M's Certainly Not Home Grown

[NetShrine]

I was just looking at the M's roster:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/roster?team=sea
as it stands today, if my quick analysis is correct, only FIVE players on the team (3 Ps, a back-up OF, and the DH) have come from their system. All other players were trades, FAs, etc.

Their entire "team on the field" (sans DH), the horses of their Starting Rotation, their closer, and their set-up men all came from other organizations.

If they are to win the WS, when was the last time that a "almost 100% acquired team" won the Series?

The Yanks actually have a lot of home grown talent: Posada, Jeter, Williams, Pettitte, Mendoza, Rivera, etc.

I guess you could say the 1997 Marlins - - but, considering they were a recent expansion team at the time, it basicaly was impossible for them to have any "pure" homegrown players.

Before the Marlins, who was most like the M's? We may have to go back many years to kind such a team, no?

[BuzzBuzzard]

Who cares how many players came from within the organization? In today's day and age, you will see less and less of teams that came from within and blame FA on that. So what that a team goes out and gets players. Some FAs are a bust and so give the Ms credit for recognizing the 'right' guys.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by BuzzBuzzard
Who cares how many players came from within the organization? In today's day and age, you will see less and less of teams that came from within and blame FA on that. So what that a team goes out and gets players. Some FAs are a bust and so give the Ms credit for recognizing the 'right' guys.

Only think that bothers me is that some who praise the M's could be the same who ripped the Marlins back in 1997 for "going out and buying a ring."

Without Olerud, Nelson, Rhodes, Sasaki and Ichiro, no way the M's do what they're doing this year. And, all of those guys were "bought."

[BuzzBuzzard]

In understand where you are coming from, but on the flip side, the M's are getting so much credit because of the guys they lost, not the ones they bought.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by BuzzBuzzard
In understand where you are coming from, but on the flip side, the M's are getting so much credit because of the guys they lost, not the ones they bought.

Guess that's the trick - if you buy to replace, that's OK. If you just buy because you had nothing, you bought your ring.

How would Ichiro be bought? Didn't they get him from a Japanese team where he was 7 times batting champ? I thought that guys who came from a different country, like when George brought in pitchers like Hideki Irabu and Orlando then Adrian Hernandez (no relation) from other countries, how is this classified as "bought"?

I also thought that bought meant a lousy team spent prime dollars on a top player even overpaying to get a ring. Even Manny would seemingly fit into this since the Sox paid so much money for his services and they certainly lacked offensive skills.

Yogi

[NetShrine]

I think most recognize "bought" to mean acquired through Free Agency. Ichiro was a Free Agent.

NetShrine, I can agree to that but many have also said that the Yankees "bought" their championships. Since being despite a large percentage of Yankee players like Jeter, Rivera and Pettitte being home grown, not just through FA. Either yourself or someone else said that if a team has nothing, goes out and acquires superstars through FA and win a ring, that's buying but if a top team gets a few key players to fill positions they were weak on, then that's not buying. It seems that it's not just using FA which about everyone does but how it's used.

Because of its high payroll the Yankees seem to get accused of "buying" more than many other teams, but this seems to be buying rings, not actually buying players.

[NetShrine]

Probably the last team to really "buy it" was the 1997 Marlins.

The 97 Fish you'll never get an argument from me. If you look at their list of stars it's utterly amazing that they had this. Who could've competed? I'm actually more angered at the guy who then broke up the team into tiny pieces, letting go of his superstars since he only wanted to see what it was like winning a World Series. Had he kept up the pace or at least handed the reigns over to someone else at a tidy profit the Fish could've been a major force to deal with right now.

I still believe that if someone like KC Royals get lots of stars and wins it all, they bought but if George gets 2 or 3 great players and wins, that's not bought since the Yankees, like many other teams, already have a stellar staff but with just a few holes in them.