A SHIFT IN THE DECISION-MAKING PARADIGM OF BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM

by Jack Cobra, Cobra Brigade

Maybe this has been covered extensively, maybe it hasn't....but I was just looking through the rosters of the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies and noticed a shift in how baseball teams are built these days and came up with this thought.

It seemed like a couple of years ago all the teams that needed players went into the free agent market in an effort to outspend each other. For teams with a lot of cash, like the Yankees, this went well. They outspent teams from smaller markets and built up a team full of superstar players earning superstar salaries. For teams without that much cash, they were forced to come up with another strategy in order to compete so they started to build from within. They had to build up their minor league systems and load them with coaches who could help their young players learn and succeed. They had to overhaul how/where they were scouting players. They have to figure out how to best develop players in their system. In other words, they decided to spend their money on those things instead of on veteran, high priced talent.

If you look at the rosters of the Indians, Rockies and Diamondbacks you will see that these teams are filled with young talent that has worked their way through their respective teams minor league systems. The Indians are led by C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner....all products of the Indians minor league system. The Rockies are lead by Jeff Francis, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki....all products of the Rockies minor league system. The Dbacks are led by Stephen Drew, Brandon Webb, Conor Jackson, Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton and Chris Young (originally the property of the White Sox although he did play in AAA for Arizona)....all products of the Dbacks minor league system. As you can see, for these teams...their foundation has been built from within. They now have teams that have played together all the way through the minors, winning league championships and building the chemistry that good teams always seem to have.

Baseball is a fascinating game because teams try to emulate other successful teams. When the Yankees were winning all those World Championships they were bringing in players like Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill, Roger Clemens, etc. Other teams used to watch the Yankees do this and then they tried to do the exact same thing. The only problem was that people didn't realize that the Yankees were pairing those high priced veterans with young players like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. So, while teams were trying to be like the Yankees, they weren't following their blueprint exactly as they went out trying to buy the most expensive players around to fill their needs. Only to fail on following that up with younger, less expensive players to fill the rest of the holes.

This went on for quite some time until teams started to realize that they couldn't afford to do that anymore. You remember the Rockies signing Daryl Kile and Mike Hampton to huge contracts? They were spending too much money on players who weren't panning out and they were losing a lot of their young players in trades for these aging veterans. Instead....they decided to go young and see what happened. They finally realized they couldn't run with the 'big dogs'. So, instead of getting off the porch, they found another way to sit on it.

Some people will say this all started with 'Moneyball' and the Oakland A's, but they kind of had a different strategy. They were built more with affordable players who were supposed to be less risk. They would then hope that those players would perform well enough that they could use them for a few seasons in the majors before those players signed for more money with another team. It was an inventive way to build a ballclub and while it seemed to work for the A's at the time, it is catching up to them now as they are facing a cycle of injuries and underachieving ballplayers.

The 'Moneyball' strategy isn't the same thing as what's happening here. Teams are re-allocating their money into their minor league systems/scouting department/players development programs instead of buying free agents. They would prefer to sign a draft pick and develop him rather than a high priced free agent. The first case of an organizational overhaul like this happening that I can remember is when Cleveland hired General Manager Mark Shapiro*. Shapiro caught a lot of grief for letting go Roberto Alomar and a host of other veterans from the Indians because he was determined to use another strategy to be successful. In the place of these high priced, aging veterans were Grady Sizemore and the players listed above. Sure, the Indians were bad for a little while and they are still streaky from time to time, but now they have a young team that has played together for quite some time and are experiencing success. On top of that, their payroll is relatively affordable for the market that they are playing in and they have players that they know better than anyone else. Each time Sizemore goes into a slump the Indians have an idea of what it takes to get him out of the slump because of their history with him. Do you think the Giants were able to do that with Barry Zito this past season after he signed that huge free agent contract? Nope.

You can see other teams trying to do that these days. The Diamondbacks and Rockies have obviously been successful in this strategy but now large market teams like the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox are relying on young players to help lead them to victory. Since they still have the income to pay large salaries they are trying to combine those young players with expensive free agent signings, but their thought process has shifted from 'win right now' to 'win now while building for later'.

This will become even more interesting in the next couple of seasons when these young players start looking for their first major contract. The Indians tried to get a head start on this a few years ago by signing their young players to long term contracts at a reasonable price. Still, those players will require another contract, or two, during their career and whether their extensive history with their teams will persuade them to sign at a 'hometown discount' remains to be seen.

All of this seems to be relatively new to Major League Baseball and a lot may, or may not become of it. A new era of the game and how contracts/players are handled could be upon us based on the success of these teams in the 2007 Playoffs.

*The Tigers and Twins have also been successful with this type of strategy in the past although in their own, unique way and for their own reasons.

**Cobra Brigade family member Jordi emailed me to let me know to look out for the D-Rays in '09 because he lives in the Tampa area. I appreciate the heads up but until they get some pitching down there they are screwed....

(Originally published 10/18)