Aghast.
The I-love-Earl-Weaver guy talking about a six man rotation. Earl was aghast at the five man rotation and the liberal use of relief pitchers. His reasoning? Why in the world wouldn't he want to maximize the innings of his four best pitchers?
DiPoto seems to be advocating an approach where one, maybe two starters are supplemented by a cast of middle-of-the-road (at best!) characters to fill four more slots. He may have had the epiphany last year, but there is every reason to think his circumstances had more to do with his thinking even then. He had no proven starters. Period. He had no prospect of getting any. Presumably the M's budget limited his options then, and they limit his options again this offseason. Sure looks to me like necessity rather than genius is the proverbial mother of invention.
If you had a Hoss who could regularly throw dynamite for seven innings plus, including the third time through the order, you would certainly use him that way. The problem is DiPoto ain't got such a Hoss, and his parameters don't include the ability to sign one. Ohtani was a no-brainer not only because he was good but because he was ridiculously cheap. He fit into the parameters. When we whiffed on Ohtani, apparently we whiffed our only opportunity for a premium starter.
Look, we all know what this team needs. It is clear we won't be gettin' it. This has been the general modus operandi for the M's ever since they first had an opportunity for greatness but decided against keeping Tino Martinez. How many years in the last ten has it been obvious what the team needs, we say it in the offseason, the hole gets patched but not addressed, and then, voila!, that hole clearly shows up during the season and torpedoes our chances?
All that said, it's good to have ya back, Doc, holding down the glass-half-full side. Every one of the last sixteen years my hope ends up dyin', but you always help keep it from dyin' before it's time.