Major League Teams Looking to Go Younger

What initially was a trend that was started by the small market teams like the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland Athletics has now spread throughout the Majors. Well except somehow it skipped past San Francisco as they continue to overspend for Free Agents that are on the last legs of their career.

The trend to give younger players more playing time gained a lot of notoriety when the Oakland Athletics, headed by Billy Beane advanced to the playoffs in large part because of players who were barely old enough to drink. The term for this strategy became coined as "Moneyball" which was named after the book written by Michael Lewis who chronicled the popular GM during a season with the A's.

The strategy employed by small market teams like the Twins and A's during that time was more out of necessity than anything. Those teams couldn't afford to sign the Jason Giambi's, or the Mike Mussina's of the world. To compete they invested a lot of resources into effective scouting and if they lost a high priced free agent would utilize the extra draft picks given to them as compensation.

Initially it was felt that the only way for small market teams to compete was to copy the Cleveland Indians philosophy of getting a bright shiny new ballpark. The strategy worked for them, but it wasn't necessarily due to the stadium. What people didn't know then was that the Indians actually employed the philosophy that many teams are doing now, which is signing your young players to long term contracts before they become overpriced free agents. Carlos Baerga, Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton led the Indians to many division titles in the 90's as a result of this philosophy.

The small market teams who thought building a new stadium was the answer have not noticed the same success. The Pirates, Reds, and Brewers all have built new ballparks this decade and none of them have made the post-season. Fortunately for the Reds and Brewers they have decided to put a lot of emphasis on their farm teams, and both organizations have a lot of impact players below the age of 25 who are ready to contribute.

The Brewers in fact almost made the post-season last year but fell short to the Cubs. The Brewers are expected to compete with the Cubs again this season, but will need a lot of breaks to go their way as the Cubs made many improvements to their club this off-season.

The Reds also will enter the season with a host of prospects ready to contribute. The only obstacle facing them will be their own manager Dusty Baker. Baker has never been known as a manager who will play rookies, and stunted the growth of a lot of players in Chicago. That needs to change for the Reds as Jay Bruce is ready to take over the CF position from Ryan Freel. Joey Votto needs to be given the reigns at first base over Scott Hatteberg for the Reds to even begin to think about contending in 2008.

Dusty Baker isn't the only manager, or executive for that matter who is reluctant to play young players. After all many of the GM's or Managers have their careers on the line, and they don't want to take a chance on an unproven rookie who they feel may cost them their job. It's always easier to blame it on a veteran for underperforming then to take heat for watching a rookie make embarrassing mistakes on the field.

Nevertheless that is something that is essential for a team to compete, especially in the low to mid markets. Veteran cast off players will not lead these teams to contention, if they could they would not have been let go by their previous organization.

This trend is even moving to the large market teams in New York, and Boston. The Yankees still will spend the money to acquire a top free agent, but thanks to the wisdom of Brian Cashman, they also have done a great job of building up their farm club. The philosophy changed so much in New York that Cashman convinced ownership that they needed to keep young pitching phenoms like Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy, over Johan Santana. This would've never happened 3 years ago, but teams are becoming much more wiser to the benefit of keeping younger players in the system.

The biggest advantage for the middle market teams is that the young players are cheap, and they won't be able to go to arbitration until they have been in the majors for a few years. Those young players can't file for free agency until they have had 5 years of major league experience. Unfortunately for some teams by the time they realize the value of scouting, and giving the youngsters playing time, the Mets, Red Sox and Yankees will have also, and in the Red Sox and Yankees case you can say they already have.