Silva, the Long Term, and the Silver Lining

Hey, I am as pissed off about this move as the rest of you.  However, I would like to focus on the bright side of this whole debacle.  

Unlike most other silver lining explanations of this move, I am nost going to waste anyones time BSing about how this is going to help the club win more games, because signing Silva for more than $5 mil per year is pretty much stupid.  He isn't a terrible pitcher.  He is just the type of guy that is useful only before he hits free agency.  Only stupid teams sign guys like this to multi-year deals in free agency.  However, the M's are a stupid team.  That is where the bright side of this deal is.  

The biggest problem the M's have is their general manager and front office.  It is pretty much a 100% certainty that this is a 'win or else' year for Bavasi et al.  Thus, we are watching Bill make desperation moves to save his ass.  That is what is so frustrating about this club.  They don't realize that they aren't legit contenders, and they don't have any clue how to get to that point in the first place.  The inability to evaluate talent is an unconquerable obstacle in this organization.  They just won't be a good team unless changes are made at the top.    

I am hoping that this will be one of the last nails in Bavasi's coffin.  As it stands now, the M's aren't anything resembling a contender.  The Angels are far and away the biggest lock to win their division in baseball.  Adding Silva, plus a few additional minor moves - maybe one of the guys coming off injury like Clement, Colon, Jennings, Garcia or Prior - aren't going to be enough for the M's to close the gap.  

Assuming that this is the big move of the offseason, I would argue that the M's are barely a .500 club.  That is enough to get Bavasi fired.  Most likley, the Angels will win around 95 games and the M's will be effectively out of contention by July.  

Hopefully, this is the worst that Bavasi does to fuck up the roster that his replacement will inherit.  If that is true, this isn't the end of the world.  

If Bavasi manages to not trade away any young talent or lock us in to other terrible contracts, the M's roster will be in relatively good shape.  Sexson, Ibanez, Bloomquist, and Johjima are off the books after 2008.  Washburn, Beltre, Batista, and Vidro are off the books the following year.  While guys like Washburn, Batista, and Silva aren't good contracts, they aren't immovable albatrosses either, especially with the price of mediocre starters going up every year.  By mid-season, and especially by the next offseason, those contracts could actually have trade value.  If Bavasi gets canned, his successor could move some contracts and regain flexibility pretty easily.  

The M's have some near-ML-ready young talent and a few guys locked up on good value contracts for a few years.  This would be an easy club to get back into contention, if we only had the right GM.  

Hopefully, this is Bavasi's last failure.  In that sense, perhaps this is some sort of rock-bottom moment.  Sorta like the DWI that forces an alcoholic to re-evaluate his life and get help.  I certainly hope so, because it sucks going into an offseason knowing that the guy running the club just doesn't get it.