Freeing up payroll makes sense if they don't believe in going over the luxury tax in a season in which they do not think they have a legit shot at competing. Honestly, I don't disagree with that, in the long term scope of things and franchise building I want them to have better drafts, and whats the point of losing money to spend in the draft trying to compete for 82 wins?
What doesn't make sense to me, is there aren't any free agents out there that would have put them in danger of going over the threshold if they actually wanted to sign them. That story did seem a little eronious to me, as disgusted as I am with the front office, I do think they would spend if the moment was right for them. With that, it seems the thing to do amongst some is to think they just need to spend and sign every free agent to get out of this hole, where's I'm accepting of the fact that they have dug this hole and wouldn't want to frantically make decisions to hurt the franchise long term.
- They need to draft and develop pitching.
- They need to become a competitive team again.
- They need to do a better job at locking up their own young talent long term.
- They need to become willing to trade top prospects for the right players.
- They need to be willing to take a gamble on some big name free agents
I don't think anyone disagrees with that list, where I think I and others butt heads with others posters is the fact that I believe the first three points should preceed the last two. Otherwise you're just robbing peter to pay paul. I would rather look like LAD than the NYM.