Let me preface with this: being an armchair GM is easy; being an actual GM is hard. We all think we could do a better job than some of the perceived knuckleheads running front offices these days. That said, this off-season has been an excellent display of how not to run a baseball team. Trading young talent for ageing and mediocre players? Check! Paying players superstar money when they clearly don?t deserve it? You got it! Handing out long-term, lucrative contracts to middle class free agents when the money could be better spent elsewhere? Done and done! Just in case you missed it, here?s what baseball?s supposed best minds have been up to so far this fun-filled winter in this compiled list of the five worst moments off the off-season. 5. The Kansas City Royals sign Gil Meche to a 5-year, $55 million contract. I suppose Dayton Moore believes the Royals are ready to contend! Hurray! I?ve already booked off every day next October in anticipation of the forthcoming playoff run. This has to be the case, because there?s really no other reason for a team to sign a league-average starter to that kind of money unless they truly are the final piece to one?s championship puzzle. Everyone knows this isn?t the case, however, which is why this signing is worse than all the other ridiculous contracts given to back-of-the-rotation starters over the past month. If it?s not going to help them towards a playoff berth, why waste the money? This really doesn?t make the Royals any better than they were before, except now they?re $55 million poorer and have less money to play with for when the actually are a good team. Pointless. 4. Everything the Mariners did. Bleh. I?d put all Mariners fans on suicide watch if it weren?t for Felix Hernandez. Bill Bavasi?s off-season was a complete disaster. The trade with Atlanta was simply horrendous. Rafael Soriano is dominant; Horacio Ramirez?not so much. With a K:BB ratio bordering on 1:1, Ramirez is barely good enough to be a fifth starter. By trading a premier set-up man for him, Bavasi wasted one of his most valuable assets in an effort to patch-up a beleaguered rotation. The Miguel Batista contract was actually fairly decent compared to the money being thrown at other league-average pitchers, but it a completely unnecessary signing; young prospects like Cha-Seung Baek and Jake Woods could do a similar and possibly better job at the end of the rotation for far less money. Jose Guillen was a redundant signing, as the M?s have a handful of outfield prospects who need some playing time. The worst of all was trading for Jose Vidro to be their DH. At least Vidro fills one of the major requirements to be a full-time DH in that he can?t field. Unfortunately, he?s not a very good hitter anymore, either, and that weakness is going to become even more glaring when he?s going to be expected to produce big numbers in the middle of that line-up. Then you throw in the fact that Seattle acquired him for Chris Snelling ? who?s already a better hitter and would?ve been a much better choice as a starting outfielder than Guillen ? and a potentially solid relief arm in Emiliano Fruto. It was a horror show of inexplicable transactions all around, but I?m sure Ramirez, Batista, Guillen, and Vidro will be instrumental in Seattle?s rousing charge to 80 wins. Thank God for King Felix. 3. The Houston Astros sign Carlos Lee to a six year, $100 million contract. Wait, Carlos Lee is a superstar? I clearly never got that memo. Yes, he gets lots of RBIs; this does not make him worth $100 million. His career high in home runs is 37, which, while a very respectable number, isn?t mind-blowing. Throughout his career ? disregarding the one year aberration in 2002 ? he?s been good for about 50-55 walks, which is unspectacular to say the least when you consider his power. What does this all add up to? An above average outfielder who hits for good power, has mediocre patience, and is now on the wrong side of 30. This begs the question: who in their right mind gives superstar money to a player who has been quite good but is now exiting his prime and, by all accounts, isn?t that nimble in the field? Apparently Tim Purpura. Did Houston learn nothing from giving Jeff Bagwell a massive contract only to see him breakdown and become an albatross in the final years of it? Expect much of the same from Lee. 2. The Los Angeles Dodgers sign Juan Pierre to a five year, $45 million contract. You know, I wish I was a baseball player who was born really, really fast. I wouldn?t need to be able to hit, I would just want enough coordination to make contact and use my speed to eek out singles. Then, after working my way up through the minor leagues with nothing but speed on my side, I would play long enough to dupe a major league team into giving me major bucks to be their leadoff hitter, despite the fact that I can?t actually get on base any more than 30-33% of the time. Such is life of a major league speedster; case and point: Juan Pierre. Who needs actual skill, he?s got SPEED! He STEALS BASES! Sure, he may get thrown out 20 times per year which negates much of his value, and he may take poor routes to fly balls so that in spite of his quickness he?s still a poor defender, but he?s SO FAST! This was easily the most redundant signing of the off-season, as not only did LA already have a leadoff hitter in Furcal ? one who can actually hit, at that ? but their outfield situation was already crowded. A complete waste of $45 million. 1. The Chicago Cubs sign Alfonso Soriano to an eight year, $136 million contract. When I pictured the fifth largest contract in MLB history being handed out, I imagined it going to a young superstar in his prime years who looked like he would be that good for the life of his contract. But alas, baseball is an unpredictable creature, and this historic contract was given to Alfonso Soriano. Don?t get me wrong; Soriano?s 2006 was excellent, easily the best season of his career. The problem lies in the latter half of that sentence, though, because while he had a fantastic season, he?s never been close to that level of production; his career high in OBP% before last season was a measly .338, and 2006 was the first season he?d shown any semblance of patience. Disregarding money for a moment, why sign him for eight years? The problem with a free agent like Alfonso is that the Cubs are paying him for his current production rather than what one can reasonably expect him to do in the future. For him to be worth this contract, he has to repeat his 2006 season eight times. Given that his 2006 was out of line with what he?d been producing and he?s now moving out of his prime, the more likely scenario is that he?ll revert back to his career norms and decline statistically over the next eight years. Then one throws in the fact that much of Alfonso?s value is tied up in his athleticism, and you come to the conclusion that he?s not going to age well. This is going to turn out to be a rough eight years in Cubs Nation. Darren Sharp can be reached for comment at [email protected] .