Trade Deadline Advice: Focus on Present
Stan McNeal - SportingNews.com
Jul 30, 2009
Each year at baseball's trading deadline, we see teams chasing blockbuster deals and impact players. But those mega-deals come with a price. To land the must-have stud, an organization usually has to hand over a package of prospects with stud potential. Is that a reasonable price to pay, or should the future carry more weight than the present? And what about the sellers? Can they justify giving up current stars for projected stars?
Chris Bahr argues that prospects are more important than ever to long-term success, but Stan McNeal explains why paying the price to win now is the right approach:
Buy now, pay later. It's the American way, right? When done responsibly, history has proven the system works.
The Phillies employed that very strategy Wednesday when they traded four prospects for a top-of-the-rotation starter. They will pay for "purchasing" Cliff Lee when the four prospects they sent the Indians prosper in the major leagues.
In the meantime, the deal puts the Phillies in prime position for an unprecedented accomplishment in the franchise history: back-to-back World Series championships.
Playing for the present sure beats giving up on the present, which is what teams such as the Indians and Pirates are doing by trading established star players for prospects.
Cleveland now has traded the past two A.L. Cy Young Award winners for eight prospects. Even if every one of these prospects delivers on his potential, the Indians will endure at least three long seasons. More likely, they'll suffer through four or five lean years. There also is the likelihood that some of the prospects never will make an impact in the major leagues. Yes, they'll be affordable. But that's no guarantee they'll be good.
By trading Lee, the Indians are telling their fans that they are giving up not only on 2009 but on 2010, too. Trading All-Star catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez would strengthen the message that it's all about the future in Cleveland. That understandably isn't sitting well with fans who buy their tickets wanting to see their teams win today, not two years from now.
Perhaps Indians fans have noticed how little trading for prospects has helped the Pirates, who have been dumping All-Stars for years but are working on their 17th consecutive losing season. Pittsburgh entered this season with legitimate hopes of a .500 finish, but it recently traded its best player, outfielder Nate McLouth, for prospects when it was just four games under .500. Since then, the Pirates have traded six more players in return for prospects.
Stockpiling prospects is economical and clearly is the new trend, but it doesn't guarantee success. Instead of worrying about winning down the road, the focus should be on winning now. And an organization does that with proven players, not with projected contributions from prospects.
I can't help but think that these general managers are taking their own situations into consideration when they mortgage the present for the future. Their bosses ask, "Why aren't we winning?" And they can reply, "You just wait. We've got prospects."
Sure, and in the meantime, their fans can watch teams such as the Phillies succeed when it matters -- right now.
Stan McNeal is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.
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