There's More than One Way to Build a Champion

There isn’t one specific path that a General Manager may choose that will lead to successful navigation of the free agent waters. In fact, it seems the only way to really win when it comes to the free agent/trade market is for a GM to shell out copious amounts of money on the right player. But General Managers, specifically those without a 150 million dollar payroll, may need to be more creative when building a championship caliber ballclub. There are generally three ways to do this, though most teams will use a hybrid of at least two. Option One: Build from Within This is what I call the “Devil-Ray”. This is in honor of the current Tampa Bay Rays and former Tampa Bay Devil Rays. When Tampa Bay was still embracing its devilish roots, they constructed a team of talent evaluators and scouts that had no equal. After years of losing, their early round draft picks began to build up until they became a system bursting at the seams with top-notch minor league talent. They began sto...