I think I see the problem! We were talking past each other a bit here..... When I responded to your post about $/WAR, I thought you were arguing they couldn't afford Donaldson. That appears not to be the case. What you are saying is that he specifically isn't the FA you'd sign. On that, I'm unsure how I fell one way or the other. I would have preferred pitching any of the last three off seasons, but we aren't getting that. It appears, after three years of needing starting pitching, that the team won't pay for the top end of the market. The question is, then, do I want them to spend that money on other top line players? I would have preferred a Machado (26 years old) but that was never going to happen. That leaves us with this specific choice, now that the only other good FA hitters are outfielders, which this team doesn't need. I would have preferred the less expensive Moustakis if this was the plan, but they didn't do that either. In looking at next year's FA class.......well, I haven't don that much yet. But, from everything you read, it pales compared to this year. So I'm not sure saving that money does much good. To Chief's point, it is easy to say after the fact that random pitchers are better, but who is left for this year that is going to be better than 1 WAR with any level of certainty? I'm mostly indifferent on Donaldson. It would not have been my play at all, but the ship of my plan has sailed for the third straight year. At this point, the question is, now what?