I don't buy the whole enchilada, but aspects of gondee's contention are logical and I think I've posted thoughts along that line in the past. I think Wren was under a tremendous amount of pressure to put a competitive team on the field with a static budget. What I find difficult to believe is that those above Wren would have advocated the draft/player development approach of mid-ceiling guys. But the erosion of draft spending on a couple of DeMacio's drafts show that the pursestrings were pretty tight until the new draft rules were implemented.
There's still no excuse in my book for the Uggla and Melvin Upton, Jr., deals, but those deals were approved up the line so for Wren to absorb all the blame for those decisions isn't quite fair.