The Rockies' road was the one less traveled, but with a World Series appearance on tap it was definitely worth it the wait.
Baseball, like life itself, is all about evolution.
There are a couple of ways to put together a roster. The easiest way, used by the big market teams with deep pockets, is to isolate holes in the lineup and then take bags of money onto the free agent market to bring back veteran talent. It called the "quick fix" method, popularized by the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox since the mid-90s.
The least popular method of the two, called 'building from within,' is the one where patience - by the organization, its fans and, especially, the media - is preached. Sure, it takes time for everything to shake out but when it all comes together, it's a beautiful thing to behold.
There is where the Colorado Rockies sit the morning after sweeping away the Arizona Diamondbacks in four-straight to make their first trip in the World Series in the franchise's 15th season. To say that their road to the top was rocky - no pun intended - would be an understatement. Over those 15 seasons only five times have the Rockies finished above .500, and before this season they lost an average of 90 games from 2001-06, never finishing higher than fourth.
 |
|
| Having patience in the young guns has paid off in Colorado. (Getty) |
Back in the day, they tried the "quick fix" method, bringing in the likes of Denny Neagle, Ron Gant and Mike Hampton for big money, but with low output, especially Hampton, who signed a landmark, eight-year, $123.8 million prior to the 2001 season. At the time, it was the biggest free-agent contract ever, before the Rangers blew that deal out of the water by signing Alex Rodriguez to 10 years, $252 million. Hampton's stay in Denver was brief, only two seasons, and for the low, low price of $20,003,543 the left-hander went 21-28, 5.75 ERA in 62 starts. His shortcomings directly reflected on a team that went 146-178 (.451) and finished a combined 44 games out of the playoffs.
But there is a silver lining to finishing near the bottom of the standings on a yearly basis: it's called high draft picks. This is where the 'building from within' kicks in. Looking closely as the Rockies pile on each other to celebrate capturing their first National League pennant, every camera cut contained a shot of a player grown within their farm system: Troy Tulowitzki, Jeff Francis, Matt Holliday, Jeff Baker, Ryan Spilborghs, Cory Sullivan, Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe, all key contributors, all homegrown, and all done on the cheap (if there is such a thing in baseball). Those eight players made a combined $7.1 million, with MVP-candidate Holliday eating up $4.4 million of that total. Overall, the Rockies' payroll game in at $54,424,000 this season, 25th in the majors. You would hope that the rest of the game will sit up and take notice.
Perhaps the game has evolved enough to follow this trend and put more money into player development instead of throwing obscene amounts of money at the feet of free agents.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Keeping with the money theme, Game 3 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Indians was why the Red Sox forked over massive amount of cash to land Daisuke Matsuzaka: to win games like this. What they got was another average performance from a pitcher that was supposed to be one of the best in the world...
There have been glowing reports coming out of the first week of the Arizona Fall League regarding Blue Jays' blue chip prospect Travis Snider. He's batting .385 after four games despite the fact that at 19-years-old Snider is one of the youngest players competing...
Quick count of hands: how many of you honestly thought that it was possible that the Rockies and Indians would meet in the World Series this season? That's what I thought. Not that Red Sox can't come back against Cleveland, but they better start trading in double plays for clutch hits pretty soon...
If George Steinbrenner does hand over the day-to-day operation of the Yankees to his sons Hank and Hal, Joe Torre will likely keep his job as manager...
I'm starting to get the feeling that when the Mitchell report into the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball is finally made public, some big and surprising names will come out. Those of us around the game have always heard the off-the-record whispers, but I'm thinking that this report will make Jose Canseco's tell-all book look like a fairy tale...
If reputation amounts to anything then the Blue Jays, if they can ever stay healthy, should put up some big numbers under new hitting coach Gary Denbo. They better because this was J.P. Ricciardi's pick, and coupled with the fact that he's only going to make minor tweaks to his third place roster, he's really sticking his neck out for 2008.
