The Astros will flip newly-acquired prospect Anthony Gose to the Blue Jays, reports ESPN's Jayson Stark. The speedy, defensively-talented center fielder went to Houston as part of the Roy Oswalt deal.

 

3:41pm: The Blue Jays will send Brett Wallace to Houston for Gose, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports on Twitter.

 

Wow, Nice Job by the Astros to get Wallace but why would Toronto trade him away?

They don't have any other top 3rd base prospects in the organization...

 

 

 

 

 

wtf....Gose must be a hell of a prospect then

I want to thank you all for just echoing my sentiments about the whole "rich teams" vs "us" trading situation. At least I'm not alone in the world with this frustration. And as I keep saying...the NL East continues to get harder...

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

The Astros will flip newly-acquired prospect Anthony Gose to the Blue Jays, reports ESPN's Jayson Stark. The speedy, defensively-talented center fielder went to Houston as part of the Roy Oswalt deal.

 

3:41pm: The Blue Jays will send Brett Wallace to Houston for Gose, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports on Twitter.

 

Wow, Nice Job by the Astros to get Wallace but why would Toronto trade him away?

They don't have any other top 3rd base prospects in the organization...

 

 

 

 

 

Wallace is going to be a 1B.

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

and they also have most of their key players via trade or free agency. tex, swisher, granderson, a-rod, c.c., burnett, vazquez. its just not fair to most of the league. i just dont get why any league would knowingly allow 1 team to spend so much more money than everybody else and just turn a blind eye to it. it just isnt fair to me. we couldnt sign 1 of those guys. we cant keep any of our guys either while they can keep anybody they want. also, we are extremely limited to in season trades while they are pretty much free to fill any hole they have.

 

it just isnt fair how the phillies can add 3 aces in the course of a year while we cant add a middle reliever for the cost of more than the minimum.

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

and they also have most of their key players via trade or free agency. tex, swisher, granderson, a-rod, c.c., burnett, vazquez. its just not fair to most of the league. i just dont get why any league would knowingly allow 1 team to spend so much more money than everybody else and just turn a blind eye to it. it just isnt fair to me. we couldnt sign 1 of those guys. we cant keep any of our guys either while they can keep anybody they want. also, we are extremely limited to in season trades while they are pretty much free to fill any hole they have.

 

it just isnt fair how the phillies can add 3 aces in the course of a year while we cant add a middle reliever for the cost of more than the minimum.

 

A whole bunch of teams pick up free agents, and it means a whole lot of nothing, at times. The Mets consistently have the highest payroll in the NL, and they consistently do nothing, year after year. It's what you do with the payroll that matters. The Yankees signed the right guys; they get no credit for that. Also, out of the guys you mentioned, Swisher, Granderson, A-Rod, and Vazquez weren't bought; they were traded for. A guy like Swisher was a great move for them, that they don't get enough credit for. Anyone could've had Swisher because the White Sox just wanted to get rid of him, at the time.

 

Also, the Marlins not being able to afford the cost of more than the minimun for a middle reliever is not factual. They were interested in Matt Capps and Kevin Gregg this past offseason; those two deals just didn't get done because both of those guys wanted to close, and it wasn't going to be guaranteed here with Leo Nunez around. Thus, they went elsewhere. That doesn't mean the team isn't capable of signing a guy like that for more than the minimum. They just haven't gotten it done.

 

These excuses always come up when the small-market team is losing. Blame the Yankees!

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

I'm not a salary cap guy and generally not as down on the Yankees as some are, but it's worth noting that the Yankees' money enables them to keep their home grown players until they retire. I don't think any other team can afford to pay Derek Jeter $21 million at age 36.

 

Their percentage of home grown talent is high, because they had the money to lock down Jeter, Posada, and Rivera who have been there forever; it's not like they are churning people out on a yearly basis.

 

I also wonder how much more money the Yankees spend on international scouting than the average team does in order to find players like Cano or Cervelli.

 

Other than that I think that Hughes and Joba are really their only impact players that were drafted by the Yankees. And Joba has been terrible this year.

 

Edit: I forgot Gardner, but I think my point still stands.

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

and they also have most of their key players via trade or free agency. tex, swisher, granderson, a-rod, c.c., burnett, vazquez. its just not fair to most of the league. i just dont get why any league would knowingly allow 1 team to spend so much more money than everybody else and just turn a blind eye to it. it just isnt fair to me. we couldnt sign 1 of those guys. we cant keep any of our guys either while they can keep anybody they want. also, we are extremely limited to in season trades while they are pretty much free to fill any hole they have.

 

it just isnt fair how the phillies can add 3 aces in the course of a year while we cant add a middle reliever for the cost of more than the minimum.

 

A whole bunch of teams pick up free agents, and it means a whole lot of nothing, at times. The Mets consistently have the highest payroll in the NL, and they consistently do nothing, year after year. It's what you do with the payroll that matters. The Yankees signed the right guys; they get no credit for that. Also, out of the guys you mentioned, Swisher, Granderson, A-Rod, and Vazquez weren't bought; they were traded for. A guy like Swisher was a great move for them, that they don't get enough credit for. Anyone could've had Swisher because the White Sox just wanted to get rid of him, at the time.

 

Also, the Marlins not being able to afford the cost of more than the minimun for a middle reliever is not factual. They were interested in Matt Capps and Kevin Gregg this past offseason; those two deals just didn't get done because both of those guys wanted to close, and it wasn't going to be guaranteed here with Leo Nunez around. Thus, they went elsewhere. That doesn't mean the team isn't capable of signing a guy like that for more than the minimum. They just haven't gotten it done.

 

These excuses always come up when the small-market team is losing. Blame the Yankees!

 

i did not say that it isnt about wht they do with the money. im saying the fact that they have the ability to do that while we and most teams cant go over 100 million is just plain BS. its acknowledging that you are going to allow teams to spend 200 million more than the lowest team in the league and not doing a thing about it.

 

i dont get why it is so hard just to put EVERY team in the league at the same level?

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

and they also have most of their key players via trade or free agency. tex, swisher, granderson, a-rod, c.c., burnett, vazquez. its just not fair to most of the league. i just dont get why any league would knowingly allow 1 team to spend so much more money than everybody else and just turn a blind eye to it. it just isnt fair to me. we couldnt sign 1 of those guys. we cant keep any of our guys either while they can keep anybody they want. also, we are extremely limited to in season trades while they are pretty much free to fill any hole they have.

 

it just isnt fair how the phillies can add 3 aces in the course of a year while we cant add a middle reliever for the cost of more than the minimum.

 

 

Baseball teaches you a lot of life-lessons and this is quite frankly the most valuable one. People who can't afford to spend money on a major league team have no business owning one, but when they do own one, the lesson applies. You shouldn't blame other teams for spending money - it's just something you need to live with and work around. Honestly, the Marlins have been in a sh*tty situation. They're in a bandwagon city and they play in a stadium located in the center of buttf***, Egypt. This is just something you sign up for as a Marlins fan, and it's something that isn't going to change. There are always going to be teams bigger than you with a larger fan base, most respect from the media, and a larger bank, yet a lot of those teams fail when it comes down to it. While it is true that the richest teams generally get into the post-season more than the poor teams, you can't deny that poor teams have been able to do plenty with what they have. The Rays are a perfect example and the Twins, to a lesser extent, have shown this as well.

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

 

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

 

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

 

and name other non big market teams that would be able to keep all of those home grown players for the majority of their careers

i have no problem with the phillies doing it, because if they have the money then they have the right to, im just tired of the fact that this is allowed in baseball. its like they are clearly acknowledging that they allow the yankees to spend as much money as they want to put together a team and can give guys 15 million dollars and miss and still make the playoffs, while we can barely afford to give a reliever 2 million dollars or else it could ruin our entire season.

 

 

I just dont get why it should be allowed. hwy not even the playing field for all teams in the league? i just dont get it.

 

 

 

For all the sh*t they get, the Yankees have a lot of home grown players on their roster.

 

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

I don't think Curtis and Pena really count.

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

 

 

and name other non big market teams that would be able to keep all of those home grown players for the majority of their careers

 

Brewers have Braun, Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Escobar, Gallardo, Capuano, Bush, Parra and Axford.

Cards have Pujols, Ludwick, Molina, Rasmus, Schumaker, Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Ryan and Jon Jay.

DBacks have Young, Upton, Parra, Reynolds, Drew, Montero.

Dodgers have Eithier, Kemp, Loney, Martin, Kershaw, Broxton, Billingsley, Kuo, DeWitt.

Orioles have Markakis, Jones, Roberts, Wieters, Simon, Gutherie, Matusz.

Rays have Crawford, Upton, Zobrist, Longoria, Shields, Price, Howell, Sonnanstine, Nieman, Davis, Brignac, Joyce.

Rockies have Tulo, Hawpe, Helton, Barmes, Stewart, Ianetta, Fowler, Ubaldo, Francis, Street, Corpas, Cook.

Twins have Span, Kubel, Cuddyer, Punto, Morneau, Casilla, Mauer, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, Liriano, Nathan, Guerrier, Crain, Mijares.

I think the frustration comes from knowing that if we could pull the trigger on a Lee or a Halladay or a Sabathia that we'd be that much better and that much more likely to reach the playoffs. It seems to me that we're always a piece short of what would be necessary to make the postseason. Our payroll seems to hold us back year after year, and I admit as a Marlins fan it's defeating to see the Yankees hand over a blank check and say "ready when you are". I'd still give up alot to have people show up to home games and support this team like they should. Any sooner we get the "lol bad attendance joke" tag off of us, the better.

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

 

 

and name other non big market teams that would be able to keep all of those home grown players for the majority of their careers

 

Brewers have Braun, Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Escobar, Gallardo, Capuano, Bush, Parra and Axford.

Cards have Pujols, Ludwick, Molina, Rasmus, Schumaker, Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Ryan and Jon Jay.

DBacks have Young, Upton, Parra, Reynolds, Drew, Montero.

Dodgers have Eithier, Kemp, Loney, Martin, Kershaw, Broxton, Billingsley, Kuo, DeWitt.

Orioles have Markakis, Jones, Roberts, Wieters, Simon, Gutherie, Matusz.

Rays have Crawford, Upton, Zobrist, Longoria, Shields, Price, Howell, Sonnanstine, Nieman, Davis, Brignac, Joyce.

Rockies have Tulo, Hawpe, Helton, Barmes, Stewart, Ianetta, Fowler, Ubaldo, Francis, Street, Corpas, Cook.

Twins have Span, Kubel, Cuddyer, Punto, Morneau, Casilla, Mauer, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, Liriano, Nathan, Guerrier, Crain, Mijares.

 

MMP - how many of those guys are still club-controlled? It's not about the guys in their first 6 years; it's about being able to hang onto them after. I don't know where the Twins will get the money, but they are usually pretty clever...

I think the frustration comes from knowing that if we could pull the trigger on a Lee or a Halladay or a Sabathia that we'd be that much better and that much more likely to reach the playoffs. It seems to me that we're always a piece short of what would be necessary to make the postseason. Our payroll seems to hold us back year after year, and I admit as a Marlins fan it's defeating to see the Yankees hand over a blank check and say "ready when you are". I'd still give up alot to have people show up to home games and support this team like they should. Any sooner we get the "lol bad attendance joke" tag off of us, the better.

 

 

As you all like to say here: This! I agree, perhaps when we get our new stadium...well maybe..well who knows. But yeah it sucks that *any* team really could out bid us for players to begin with but when you have teams like the Yankees who are willing to put up ridiculous amount of money to get what they want, well it isn't fair at times.

Yeah they do they have Jeter, Mo, Posada, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Pettitte, Curtis, Pena, Cervelli are all from the Yankee farm system.

Same with the Phillies. They have Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels, Victorino, Dobbs, Madson and Brown, not to mention basically making Jayson Werth what he is today.

 

 

and name other non big market teams that would be able to keep all of those home grown players for the majority of their careers

 

Brewers have Braun, Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Escobar, Gallardo, Capuano, Bush, Parra and Axford.

Cards have Pujols, Ludwick, Molina, Rasmus, Schumaker, Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Ryan and Jon Jay.

DBacks have Young, Upton, Parra, Reynolds, Drew, Montero.

Dodgers have Eithier, Kemp, Loney, Martin, Kershaw, Broxton, Billingsley, Kuo, DeWitt.

Orioles have Markakis, Jones, Roberts, Wieters, Simon, Gutherie, Matusz.

Rays have Crawford, Upton, Zobrist, Longoria, Shields, Price, Howell, Sonnanstine, Nieman, Davis, Brignac, Joyce.

Rockies have Tulo, Hawpe, Helton, Barmes, Stewart, Ianetta, Fowler, Ubaldo, Francis, Street, Corpas, Cook.

Twins have Span, Kubel, Cuddyer, Punto, Morneau, Casilla, Mauer, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, Liriano, Nathan, Guerrier, Crain, Mijares.

Is there a point in any of this? I can't even discern what your argument is. Most of those guys are club controlled and several of them aren't even major contributors.

 

What does this have to do with the Yankees?

Is there a team that has developed a group of five players over the past 15 years that is better than Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Cano? I would bet at least four of the five will end in the hall of fame.

Every single god damn year the Phillies dip into the top pitching at the trade deadline. I dont understand it.

 

Next thing you know they'll sign Satchel Paige ... he's still pitching, right?

If he were still alive

Is there a team that has developed a group of five players over the past 15 years that is better than Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Cano? I would bet at least four of the five will end in the hall of fame.

 

 

 

Yeah, exactly.

Is there a team that has developed a group of five players over the past 15 years that is better than Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Cano? I would bet at least four of the five will end in the hall of fame.

 

The problem with saying this is that four of those five were drafted/signed before 1993 at a period where the Yankees weren't quite operating in the same manner that they are now. At this point the Yankees weren't really trading guys like Jeter for the superstar players of the day. Throughout the 90s, the Yankees had high payrolls, but they weren't as far removed from the pack as they are now. Back in the early 90s when most of those guys were drafted/signed, the average ML player was making less than $1 million. Things changed when ML contracts began to get outrageous and the Yankees started getting a ton of revenue from the YES network.

 

Pretty much all of this says is that the Yankees struck gold in 1990/1991 and didn't have the business model at the time to move those player for Barry Bonds. Inevitably they did have the funds to prevent them from going to new teams.

 

I think a better question to ask would be how many studs have come out of the Yankees system since they started throwing money around in the fashion that they have been. I would perhaps say over the last ten years.

 

The Yankees of 1990/1991 are not the same Yankees of 2000-2010 so the argument doesn't really work.

Is there a team that has developed a group of five players over the past 15 years that is better than Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Cano? I would bet at least four of the five will end in the hall of fame.

 

The problem with saying this is that four of those five were drafted/signed before 1993 at a period where the Yankees weren't quite operating in the same manner that they are now. At this point the Yankees weren't really trading guys like Jeter for the superstar players of the day. Throughout the 90s, the Yankees had high payrolls, but they weren't as far removed from the pack as they are now. Back in the early 90s when most of those guys were drafted/signed, the average ML player was making less than $1 million. Things changed when ML contracts began to get outrageous and the Yankees started getting a ton of revenue from the YES network.

 

Pretty much all of this says is that the Yankees struck gold in 1990/1991 and didn't have the business model at the time to move those player for Barry Bonds. Inevitably they did have the funds to prevent them from going to new teams.

 

I think a better question to ask would be how many studs have come out of the Yankees system since they started throwing money around in the fashion that they have been. I would perhaps say over the last ten years.

 

The Yankees of 1990/1991 are not the same Yankees of 2000-2010 so the argument doesn't really work.

 

 

It's not as if they're wasting money on the whole 25 man roster and not developing any players, whatsoever.

 

Cano, Gardner, Hughes, Joba to name a few. They've traded some guys away, as well, who were quality players from the farm system that have turned out to be successful in the big leagues. Guys like Jackson, Coke, Kennedy, etc. having successful years this year.

Is there a team that has developed a group of five players over the past 15 years that is better than Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Cano? I would bet at least four of the five will end in the hall of fame.

 

The problem with saying this is that four of those five were drafted/signed before 1993 at a period where the Yankees weren't quite operating in the same manner that they are now. At this point the Yankees weren't really trading guys like Jeter for the superstar players of the day. Throughout the 90s, the Yankees had high payrolls, but they weren't as far removed from the pack as they are now. Back in the early 90s when most of those guys were drafted/signed, the average ML player was making less than $1 million. Things changed when ML contracts began to get outrageous and the Yankees started getting a ton of revenue from the YES network.

 

Pretty much all of this says is that the Yankees struck gold in 1990/1991 and didn't have the business model at the time to move those player for Barry Bonds. Inevitably they did have the funds to prevent them from going to new teams.

 

I think a better question to ask would be how many studs have come out of the Yankees system since they started throwing money around in the fashion that they have been. I would perhaps say over the last ten years.

 

The Yankees of 1990/1991 are not the same Yankees of 2000-2010 so the argument doesn't really work.

 

 

It's not as if they're wasting money on the whole 25 man roster and not developing any players, whatsoever.

 

Cano, Gardner, Hughes, Joba to name a few. They've traded some guys away, as well, who were quality players from the farm system that have turned out to be successful in the big leagues. Guys like Jackson, Coke, Kennedy, etc. having successful years this year.

 

what dont you get about this? nobody is arguing that they dont develop guys themselves or that they dont have some of their own homegrown players on their team. we are sayin gthat with those prospects and the guys they acquire with those prospects they are getting highly paid guys and they still have no problem with keeping those highly paid players after making a trade, or they have no problem with locking up the great ones that they do have for the majority of their careers.

 

I just think it is stupid to knowingly have teams play at an unfair playing field. if there is a solution to this, a salary cap, why is it not in place to give every team the same, equal opportunities and equal playing field as far as payroll and keeping prospects and things of that nature.

 

stop turning this into a discussion about the yankees being able to develop talent.

That's not addressing the concerns people have, though. I think you're missing the point.

 

I don't think anyone is saying they can't develop players. Obviously they can still draft or sign internationally (perhaps due to a larger than average international network) players of value. They still have players in their system, but as you allude to, most of these guys are traded for all-star caliber players.

 

I'm not sure how many teams would have the resources to find a Cano. Remember Joba isn't very good. They are getting good production from Hughes and Gardner, but other than that they are throwing large volumes of free agent money at needs they need addressed, particulary pitching. Not many teams can do this.

 

I also wonder how long Gardner will stay before he serves the purpose of a NIck Johnson, Melky Cabrera, or maybe even Ricky Ledee.

 

Is their success over the last ten years more attributed to their ability to develop players or to sign free agents? This is the concern people have.

That's not addressing the concerns people have, though. I think you're missing the point.

 

I don't think anyone is saying they can't develop players. Obviously they can still draft or sign internationally (perhaps due to a larger than average international network) players of value. They still have players in their system, but as you allude to, most of these guys are traded for all-star caliber players.

 

I'm not sure how many teams would have the resources to find a Cano. Remember Joba isn't very good. They are getting good production from Hughes and Gardner, but other than that they are throwing large volumes of free agent money at needs they need addressed, particulary pitching. Not many teams can do this.

 

I also wonder how long Gardner will stay before he serves the purpose of a NIck Johnson, Melky Cabrera, or maybe even Ricky Ledee.

 

Is their success over the last ten years more attributed to their ability to develop players or to sign free agents? This is the concern people have.

 

 

I don't think Joba isn't very good, but that's for another discussion. If you ask me, he's just having a poor season.

 

Regarding your question, the answer is both. Obviously it's nice to sign the free agents, but without developing players, they go nowhere either. To trade for those All-Star caliber players, they've had to give up worthy prospects just like every other team.

 

You don't get Granderson, if you don't give up Jackson and Coke. (and Kennedy to the D-Backs, since it was a 3 team trade) Some of those "All-Stars" weren't gotten for free, so obviously their prospects had a lot to do with it.

 

It's really not as unfair as some people make it seem. People talk about how they outbid for everyone, yet it is forgotten that a guy like Teixiera was going to get more money from the Orioles, but decided to go to the Yankees, anyway. It's really difficult to fault them, since they're playing by the rules.

 

The excuse of the unfairness of the sport gets old. If people don't like it, don't watch it.

 

It really doesn't matter. Salary cap or not, there are always going to be franchises that suck and franchises that don't. Payroll doesn't translate to wins. Small-market teams have proven that you can be consistently successful with limited resources.

 

Look at the top payroll teams in baseball this year, and then look at the success of each team; you'd see it has little to do with it. It's about who you sign with the money, not how much money you have. The Yankees should get a lot of credit for signing the right guys, as well. For all the money they're dishing out, there are very few bad contracts on that team.