my biggest main problem with the FO's performance so far* has been with their unflinchingly risk-averse nature; they were put in a situation where they pretty much inherited a expansion team, and still, with nothing at all to lose, they seemingly avoided any high-reward gambles at every turn- this is the exact opposite of how it should have been a team with zero expectations to contend (and little in the way of available funds) is in a perfect situation to make some of these moves: • sign Francisco Liriano (29) - all it took was 2/14, even before his contract had to be voided and renegotiated lower • sign Chris B. Young (30) - signed for 1/7 • trade for Peter Bourjos (26) - hard to think we couldn't top an offer of Freese, also he was considered expendable the previous offseason as well • trade for Dom Brown (25) - Phillies had publicly all but given up on him and were very interested in Soriano; i think money was a sticking point for us • sign Josh Johnson (29) - took 1/8, maybe perhaps a big player option entices him • trade for Brett Anderson (25) surely there are a few others (6/62 for Ryu?) i'm forgetting, but those are the misses that bother(ed) me the most: guys with prior history of high-level play and young enough that you can conceivably add them to your 'core' or build up considerable enough value to flip for something meaningful at the deadline...and the worst-case scenario is they crash and burn and put you closer toward the top-5 draft picks you not-so-secretly want to this day, Ian Stewart is still one of my favorite of their moves because they actually took a gamble on something meaningful: a 24-yo capable defensive 3B with 25 HR / 60 BB ability *i swear i was typing this up before TT's post, so you'll just have to deal with whatever redundancy