Yeah I agree, the offseason hasn't been ideal at all and I've been saying that for a while. It's now January and Upton, Smoak, and Zeke are slated for major playing time. That's not good. This team was a clear WC contender heading in to the offseason but we've kind of whiffed so far this offseason so now I'm not sure. Like you said, things can not work out the way you hope as I agree with you on the whole Fowler/EE thing. Just unfortunate how that worked out.
Cameron's take is that if we sign Bautista to a one year deal then the offseason won't be so bad. It wouldn't be horrible but my point was that's an awful lot riding on what remains the best FA left. Someone could decide that they aren't finding any trades and they make Bautista a competitive two year deal and we lose him.