if we're writing $23mil checks to Ellsbury. I guess my assumptions are pretty simple (and almost certainly out of touch with reality).
1) The M's want to compete, and therefore need to actively deploy their resources in pursuit of improvements.
2) The salary cap, for contending teams, is viewed as both an upper AND a lower limit--as Doc reiterates: you don't win a prize for being 30% under the cap at the end of the year, you win a prize for WINNING PLAYOFF GAMES
3) They don't seem to want to add any of the top FA pitching available.
With those points as 'givens,' it leaves the paths to contention a little circuitous and/or confusing, but they're still there. You *could* go get Chris Archer, for instance. Or you *could* go get Ellsbury + Frazier and not hurt the club AT ALL for the upcoming season. You *could* try a wild move like bringing Manny Machado in as a rental. There's lots of things the team *could* try, if they're inclined to go for the enemy's throat.