A point that doesn't get brought up enough is the Steve Pearce and Kendrys Morales signing. The two signings were seen as an offset to Edwin Encarnacion for a two year time Horizon. So far since the beginning of 2017, Edwin has been worth 3.5 WAR while Morales and Pearce have combined for a -1.3 WAR.
That is almost a 5 win swing. The cost of Morales and Pearce was same as Edwin on an annual basis. Going cheap doesn't always pay off, and sometimes it never pays off. The first two years of the Deal Edwin probably ends up being 6 WAR. While we are worse off then replacement value, that alone paid off the final two years off the Encarnacion deal.
I think Shapiro should address this point during their player evaluation.