Regarding the number of prospects in MLB this year, it seems clear that injuries and payroll considerations are paramount. Lots of injuries on the docket with all that guaranteed money, replaced with league- minimum players. Additionally, successful teams stagger their prospect replacements, formulating a strategy that is balanced with the payroll management. Consider Houston, which allowed Correa, Springer, and Verlander to walk. Peña, Correa's replacement, didn't have to replicate Correa's production. Tucker was waiting in the wings when Springer left. Positions that need filling due to free agency need not have FAs re-signed just to stay even because the strategy is team composition-centic, not entirely positionally driven. The best run teams, as we know, do not rebuild, they reload. By continually integrating prospect talent, production is more stable, veterans carry the load, and teams are not forced to wager their future on one or two ridiculously risky high-priced and long-term losing FA deals. The team can determine who and for how long they will sign with reasonable expectations of the baseball success dynamic, which is different, we know, from other sports. Teams like the Reds and Tigers wasted the better part of a decade by eschewing the base all dynamic and hitching their respective wagons to mindless long-term deals (Votto and Cabrera) instead of utilizing those monstrous sums to balance their teams. I figure the Yankees (Judge and Stanton), Mets, and Padres (many players) are just entering their handwringing learning curve.
Regarding the number of prospects in MLB this year, it seems clear that injuries and payroll considerations are paramount. Lots of injuries on the docket with all that guaranteed money, replaced with league- minimum players. Additionally, successful teams stagger their prospect replacements, formulating a strategy that is balanced with the payroll management. Consider Houston, which allowed Correa, Springer, and Verlander to walk. Peña, Correa's replacement, didn't have to replicate Correa's production. Tucker was waiting in the wings when Springer left. Positions that need filling due to free agency need not have FAs re-signed just to stay even because the strategy is team composition-centic, not entirely positionally driven. The best run teams, as we know, do not rebuild, they reload. By continually integrating prospect talent, production is more stable, veterans carry the load, and teams are not forced to wager their future on one or two ridiculously risky high-priced and long-term losing FA deals. The team can determine who and for how long they will sign with reasonable expectations of the baseball success dynamic, which is different, we know, from other sports. Teams like the Reds and Tigers wasted the better part of a decade by eschewing the base all dynamic and hitching their respective wagons to mindless long-term deals (Votto and Cabrera) instead of utilizing those monstrous sums to balance their teams. I figure the Yankees (Judge and Stanton), Mets, and Padres (many players) are just entering their handwringing learning curve.