That seems like a head-scratcher. The best move so far this offseason has been the Pagan for Ramirez/Torres trade. The Francisco deal was decent, the two year deal makes it seem likely he’s getting traded mid-season, so we’ll have to see what kind of fruit it bears. Other than that, not a lot of moves to rave about. Which is weird b/c we’re seeing a lot of 1 year deals that should be right up our Front Office’s wheelhouse. The 40 man roster has been tight, but that didn’t stop them from signing Ronny Cedeno (or Rauch for that matter).

Remember that signing was made after Matt Capps was signed for 4.5mm with a 6mm option, and Jonathon Broxton signed for $4mm. These agents are just trying to troll us.

But I guess the question really is did the moves that were made circumvent the risk factor? Did we really make out better for not waiting I guess is what I’m saying.

The DBacks signed Takashi Saito for 1.75 million a week after Rauch signed. And even if Sandy thought there might be risks, why make Rauch, a very mediocre reliever, such a huge priority?

I think Syler still has a point though. I wonder if the front office just assumed guys like Jackson would be out of their price range and never paid to much attention. There are other factors (like where Jackson himself wanted to pitch), but you’d think a team with little money would wait to see which free agents would overplay their hands and have to sign for cheap. I don’t know if they could have done that with Pelfrey though, since they had to make the decision to tender him earlier. But it would have been nice to have the Rauch money in reserve for late signings.

I take it back. Let’s go Nats?

Drew Storen put up a 3.32 FIP last year and Tyler Clippard is one of the best setup men in the game. Then they also added Brad Lidge to that. If he’s healthy, that’s a formidable back of the bullpen.

As much noise as the Fish and Nats made this season, they’re still far behind the Braves for 2nd place, and there are possibly teams than the Braves for the WC slots (Giants, D-Backs, and maybe Dodgers in the west, Brewers, Cards, and Reds in the central). Considering reasonable health among all clubs, the Nationals are closer to the mets than they are to the braves/phils.