just in terms of the two trades you mention…you are probably right on the first base situation, although it just depends on what you think of the players. with the center field situation…dejesus clearly could not stay healthy when in CF everyday, so moving him is probably teh right move. then the problem is the royals don’t have another legit CF (mitch maier does NOT count, he is a 4th OF at best) until you get down to high a, and even then you have to do A LOT of projecting.

i think DM’s plan (i said this on beyond the box score too) is to make the MLB team kinda good with a chance of getting lucky and contending in the short term, and building through the draft for the long term, which they have committed to by spending a load the past two drafts. chances are you can’t trade and free agent yourself into contention anyways…

For one unless they have had at least half a season in AA they shouldn’t be used. The majors are not the league to develop your skills. It is the level to refine your skills. If you can’t hit you don’t go to the bigs to learn how to. You may get there and refine your swing or change some things but your general know how of hitting is already there. Just like with young pitchers. If they can’t throw strikes it doesn’t matter how good a curve they have or how fast their fasball is you don’t bring them up unless they have the general ability down.

Also by bringing them up while it may be cheap initially it quickens the time until it gets expensive. Why rush kids to the bigs if they are going to need 2-3 years to develop and pay them $400,000 to suck because then once they get good its gonna cost you in the millions and by then you only have them a couple years before FA.

As a Ranger fan we are going through these same times right now. There are several good young prospects who some have wanted to rush to the bigs. But I think its bets to let them continue to develop in the minors and hopefully once they do arrive in the majors that “getting acclimated” period will not be as long and we can maximize their amount of team control being good. Id much rather keep a prospect in the minors for an extra year or so and let him learn and then be good for the last 4-5 years of his pre-FA rather than rush that same kid and watch him play in the majors for 2-3 years before being fully acclimated and only having 2-3 years of his pre FA of being good.

that’s not a smart move. You don’t get the casual fans to come to games by giving up on the season before it starts. You have to look like you are trying to win. Teams don’t make money by telling fans in March “Hey we suck. Come watch us suck. You haven’t heard of 23 of our 25 players, but come spend over 30 bucks a pop for a halfway decent seat. And don’t forget to buy plenty of our eight dollar beers to drown your misery!” Not sure if it is true, but I heard or read somewhere that the Royals owner was actually the richest owner in all of baseball. If this is true (or if he is even in the top third) I think it proves that he isn’t trying to win. He isn’t paying top dollar to try to get the best players in there. He wants to make money.

As a GM you have to look like you are trying to win to the owner to keep your job. Playing young guys and losing for three years might look good to us hardcore fans… but that GM will be out of a job after three straight 95+ loss seasons. Then if/when the team starts to win with those players… that next GM gets credit and a contract extension. And you’re taking any gig you can talking about baseball just to make ends meet.

It’s all great in theory… but fiscally, it’s a suicide mission. And Tampa didn’t exactly go “all young” either. They lucked out with Pena. He was a high K, low BA, high power journeyman 1B when they signed him. Cliff Floyd wasn’t exactly a top free agent when he signed either.