FireBillBavasi.com

if there's a fire howard lincoln petition i'd be more than happy to sign !

 http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5227436

In particular, I think that the M's farm system has improved a lot since Bavasi and Fontaine have joined the club.  I think that Fontaine has been most responsible for much better decisions in the past two drafts.  However, Bavasi has brought in a lot of good arms in minor trades.  That is not insiginificant.  

However, Bavasi has totally bombed this offseason.  Washburn's contract is pretty unanimously viewed as the worst signing of the offseason.  Bringing in Everett was also an uncreative, bad addition.  

Bavasi seems to be pretty good at trading veterans for prospects.  He got good returns from Garcia, Villone, Winn, and Torrealba.  He also has shown that he is not afraid of big contracts.  

Bavasi's main failing is that he hasn't shown that he can make really creative, intelligent moves.

He hasn't been able to pick up undervalued players.  The Lawton signing was a pretty nice move.  But there has been talent available this offseason, and the M's haven't been able to do anything:

-The Dodgers just acquired SP Jae Seo from the Mets for two relievers (Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schmoll).  Seo has good stats, but did not get a good shot to pitch for the Mets.  He could have been a great pickup for the M's, who have plenty of relievers to deal.  This is a move that Bavasi should have made.  

-The A's picked up Milton Bradley for nearly nothing.  Bradley is a much much better player than Carl Everett.  Bradley is a switch hitter, gets on base, and is a very good defensive OFer.  Instead, the M's acquired an older, inferior, and one-dimensional player.

-the Rockies just signed Byung Hyung Kim for 1.5 million.  The Rockies are not exactly the ideal destination for pitchers, and I am sure that Kim would have listened to offers from the M's.  Coming to Seattle would have been a great way for him to get his career on track.  He would have been a nice, cheap addition to the rotation for the M's.  Barring injuries, Kim would have filled the crucial 6th starter/long reliever role that the M's are very thin at right now.

-the Indians needed pitching help, but with the market going crazy, they didn't want to overpay for crap starters.  They went out and signed Paul Byrd for 2 years, 14.25 million and Jason Johnson for 1 year, 4 million.  In this bloated market, these are two of the best bargains available.  Both of these guys would have been much better investments than Washburn.  The Indians got themselves two good starters without committing to long-term, overpriced contracts.  

-the Diamondbacks were not in good shape at the beginning of the offseason.  Despite sucking, they had thrown a lot of money at Troy Glaus and Russ Ortiz the year before.  They had a nice farm system, but too many old, declining vets blocking them.  They bring in Eric Byrnes as the new GM, and that club is instantly on the right track.  He traded away Troy Glaus and Javier Vazquez, and didn't make any big free agent acquisitions.  However, the Snakes saved a huge amount of cash, while bringing in players like Chris Young and Orlando Hudson.  After one more round of trades this season, the Diamondbacks should have one of the best young teams going into 2007, with a lot of money left over to spend to improve the roster for a run at the playoffs.  The thing I like about these moves is that Byrnes recognized that the team was not close to contending.  He recongnized that the future was in the farm system.  He made some unpopular trades that won't really help the team win a lot of games for another year.  But he did stick to a long-term plan that will help that team be a contender in a few years.  I am sure that everyone will be talking about how much of a genious he is in 2007 and 2008.

I am seeing none of these types of moves from Bavasi.  I liked the Johjima and Lawton signings, but this offseason has been a total bust overall.  

I don't think that Bavasi is a horrible GM.  However, I don't think that he is a really good GM either.  

If the M's could bring in Theo Epstein, it would be a great move.  The new crop of young, ballsy GMs are making guys like Bavasi look stupid.  The M's should throw a huge wad of cash at Epstein, and give him all the autonomy that he didn't have in Boston.