I’ll worry more about Ryan’s approach if he’s still filling his rotation with Diamond/Correia/Pelfrey types when the next farm crop looks ready to make a push. For now, I take it that he’s decided that his team needs more pieces than he can afford to acquire this winter, so he’s signing cheap placeholders (and counting on at least one more high 1st round pick), and possibly planning to trade veteran assets like Morneau/Willingham, until his longterm plan is ready to mature.

Frightwig, I do wish Ryan had “thrown some money at” someone. There’s plenty of payroll room to afford to throw a bit around. I simply can’t think of any way to justify settling for the likes of Correia and Pelfrey. Maybe he’ll surprise me and sign one of the real pitchers still on the market, but I doubt it.

And – to throw out another of the names from the past that make me smile – happy birthday Leo Cardenas. The Cuban shortstop from our ’69-’70 playoff teams is 74 today.

It’s hard to picture that group chasing down the Tigers next season. Still, I prefer Terry Ryan’s methodical, long-range maneuvering, so far, to Dayton Moore’s misbegotten efforts at “winning now.” Of course, I wish Ryan had signed better pitchers than Pelfrey and Correia. But at least he didn’t throw a lot of money at Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie, and trade away the farm for two years of James Shields. That’s “planning to compete” by a club that hasn’t really been competitive in at least 20 years, right there.