This is a quibble which does little but distract from your fine article, but...
SI's attempt to sell the Yankee dynasty as home-grown is little more than propaganda, IMHO.
Subtract the WAR- $ value that those 4 guys have added, and the Yankees' purchased talent has still dwarfed the other 29 teams'. In other words, sub in a purchased closer for the $10M Rivera, a purchased SS for the $18M Jeter, and the Yankees' roster isn't fundamentally different. It's a store-bought team.
They're just going back after the fact and saying, hey, look, the key was really skill, not a tilted playing field.
................
But right. Everybody except the Yankees needs a nucleus of cost-effective players, to which they add talent as needed. Sandy has emphasized this. Very tough to Pat Gillick a winning roster without half of it coming out of your own minors.
Sports Illustrated recently highlighted the Yankees' "Core Four" upon which their dynasty era was built: Jeter (born 1974), Pettite (1972), Posada (1971) and Rivera (1969). Obviously, NYY have had the resources to keep them and add guys like A-Rod and Sabathia.
But any team looking to build will want to start with a core of young guys at key positions. The Ms obviously have a great head start with Felix.
To that end, I sorted the guys I keep an eye on (Felix-age and younger) by year of birth:
1986:
Felix (MLB), Saunders (MLB, for now), Tuiasosopo (AAA, for now), Carp (AAA), Paredes (AA)
1987:
Halman (AAA, in danger of falling off the radar), Cortes (AA, likewise), Peguero (AA), Poythress (A+), Seager (A+), Raben (A)
1988:
Ackley (AA), Liddi (AA), Moran (A), Jones (A)
1989:
Pineda (AA), Robles (AA), Chavez (A+, rising on my radar), Cleto (A+, on DL), DeJesus (short season)
1990:
Triunfel (AA), Baron (A), Noriega (A)
1991:
Franklin (A)
1992:
Morban (the "mystery prospect")
Right now, I'm liking the chances of Felix, Ackley and Pineda sharing some good years together (with Pineda a greater injury risk). One or more of Triunfel (heating up), Franklin (cooling off) or Liddi (really heating up) could join them. Everyone else is pretty much a roll of the dice, although everyone seems pretty sure that Baron will be at least a defensive contributor.
Comments
Based on my scans of history - in the past 15-20 years, EVERY team that wins has been a combination of home-grown and imports. There have been a few that were dominated by imports - and some leaning more toward home grown. But, it really does REQUIRE both to win.
The thing that I think people have missed about the Yankees is that after the Yankees got their core-4 - (and a couple of other homegrowners) - they rattled off some great seasons. BUT ... they then got into a repeated pattern of being very impatient with their homegrown talent - and began trading it VERY quickly. Nick Johnson and Soriano are the most obvious cases.
After a few years of this - the Yankees - even with the $200 million payroll, started having problems. You know when they turned things around? When Cano and Hughes and Chamberlain started having success.
I don't think it's "just" about money. I think clubs NEED some sense of organization-specific identity. AROD and Teixeira may be added - but the TEAM remains Jeter's.
Currently, Seattle lacks *ANY* homegrown regulars to latch onto as core players for the future. Bavasi's attempt at this was Yuni and Lopez.
AJ and Clement were traded. Wlad was a disaster and dumped. Saunders imploded.
I believe there are facets of PRODUCING talent - that from day one of their major league career are identified with a club - that works as fertilizer for every subsequent addition, whether imported or developed.
The Braves were famous because of the "Big Three". But, they had Chipper and Andruw as the home grown regulars -- and added guys like Javy Lopez, Furcal, Marcus Giles, etc. I firmly believe that having Chipper and Andruw their to set a *BRAVES* standard is a key component to success down the line.
This is why I cannot think of *ANY* team that built itself into a success STARTING with a big-name free agent. I think there is a very tangible difference between a contractor hired from outside, who knows (and everyone else knows), is a 'hired gun', who has no vested interest in that particular organization.
If you stick somewhere long enough - you get linked with a town. But, it still isn't quite the same. Ichiro is unmistakably linked to Seattle. Yet - everyone knows that he was developed elsewhere. Even after 10 years, he isn't a team leader. Some of that is cultural - but really, how often is the FA pick-up named "Captain" of a team? (That goes on to have success).
I firmly believe that until SOMEBODY - (Johnson, Moore, Ackley, Carp, Saunders, Liddi) - from within the organization is DEVELOPED into a successful every day player, Seattle is going to continue to drift offensively.
I don't think it even has to be a directly drafted guy -- just someone who starts his MLB clock with the team. And I also believe that having that core of homegrown talent is just as critical to MAINTAINING excellence. You don't have to hold onto ALL of them. But, you've gotta keep a couple.