preliminaries out of the way, setting the table. Now they can get down to business burning up the phone lines on those blockbuster trades.

What I’m worried about now is either overpaying for mid-level players or else just not spending any more money at all and trying to pick up the scraps at the end. I’m not real excited about many of the free agents left but if we don’t go after any of them, the chances of our being competitive is slim.

The other day Derek said something about roster construction for the playoffs being different. I agree, and I wonder if the old adage that pitching and defense are more important in the postseason doesn’t have a thread of truth. In general one will see better hitters and pitchers in the postseason. The hitters will get less at bats than they would against an average pitcher, so they lose a bit of importance. But the defense is likely to see more balls in play, and harder hit balls, so good defense gains importance.

Pitching gains importance in a different way. First of all, your top three starters go from starting ~65% of the games to starting 75-80%, making them more important. However, as they are facing a superior offense, they are not likely to go as far into games, so the importance of the bullpen is also increased. Coming back to the idea of a Gooser, a reliever who can come in early and slam the door would also gain value. Think Mariano Rivera, but for three innings. Having that available 2-3 times in a series could be decisive.

There’s a narrow range where it gets picked up, but players sometimes do perform as projected.