Take Two
This week I’m going to take a quick look at two issues that have been talked about at great length this offseason.

The first is the steroids issue, and how some are claiming that performance enhancing drugs have forever tainted the game.

The second is the draft structure and how the pre-determined slot values are supposedly effecting how well any given ballclub can build their team from the bottom up.

Tainted Game
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’m pretty tired hearing about steroids, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, their respective trainers, the Mitchell Report and a few other key words that are related to this subject. I’m sorry, but I don’t find it interesting, nor do I think it is going to have a lasting effect on my impression of the game as it has been played the past several years.

Without a doubt I recognize that we are witnessing an era in the game in which home runs are flying out of ballparks at a record pace. However, I have always contended that there is no way to quantify just how much those numbers have been effected by players using performance enhancing substances. I realize some people don’t care for reasoning, feeling that players that have cheated should be punished or even banned from the game for life.

And then of course you have those that point to the commissioner’s office and the coaches that have been surrounded by these players for years wondering why nothing was done before recently. How could these people that were constantly involved with these players not know something was going on?

At this exact point in time 10 years ago baseball was not in the shape, enjoying the immense popularity at all levels, that it is now. It wasn’t even close, as the game was still recovering from the strike that prematurely ended the 1994 season without a postseason, without any awards or honors, just an empty feeling and hundreds of thousands of confused and bitter fans.

The 1998 season quickly changed that with a home run chase led by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa that captivated the nation’s, and the world’s, attention.

Major League Baseball needed that to happen, and everyone knew it. Even if steroids or foul play was suspected of McGwire and/or Sosa, how could MLB act and effectively punish itself? The great game of baseball afterall is a business, and it always has been.

While I have shared this opinion with some people and have shocked a few along the way, bringing up other comments such as “the game is tainted,” or “Major League Baseball should be ashamed of itself,” I look at it as an act of self-preservation.

And now, as I mentioned, the game has never been better, and the success the game is enjoying at the highest of levels on a global scale has trickled down to the college, high school and even the international front, with more and more fans attending more and more games each and every year.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone the use of performance enhancing drugs, but I’m also not going to condemn those involved, because I believe the issue goes a lot deeper than how it appears at face value.

What is done is done, and these issues are not going to drive my memory of the game over the last 10 to 15 years. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my opinion of this era of the great game of baseball is quite the opposite: We are witnessing a golden age.

Paying Slots
As fun as it is the follow the draft and the prospects that make draft day as exciting as it is, one always has to keep in mind that money runs the show. From the agents that represent the players to the commissioner’s office assigning recommended slot values for each and every pick within the top five rounds, there are some interesting dynamics that definitely effect what players are selected by which clubs.

I have read some publications suggest that teams that ignore the recommended slot values have done a better job for themselves, almost implying that doing so is the only way to ensure your team that you will be adding the talent necessary to compete on a perennial basis. Fingers are often pointed to teams like the Pirates for avoiding certain players due to their expected bonus demands, while clubs such as the Red Sox and Yankees are praised for turning systems that weren’t so talent rich around quickly by relying on a seemingly endless budget while ignoring the recommended slot values.

I’m not going to argue against the point about paying top dollar for the top talent, because clearly the more talent any club adds to their system can only benefit that team if money truly is not an issue. However, money is a huge issue for so many teams, which is the entire point as to why the commissioner’s office urges teams to follow their recommendations.

And even if a team chooses to pass on a player that is universally considered the top talent at the time of the team’s selection, it’s not so much about the money that is spent as it is making the right pick.

Plenty of teams in Major League Baseball have established themselves as some of the most talented, young teams in the game without going out of their way to spend an extraordinary amount of money. The Colorado Rockies are probably the best example, as they haven’t gone significantly over slot to sign a player since they gave Jeff Baker two million dollars as a fourth-round draft pick in 2002. The Rockies haven’t thrived by making picks and spending a lot of money on players such as Baker or even Jason Young, who received first-round money as a second-round pick in the 2000 draft, and in hindsight it seems as though they made the right decision not giving into Matt Harrington’s demands, their first-round pick during that 2000 draft.

It’s the number of astute picks they have made that have made them so successful, and young, talented teams such as the Twins, A’s, Brewers and Rays have all been built the same way, as all of these teams have stayed within the parameters of the slotting system yet have procured an incredible amount of young talent.

The entire conversation reminds me of a misconception several years ago started by commissioner Bud Selig when contraction was a popular conversation that teams such as the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics, small market and small revenue teams that had enjoyed success, were an aberration. While money certainly makes it a lot easier for teams to compete, the best teams are the ones that are build strong from the bottom up, and it all starts with the scouts being able to properly identify and evaluate the top players available from one draft year to the next.

In other words, it’s not what you spend but who you take that counts.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.