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As I recollect it, the complaint wasn't that Bavasi was trying to win in 2008 rather than just cashing it in.  The complaint was that Bavasi tried to win in a way that made sense for a team that was a legit borderline playoff team i.e. sell the farm for a stud pitcher that will take you over the edge.  Of course, the Mariners weren't a borderline playoff team.  This shows the difference between Z and Bavasi.  Even if we might take issue with the particular trades he's made, Z is acting like he understands that the Mariners have several holes to fill if we are to compete in 2010.  Of course he's going to try and fill those holes, but it will really surprise me, given his moves so far, if he does it by going all out for that one big player. To push the poker analogy, Bavasi went all in with a pair of 10s.  If we take the team to really be a .500 club as per the base based analysis, Jack in contrast seems to be holding two high pairs and betting more reasonably.
 
To put it more succinctly, the objection to Bavasi wasn't THAT he was trying to win, it's HOW he was trying to win.  And yes, you are right, many people took his decisions to cast doubts on how well he understood the team he had.