Sure, I think it would. There will be small market teams teams willing to unload expensive salaries, they just don't have the pieces to get them.
There simply are fewer and fewer of those salary dumps. Revenue sharing, XM, mlb.com, the new network deal, the new union deal: the bottom teams have enough money to keep their one or two stars (making fewer young impact players available via trade), the medium teams have enough money to target a high-priced player or two (thus driving up salaries), and the upper-tier revenue monsters can still spend pretty lavishly.
Meanwhile, the fact that they "don't have the pieces to get them" MIGHT not be a complete coincidence. If Walt was running his program in a way that those players were not forthcoming (and in all fairness, that is why the minor league system was overhauled and he was shut out of it), then that's a pretty big gap even if those trade-for players WERE still out there. It means that if Walt's THE guy, then not only is the market drier for his preferred method, but also, for what market there is, he stopped producing the chips he needed to get to the table.
Look at the lower payrolls, very few of them have those type of players right now to the point where they have 2 players taking up most of the payroll. You might see that in Pitt. w/Bay soon, maybe Baldelli in TB, Hunter is likely to leave as a FA in Minn. and rumbles about Santana already.
Jocketty deserves some blame for them not producing prod. players thru the pipeline over the last 5 years, I'll never dispute that.
jagtrader wrote:While I don't think Jocketty was treated fairly, I think this was a good move. He hasn't added a significant player to the roster since 2004 and he doesn't excel in player development. The market doesn't suit his strengths and it has showed in the lack of significant trades and free agent signings made by the team recently. A change could be good. So could a more aggressive approach.
John Mozeliak's comments just now on 550, mostly paraphrased:
A day of mixed emotions for me
Walt and I were very close and I really wish him the best
I would very much cherish the opportunity (to be named perm. GM)
But I would not think I would have to interview like other candidates
They know what I am about and what I can do
Leaving the interviewing and decision making to Lamping and DeWitt
Not really the same situation as Minnesota because they had someone ready to step in that had been there for a longer period of time
I believe DeWitt and Lamping will give me serious consideration
Clearly this is a very busy time for me
Getting ready for free agency, there are a lot of things to do
Whether I am GM or not, it is a busy time for me anyway
Things to do include: take a hard look at the major leage roster and see who can be moved, assess the FA market, what are we willing to spend, look at other rosters to see where trades can be made, address some things in the front office so the communication processes are well defined
When I was first told that Walt was no longer with the Cardinals, I was disappopinted
We worked closely, I respected him, and hope to have him as a friend for a long time
I don't feel like celebrating my promotion because of the way it happened
But I will do the best I can in this position
Walt has always been looking for a GM job for me so I hope he is happy for me and there is a lot of mutual respect there
My strong suit is relationships with players and agents, understanding the value of players and how to put a team together as well as the ability to work with everyone
My job right now is not to lay out my abilities, it is to prepare for the offseason and be ready to hit the free agency season hard
I need to meet with Mr DeWitt for a short term plan and long term plan (and who will be in the front office)
I have not spoken to TLR but hope to in the next day or two
I have had several players reach out to me and leave messages and I hope to spend some time in the next few days to get back to them
100Mil wrote:John Mozeliak's comments just now on 550, mostly paraphrased:
A day of mixed emotions for me
Walt and I were very close and I really wish him the best
I would very much cherish the opportunity (to be named perm. GM)
But I would not think I would have to interview like other candidates
They know what I am about and what I can do
Leaving the interviewing and decision making to Lamping and DeWitt
Not really the same situation as Minnesota because they had someone ready to step in that had been there for a longer period of time
I believe DeWitt and Lamping will give me serious consideration
Clearly this is a very busy time for me
Getting ready for free agency, there are a lot of things to do
Whether I am GM or not, it is a busy time for me anyway
Things to do include: take a hard look at the major leage roster and see who can be moved, assess the FA market, what are we willing to spend, look at other rosters to see where trades can be made, address some things in the front office so the communication processes are well defined
When I was first told that Walt was no longer with the Cardinals, I was disappopinted
We worked closely, I respected him, and hope to have him as a friend for a long time
I don't feel like celebrating my promotion because of the way it happened
But I will do the best I can in this position
Walt has always been looking for a GM job for me so I hope he is happy for me and there is a lot of mutual respect there
My strong suit is relationships with players and agents, understanding the value of players and how to put a team together as well as the ability to work with everyone
My job right now is not to lay out my abilities, it is to prepare for the offseason and be ready to hit the free agency season hard
I need to meet with Mr DeWitt for a short term plan and long term plan (and who will be in the front office)
I have not spoken to TLR but hope to in the next day or two
I have had several players reach out to me and leave messages and I hope to spend some time in the next few days to get back to them
But did he say he was still going to do the GRB interview??
Away from GRB for a few hours & they have canned Walt ??? WTF.
We should interview Steve Phillips just for the heck of it....like a calm-down period.
Moz is going to hit the road hard, he says.....Dontrelle anybody ??
The only thing from the 550 interview (other than what was posted) that I noticed that I thought might be at all "telling" was that when asked if he would "apply" for the job as Dewitt suggested - he said he (summarizing) the last 12 years have given Dewitt all he needs to know and he didn't forsee going through an application process as other candidates might.
He was pretty humble, but he also basically said, there is nothing left to tell Dewitt and Lamping.
The Terry Ryan situation was brought up - Hadley I think said they promoted his assistant really quickly - Moe (because it is easier than checking actual spelling) said that situation was different, that assistant had been there much longer than he had.
Yikes, much longer than 12 years.
I was trying really hard to see if he sounded surprised or "thrown into the fire" but I couldn't tell.