The Price of Hope and Faith

[Duque]

Originally posted by moose

20% luck

What if I don't believe in luck?

"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey

On the main topic, I think it's the combination of money and smarts that works, as others have mentioned. But to single out money alone, e.g. - "The Yankees always win because they have more money!" is akin to saying - "The Giants/Angels/As win because they're smarter than us!"

If we're going to have revenue sharing, can we get intelligence sharing too?

[JamesI]

Originally posted by Duque

If we're going to have revenue sharing, can we get intelligence sharing too?

For Intelligence Sharing I'll take one assistant of Billy Beane in exchange of the entire Orioles front office.

[VNV Nation]

OK, this is how I see it --

The Yankees of 1996 were more or less no different than the teams that immediately preceded them: The 88-90 A's blew out the salary structure, making Rickey Henderson the highest-paid player in baseball for about a week, then giving Jose Canseco 67 percent more per year just one season later.

The Braves/Twins were teams of destiny.

The Blue Jays were a team that had been very good for almost a decade and finally started to win big once they started hitting the free-agent market big. You'll note that George Steinbrenner complained bitterly about the Blue Jays being a "bought" team.

The Braves were similar, building up through the farm system and trading for prospects, just like the Twins or A's of recent years. Then they started outspending everyone for guys like Greg Maddux and raiding weak/poor teams for people like Fred McGriff.

The Yankees of 96-97 followed this same exact mold pretty much, though with the added drama of buying a legendary player from their most-hated rivals and adding the first baseman from the team that vanquished them in '95.

In 1998 they really started to lay it on big time, getting Chuck Knoblauch, Orlando Hernandez and Irabu because they could afford them and no one else could. And THEN winning 118 games with the most expensive team in baseball and THEN adding the two-time defending Triple Crown winner to the best staff in baseball.

Not to mention constantly adding salary in midseason and making noise about acquiring every single starting pitcher that ever changed teams during this period.

The thing is, this cycle should have ended after 2000. They should have receded just like the A's and the Blue Jays and the Indians. Every other contender during this period would end up losing some key guy because they reached free agency.

At this point Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter and Mariano and Pettitte are no longer home-grown players. This group should have died a natural death once Tino and O'Neill and Cone started to fade to nothing. The reason they continue to stay on top has basically nothing to do with being smart and everything to do with being able to afford Jason Giambi and Mike Mussina and Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens and Bernie Williams and Robin Ventura.

[SmedIndy]

But, I feel, the end of the line for the Braves and Yanks is near.

Money can't save you if you think Drew Henson is an answer.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by VNV Nation
And THEN winning 118 games with the most expensive team in baseball

revisionist history?

i think this year is an aberration and i don't expect any of these four teams back next year...actually, the two most likely to come back are the LCS losers, because they play in the weaker divisions...