Money Can't Buy You ---

[Brandon]

Our current state of the team comes down to a few defining trades more than anything.

Santana to the Mets eventually helped us get pieces needed in 2010 but afterwards we have virtually nothing to show for it. Santana hamstrung us on that trade so it doesn't hold as much weight as some of the others.

 

Garza and Bartlet for Young. This one hurt as we could have recieved sooo much more for Garza had we just been patient.

 

JJ Hardy for nothing.

 

Wilson Ramos for Capps. This one is allieviated a little since Doumit has performed and is relatively inexpensive. But we could have a more useful piece for Ramos too.

 

These trades happened at the same time the team wasn't gaining etra draft picks for losing players to FA and the team was drafting lower due to the previous years record.

 

These things resulted in us not replenishing our farm system fully. I bet we have a deep farm system again within 2 years because of trades, higher drafting spot, extra draft picks, and larger international budgets.

[Mike Sixel]

No, the current state of the team comes down to not having any impact players come up from the minors in the last 3-4 years. Not one pitcher, and a bunch of maybes in Valencia, Revere, and Plouffe. Yes, the trades were awful, but the farm system has been pretty much useless. This is due to awful drafting and developing, not just bad trades.

 

Also, they signed Marquis and Capps, instead of using that money to sign a legit starting pitcher. Also, they didn't trade veterans last year when they had the chance. So far, it sounds like they are being unrealistic in their demands this year, we'll see in a few days.

 

But this is largely a problem with drafting (and the Garza trade, which is the worst of all of those trades).