To a point, I definitely think that's by design. Acquire as many young, inexpensive assets as you can, let them play and see who steps up. Or put another way, their success depends on several guys stepping forward because they have so many young guys who CAN step forward (they aren't paying on the open market for more certainty, as a general rule). It kind of gets lost in all of the "AGING CORE!!!!" discussion that they have a lot of under-25 talent right now.lukethedrifter wrote:Maybe it's every team but it sure feels like the Cards succcess depends on several guys playing like we hope they can. Grichuk, Wong, Reyes, Diaz, Martinez, Piscotty.
They aren't unreasonable hopes. Consistency from Wong and Grichuk. Pitching maturity from Reyes. No regression from Diaz. And a step up to to elite level for CMart and Stanford educated Piscotty.
Last summer, I read In Pursuit of Pennants (sorry if I've mentioned it too many times). AWESOME book, by the way. It's all about the way teams historically have put themselves together, and it takes special note of when teams do something groundbreaking (like Branch Rickey inventing the farm system, for instance).
There's a HUGE section about Pat Gillick from back in his Blue Jays days. He built their back to back WS winners (then he went to Baltimore and built a winner there, then helped build the 114 win Mariners, then helped build the 2008 WS winning Phillies).
His whole philosophy was to build a team that could win 85 to 90 games, and turn over every stone to build up to that number. For Gillick, it meant the Latin American academies (the Jays were a forerunner), using Rule 5 when other teams weren't, and of course just plain old draft and development. Because if you're 85 to 90 wins, more often than not you'll get a few random-ass players, usually young, who step up and carry you over the top. And if you're on that pace (85 to 90 wins), you can also make a deal at the trade deadline... and if you've done your diligence and have enough young talent, you can also call those guys up at the end of the year. So your 85 win team can become a 95 win team if you're smart about it. Hell, your 85 win team can become 90 just on sheer luck.
The long and short of it is, it's made me think a lot about the Cardinals under Mozeliak. And [expletive], even before that. They seem content to live in that 88-90 win projected range and then hope something good presents itself to them.
