You Reap What You Sow on the Farm

Three of the four clubs still in contention for a World Series championship began the 2007 season with a lower official payroll than did the Texas Rangers.   

The Rangers' official payroll for 2007 was reported as $68.3 million. The Cleveland Indians reported a payroll of $61 million, the Colorado Rockies reported $54.4 million and the Arizona Diamondbacks reported $52 million.

Seven clubs topped $100 million this year. Only three of them enjoyed post-season action and only one of them still stands.

So how did the Rockies, D-Backs and Indians find themselves in LDS play while the Mets, Dodgers, White Sox and Mariners find themselves in dry dock while spending over $100 million for the privilege?

The answer is pretty simple: more than anything -- and this is the good news for Rangers fans -- it has to do with what the farm yields, which is the result of great scouting and drafting.

A Rockies organization led by John Hart protogee' Danny O'Dowd (and which, not so long ago, included front office underlings named Jon Daniels and Thad Levine), includes the following recent farm products as it rolls through post-season play this fall: position players Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Matt Holliday and Ryan Spillborghs as well as their first four starters -- Jeff Francis, Franklin Morales, Ubaldo Jimenez and Aaron Cook-- and key relievers Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes are all products of the Rockies farm system.

All of the Rockies players I named in the preceding paragraph are still under the original control of the organization. None are on the roster as a result of free agency.

Another John Hart apprentice, Mark Shapiro, has shaped the Cleveland Indians from the ground up -- with an endless string of opportunistic trades and shrewd drafting -- into a playoff ballclub loaded with farm-fresh position prospects like Grady Sizemore, Ryan Garko, Absdural Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez and, of course, Travis Hafner, as well as dominant starters CC Biggs and Fabulous Fausto.   Out of the pen, the Tribe relies on the home-grown Raphaels (Betancourt and Perez).  Once again, all are under the original control of the Cleveland Indians. None are the result of free agency.   

Kenny Lofton, Joe Borowski, Paul Byrd and Trot Nixon (combined payroll cost of about $17 million in 2007) are the only outsiders counted on for significant contributions to the Indians quest.

A third Hart protogee', Josh Byrnes, has the baby-faced Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS powered by an almost entirely homegrown hitting lineup.  Justin Upton, Chris B. Young, Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew and Chris Snyder, are all pre-arbritration draftees.  Starting third baseman Mark Reynolds was picked up as an undrafted out of UVa back in 2004.  Closer Jose Valverde has been a D-Back all of his career after signing as a Dominican teenager back in 1997.   Setup man Brandon Lyon was picked off from Boston in the Curt Schilling trade while Lyon was still bouncing back and forth between the majors and triple-A.  The rotation is anchored by life-long D-Back Brandon Webb and 2005 draftee Micah Owings. 

Arizona's only significant free agency contributions come from Eric Byrnes, Doug Davis and Livan Hernandez for a combined 2007 salary of $17 million.

As popular as it is to point to payroll as the be-all, end-all to solving the Rangers problems, I point out once again that it's neither the explanation for nor the solution to the Rangers probelms.

Time will tell if we will see the Rangers led deep into October by an infield of Chris Davis, German Duran, Elvis Andrus and Johnny Whittleman backed up by center fielder Engel Beltre and augmented by DH Max Ramirez. There are no guarantees that Texas will ever enjoy an ALDS powered by a rotation including some combination of Eric Hurley, Kasey Kiker, Fabio Castillo, Michael Schlact, Neftali Feliz, Neil Ramirez, Blake Beavan, Wilmer Font and the great Michael Main. But the blueprint is in place, for the first time in a long time, to do this the right way.