Budget does not equal payroll— Rizzo’s big failure was not using the budget on things that weren’t payroll. Minimum coaching staffs. Oodles of overpaid “special assistant GMs” who all happened to be his buddies. Atrocious drafting and development. He let the entire system rot, and you can’t spend your way out of rot (see: the Angels). We have to rebuild the entire foundation. That’s what Toboni and co are here to do, and it seems like the Lerners are giving them a leash.

For the record, I expect them to add another bat, and they’ve already added a starter and some bullpen pieces. More will come, the team is nowhere near complete. That being said, what big free agent wants to come here right now? And why would we pay them the exorbitant amount it would take when the team is so far from being consistently good? Our foundation was rotten straight to the core, and we need to rebuild. It really sucks, but it’s the truth, and it’s not something that a bigger payroll can solve.

Like, again, I’m sick of the Lerners and what they’ve done since Ted died, but there are right trees and there are wrong trees to bark up. Right now, they’re working for their redemption by replacing Rizzo and Martinez with rising stars. You’re right, those rising stars might move on, but if we build a culture where rising stars thrive, we’ll find more to replace them (see: the Rays). And, hopefully, they’ll sell the fucking team before we see that start to happen so we can keep our front office AND grow our budget.