The lesson of the Dodgers-Brewers series

[ilcubuffs]

Lesson learned: if you are the Dodgers, Yanks, Phils, Mets, Dubbies, etc you have the balance of the MLB teams as your ready made farm system. Their system is professional and competent and can "fix" any recruit from the other teams they deem worthy.

[rockondlouie]

A lot of people draw the conclusion that grossly outspending the rest of the league is the key to winning pennants. Fine. But in your defense of that, please explain why the Yankees and Phillies did not make the LCS and the Mets didn't even make the playoffs. Sure, exhorbitant payrolls allows teams to add key pieces other teams can't. That puts them in contention where they otherwise might not be. But it isn't the deciding factor. Seattle is 16th, (bottom half, albeit the top of it). Toronto is a respectable 5th.

As much as i hate the Trolley Dodgers, I tip my cap to them for spending wisely and keeping player development as part of their equation. Other big market teams might spend like drunken sailors, but LA exhibits some sobriety.

BINGO!

[kscardsfan]

Having top talent players and timing are the keys. It just takes one or two players sometimes to get hot at the right time. Having multiple top talent players sure does ups those odds.

[CorneliusWolfe]

Until/unless something significant changes in the structure of MLB (like a hard salary cap at $275 million or so), a team like the Cardinals is going to have to expect to go through at least one team like the Dodgers (maybe even two or more if the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, etc. can do more to replicate what the Dodgers are doing) if they are going to win another World Series anytime soon.

Even if/when the Cardinals raise payroll back to $180-$200 million at some point in the future, how do they have the talent to be remotely close to a team like the Dodgers to give themselves a chance in a 5 or 7 game series?

They will never just be able to spend their way there. They will always be way behind a team like the Dodgers by just trying to brute force spend their way to another title because so many teams simply have more to spend than the Cardinals ever will.

So, given that reality, the Cardinals only choice to reach something close to parity with the Dodgers-like teams is to commit 100% to developing an exceptional amount of young, cost controlled talent that lets their $180-$200 million payroll "play up" to the level of the teams like the Dodgers.

Your last paragraph mostly says it all, with the exception that they do need to acquire occasional free agents. They can win with that formula, as long as the 200M payroll does not include the likes of the Fowler/Leake/Mikolas contracts.

Mo had an astonishing knack for betting on the wrong horses both in free agency and trades. We have nowhere to go but up in the personnel decision-making department.

[Rojo Johnson]

Until/unless something significant changes in the structure of MLB (like a hard salary cap at $275 million or so), a team like the Cardinals is going to have to expect to go through at least one team like the Dodgers (maybe even two or more if the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, etc. can do more to replicate what the Dodgers are doing) if they are going to win another World Series anytime soon.

Even if/when the Cardinals raise payroll back to $180-$200 million at some point in the future, how do they have the talent to be remotely close to a team like the Dodgers to give themselves a chance in a 5 or 7 game series?

They will never just be able to spend their way there. They will always be way behind a team like the Dodgers by just trying to brute force spend their way to another title because so many teams simply have more to spend than the Cardinals ever will.

So, given that reality, the Cardinals only choice to reach something close to parity with the Dodgers-like teams is to commit 100% to developing an exceptional amount of young, cost controlled talent that lets their $180-$200 million payroll "play up" to the level of the teams like the Dodgers.

Your last paragraph mostly says it all, with the exception that they do need to acquire occasional free agents. They can win with that formula, as long as the 200M payroll does not include the likes of the Fowler/Leake/Mikolas contracts.

Mo had an astonishing knack for betting on the wrong horses both in free agency and trades. We have nowhere to go but up in the personnel decision-making department.

Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall at Moe’s house on Christmas morning? It would have been fun watching his wife’s reactions to those frying pans and vacuum cleaners he chose for gifts for her. “But dear, they were sooo on sale, I couldn’t resist and now we have so much dry powder to use for my scarves”.

[mattmitchl44]

Until/unless something significant changes in the structure of MLB (like a hard salary cap at $275 million or so), a team like the Cardinals is going to have to expect to go through at least one team like the Dodgers (maybe even two or more if the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, etc. can do more to replicate what the Dodgers are doing) if they are going to win another World Series anytime soon.

Even if/when the Cardinals raise payroll back to $180-$200 million at some point in the future, how do they have the talent to be remotely close to a team like the Dodgers to give themselves a chance in a 5 or 7 game series?

They will never just be able to spend their way there. They will always be way behind a team like the Dodgers by just trying to brute force spend their way to another title because so many teams simply have more to spend than the Cardinals ever will.

So, given that reality, the Cardinals only choice to reach something close to parity with the Dodgers-like teams is to commit 100% to developing an exceptional amount of young, cost controlled talent that lets their $180-$200 million payroll "play up" to the level of the teams like the Dodgers.

Your last paragraph mostly says it all, with the exception that they do need to acquire occasional free agents. They can win with that formula, as long as the 200M payroll does not include the likes of the Fowler/Leake/Mikolas contracts.

Mo had an astonishing knack for betting on the wrong horses both in free agency and trades. We have nowhere to go but up in the personnel decision-making department.

I am not suggesting that they DON'T eventually have to add FA talent to fill gaps on the roster.

However, as I noted before, the core of young, cost controlled players has to be the "cake" and a few expensive veterans paid for with the $180-$200 million payroll is the "icing".

And you have to bake the cake first before you worry about adding the icing.

[cardstatman]

The Dodgers scored 15 runs in 4 games which is an average of 3.75 per game. Nothing special.

The 4 Dodgers starting pitchers threw 28.2 IP and gave up 2 runs for a 0.63 ERA. They aren't really that good but they were healthy and HOT!

The Dodgers bullpen pitchers threw 7.1 IP over 4 games and gave up 2 runs for a 2.45 ERA. Nice, but nothing special. They don't have a great bullpen but they only used 4 relievers; 3 made one appearance and 1 made two appearances.

The starters were so good the full bullpen never got tested.

It is a rare thing these days when starting pitching actually dominated a playoff series, but that is what happened.

Dodgers collected a LOT of effective starters with health issues. Then they nursed them through the season with a goal of 4 of them being healthy for the post season. Three of their 4 playoff starters made 43 combined starts during the regular season. They averaged 14.3 starts apiece (less than half a season of starts). Only one of their 4 playoff starters had more then 5 regular season wins.

[CorneliusWolfe]

Until/unless something significant changes in the structure of MLB (like a hard salary cap at $275 million or so), a team like the Cardinals is going to have to expect to go through at least one team like the Dodgers (maybe even two or more if the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, etc. can do more to replicate what the Dodgers are doing) if they are going to win another World Series anytime soon.

Even if/when the Cardinals raise payroll back to $180-$200 million at some point in the future, how do they have the talent to be remotely close to a team like the Dodgers to give themselves a chance in a 5 or 7 game series?

They will never just be able to spend their way there. They will always be way behind a team like the Dodgers by just trying to brute force spend their way to another title because so many teams simply have more to spend than the Cardinals ever will.

So, given that reality, the Cardinals only choice to reach something close to parity with the Dodgers-like teams is to commit 100% to developing an exceptional amount of young, cost controlled talent that lets their $180-$200 million payroll "play up" to the level of the teams like the Dodgers.

Your last paragraph mostly says it all, with the exception that they do need to acquire occasional free agents. They can win with that formula, as long as the 200M payroll does not include the likes of the Fowler/Leake/Mikolas contracts.

Mo had an astonishing knack for betting on the wrong horses both in free agency and trades. We have nowhere to go but up in the personnel decision-making department.

Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall at Moe’s house on Christmas morning? It would have been fun watching his wife’s reactions to those frying pans and vacuum cleaners he chose for gifts for her. “But dear, they were sooo on sale, I couldn’t resist and now we have so much dry powder to use for my scarves”.

“Dry powder”…I think I hated that one the most, and “payroll muscle”

[CorneliusWolfe]

Until/unless something significant changes in the structure of MLB (like a hard salary cap at $275 million or so), a team like the Cardinals is going to have to expect to go through at least one team like the Dodgers (maybe even two or more if the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, etc. can do more to replicate what the Dodgers are doing) if they are going to win another World Series anytime soon.

Even if/when the Cardinals raise payroll back to $180-$200 million at some point in the future, how do they have the talent to be remotely close to a team like the Dodgers to give themselves a chance in a 5 or 7 game series?

They will never just be able to spend their way there. They will always be way behind a team like the Dodgers by just trying to brute force spend their way to another title because so many teams simply have more to spend than the Cardinals ever will.

So, given that reality, the Cardinals only choice to reach something close to parity with the Dodgers-like teams is to commit 100% to developing an exceptional amount of young, cost controlled talent that lets their $180-$200 million payroll "play up" to the level of the teams like the Dodgers.

Your last paragraph mostly says it all, with the exception that they do need to acquire occasional free agents. They can win with that formula, as long as the 200M payroll does not include the likes of the Fowler/Leake/Mikolas contracts.

Mo had an astonishing knack for betting on the wrong horses both in free agency and trades. We have nowhere to go but up in the personnel decision-making department.

I am not suggesting that they DON'T eventually have to add FA talent to fill gaps on the roster.

However, as I noted before, the core of young, cost controlled players has to be the "cake" and a few expensive veterans paid for with the $180-$200 million payroll is the "icing".

And you have to bake the cake first before you worry about adding the icing.

OK, I wasn’t sure. Some think every prospect is going to turn out for some odd reason.