Some incredibly poor decisions on the part of the GM, as well as weird injuries, led to them upping spending and getting worse.
The big travesty was how little they got for Santana once they decided to trade him. They turned down Lester, Crisp, Kalish, Bowden, and Masterson ( or, Ellsbury, Bowden, Masterson, and I think Kalish) holding out for both Lester and Ellsbury, and they turned down some huge deals from the NYY, to. Then, the Garza deal was badly botched, and when they made a good deal (Hardy for Gomez), they dumped Hardy the next year for some MRs. Their drafting has been pathetic, too. Add in a staff of junk tossing starters and the injuries, and poof.
