John Harper does a great job of really spelling out the back story on what is happening with the Yankees/Mariners deal, basically a big game of chicken.  Harper’s point about the recent start of Ponson and Rasner having an effect is key.  What is interesting here, and in the big deal yesterday that did happen is the value of the prospects.  A few years ago, the Yankees would not have even blinked at giving up Brett Gardner for a little more assurance for their rotation.  Now, though, its money or the prospect not both.  In looking at the Mark Texieria deal, Atlanta got very little back for their first baseman, compared to what they gave up for just a year of service. Last year, they gave away Jarrod Saltalamacchia (a ML catcher), Beau Jones, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Neftali Perez.  This year they got back Casey Kotchman who they can keep until 2011, and a minor league (AA) pitching prospect.  The Rangers did a  great job in trading Teixeira when they did, as as hindsight is 20/20 the Braves did a lousy job.  Teixeira didn’t help them either last year or this year, and with so many of their players thriving in the Rangers minor leagues, and very few quality players due to play for them in 2009, it might have been one of the single worst moves of recent memory.

The shift within baseball has been marked, with the teams that are buying coveting their prospects much more than they do that difference maker.  The CC Sabathia trade might be the exception, but the Brewers are a minor league rich team, while few others can say the same.  Though MLB boasts its record attendance the past dozen or so years, the downturn of the economy, and the effects of the steroid scandal, I’m sure, have quite a few owners and presidents concerned.  Generally, it takes 10 years to either feel the effects of a negative cycle, or to recover from one, so I think many are bracing for the fall-out.  Also, with contracts really getting out of control, especially for pitching, all are thinking it might be better to hold onto what you have then to give it away and have it turn into something.  Damarso Marte is the perfect example to teach the Yankees this lesson. Though fans are always going to judge the success of the franchise by the World Series rings, General Managers will be judged by their owners in terms of how successful they are versus the money they spend (or waste).  A team, like Oakland or even Minnesota, wins a ton of games each year without spending much. Those GM’s will keep their jobs for as long as that continues.  Others, like perhaps Omar Minaya, have to win a lot, even get that ring to justify the money they spent, to justify the profit that they gave away.

I have long believed that a team can’t win with an unbalanced star versus non-star team.  You can’t have one prima donna type, you either have to have many or none.  The trip back to relying more heavily on prospects could prove that, as the stars will come from the young guys who might be famous but won’t be paid like they are stars. The next 10 years are going to produce some great baseball.  The fascination with the long ball is disappearing.  The big slugger has lost his cache. A good glove, and a solid hitter, that’s where its going to be, and the less he’s paid the better. We may have all dreamed of hitting that record breaking home run, as McGwire and Bonds both did, but they aren’t our heroes anymore.  Our heroes will come in the form of Orlando Hudson or Ian Kinsler or Ichiro who hit his 3000th career hit last night, the youngest player ever to do so.  Baseball is about to go through a renaissance, a rebirth.  Though the business has evolved where the profit centers for teams are from their privately owned sports networks and their luxury suites, the general managers  will have to find guys who can play baseball rather than just slug the ball out of the yard.   And those guys that can actually play?  They are going to be fun to root for.  And those of us who root? We are going to have to look more carefully to find the moments of which we dream.  But when those dreams come true, they will be worth watching.