22.05.12

There isn’t one discrete to path that a General Manager may choose that will lead to successful sailing of the free agent waters. In fact, it seems the only way to really win when it comes to the emancipated agent/trade market is for a GM to shell out copious amounts of in dough on the right player. But General Managers, specifically those without a 150 million dollar payroll, may penury to be more creative when building a championship caliber ballclub. There are predominantly three ways to do this, though most teams will use a hybrid of at least two.
Option One: Build from Within
This is what I call the “Devil-Ray”. This is in honor of the fashionable Tampa Bay Rays and former Tampa Bay Devil Rays. When Tampa Bay was still embracing its devilish roots, they constructed a team of forte evaluators and scouts that had no equal. After years of losing, their inopportune round draft picks began to build up until they became a system bursting at the seams with top-score minor league talent. They began stockpiling prospects like Scott Kazmir, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, BJ Upton, James Shields, Evan Longoria and most recently Desmond Jennings, David Expense and Matt Moore. When a player becomes successful or overly extravagant, the General Manager simply places him on the trade block. Brobdingnagian market teams offer a plethora of high-end prospects and the Rays child league system is once again restocked with the necessary talent to win in the future while maintaining big name in the present. Case in point, once Scott Kazmir became too dear (and too ineffective) the Rays dealt him to the Los Angeles Angels. They not only saved 12 million dollars, but also brought in functional prospects like Sean Rodriguez and Alex Torres.
Source: Bloguin (blog)