Addition by nothing

It's a sad commentary on our management when the general consensus is a collective sigh of relief that Bavasi didn't make yet another bad trade to "bolster" our playoff chances.

Even before Bavasi, our history at the deadline hadn't been good. Heathcliff Slocumb for Lowe and Varitek, anyone? Jose Cruz for Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric? The list goes on. Under Bavasi, it's been sort of a weird priority inversion: trades smacking of desperation in the offseason for older, mediocre players making big money, and abject silence during the few playoff runs the team has had under his tenure.

Watching the M's go down 4-0 after two innings tonight, however, underscores the critical need for help with the starting pitching. Weaver has done well in the last 4-5 weeks, but is not to be trusted to continue the streak - as evidenced by the results so far tonight. Ramirez is no better. Even if one can make the argument that Hernandez, Washburn and Batista are adequate, there's substantively nothing afterwards.

Despite that, at least Bavasi didn't give up Jones or Balentien for a $12 million bag of balls. He used up his quota when we acquired Vidro.