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Is that it can be a synonym for "never fixing a hole in the team and hoping that a downside hitter can produce."
See: 
Everett, Carl
Bradley, Milton
Branyan, Russell
Cust, Jack
et al.
They all provided short-term contract flexibility.  It's not the kind of flexibility that helps us.
If you want to be more comfortable with Fielder, think of his contract as 4 years of a top-10 hitter followed by a potential 2 years of Milton Bradley/Russ Branyan/Jack Cust type production.
Except that Fielder and his .400+ OBPs will still provide value as long as he's not catastrophically injured.
Fielder is as good a bet for the next 4 years as any hitter in baseball, IMO.  I think he's getting in the 7/140 range for a contract, so it's just a matter of whether you want to pay that for a top-10 hitter.
It'll mean we won't be able to keep Smoak in 5 years...but I can live with that.  That's what a farm system is for, to find me more Smoaks - and in the meantime we have a lineup that isn't straight out of the deadball era.
~G