Considerably less so in reality. But then again, in reality the top of the talent pyramid is just that - the top - and all the spare pieces don't go back for a swim into the FA pool. Even the '40-man' bench is considerably longer than my classic roto bench - what was it that we had in that 20-team SportSpot league, 22 spots + 2 DL? - but once again, having the right MiLB talent sewn up is just such a bigger part of the equation in real life.
Now, you get a guy like JeDi who seems to truly be able to stack the deck... to ID the fringe guys with the best bets to jump up to regular status... yeah, he might have to play fast and tight with the 40 man to take full advantage of everything he can put together. But that's also the best scenario I can envision for actually being able to roll those 5-for-1s out there and get a guy you normally couldn't afford to add mid-push.
I'm interested... very interested... to see what a trade deadline would look like for the M's with a competetive team, and a 40-man stuffed full of guys beyond what we can practically use at one time.