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Sorry, but I have to break in here. What's a good veteran vs. a bad veteran? The Ambrose analogy is great and all, but if veteran leadership works so well, how come it didn't help Montero become a better catcher before he was sent down? How come the veteran leadership and presence of Raul Ibanez, Kendrys Morales, Jason Bay, and Michael Morse didn't help Dustin Ackley with the lefty strike? How well are these guys helping Michael Saunders get out of his slump?
I guess I'm just really skeptical about the value of "proven veterans". To me, it seems like an ocean of confirmation bias. We see what we want to see. You mention Raul in particular. Well, I question if Raul is having any impact whatsoever on the younger players. I understand he's showing that he's still a pretty good hitter, but where's the carryover effect to the younger players and the rest of the team? I mean, look, they aren't winning! You said specifically that the good veterans are showing "...the kids how you beat the opponent." But they aren't winning, at least not most of the time.
Look, I'm encouraged about the young players as well. I've said before that identifying and developing young players is the one thing this organization seems to do reasonably well, and I don't use immediate major league success as the only criteria to judge how well they do that. But, I do think that performance at the major league level is how you evaluate performance at the major league level. It's very, very measurable.
I think Raul's great, but I hope they trade him and that they don't bring him back next year, unless it's as a coach or TV guy or something like that.