Whenever a young, “scrappy” team like the Royals makes a team playoff run, a plethora of articles start to emerge suggesting that their homegrown approach is “the right way”, or something along those lines. They’ve got all these young guys, they must have a great player development system!
In the case of this year’s World Series, the sentiment that the Royals are somehow doing things the right way while the Giants are a hated organization trying to buy another title is laughable. Why, you ask? Because the Giants are just as much of a homegrown team than the Royals, as shocking as that may seem. Examining the rosters both teams used in the LCS, which they’re expected to use for the World Series, really emphasizes that point.
Of the 25 men on the Giants roster, 11 were originally drafted or signed internationally by the team. You can up that number to 13 if you include Travis Ishikawa and Ryan Vogelsong, who were initially drafted by the team years ago and eventually crawled their way back on minor league free agent contracts. Three more players, Javier Lopez, Jake Peavy and Hunter Pence, were acquired via trade. That leaves nine (or 11, if you count the aforementioned Vogelsong and Ishikawa) that were signed as free agents. But let’s call a spade a spade here – these ten free agents weren’t exactly marquee guys. Michael Morse got a one-year, $6 million contract this winter. Joaquin Arias, Gregor Blanco, Santiago Casilla, Jean Machi, and Yusmeiro Petit were minor-league free agents. Hunter Strickland was acquired on waivers. The only free agents signed to multi-year deals by the Giants were Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Hudson, and Hudson’s $23 million over two years was the largest contract of the two.
There are also several significant players on the Giants 40-man roster that were acquired by means other than free agency, including Matt Cain (drafted), Angel Pagan (trade), and Marco Scutaro (trade).
And then, there’s the Royals. Looking at their roster, 12 players were originally drafted or signed internationally by the team. Ten were acquired via trade. Just two, Omar Infante and Jason Vargas, were signed as free agents, and one (Jayson Nix) was a waiver claim.
In reality, the only major difference between the two rosters is that the Royals acquired more players via trade, and that the Giants acquired more via free agency. But again – the Giants didn’t exactly go out and sign players like Zack Greinke. Hell, Infante and Vargas, the two Royals free agent acquisitions, both signed four-year contracts worth over $30 million. The Giants haven’t laid out that kind of money to sign a free agent that wasn’t already with the club since they committed an absurd $186 million to Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito.
So, is there really a “right way” or a “wrong way”? Both teams drafted quite well. The Royals dealt Zack Greinke for a pair of players contributing to their playoff run, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, and one that was used as part of the James Shields/Wade Davis trade (Jake Odorizzi). The Giants gave the Phillies two pennies and a nickel for Hunter Pence, and then locked him up long-term. The Royals filled out their roster by making trades for bit players, like Jason Frasor, Erik Kratz, and Josh Willingham. The Giants invited guys like Blanco, Casilla, and Petit to Spring Training, and turned a modest investment into something more significant.
Is either model more sustainable than the other? Keep in mind that this is San Francisco’s third World Series in five seasons, while Kansas City is in the midst of their first playoff run since 1985. We can’t make too many judgments about the foreseeable future for either team. But Kansas City’s lower cash flow is going to make it much more difficult for them to keep their younger players in town. Shields will command a tremendous salary as a free agent this winter. Greg Holland and Eric Hosmer will likely getting tremendous raises in their second year of arbitration. Several other Royals, including Lorenzo Cain, Kelvin Herrera, and Mike Moustakas, will be heading to arbitration for the first time. The Royals have club options on Billy Butler and Davis that will give them raises in 2015.
Crafting a young roster is great, but eventually, those young players start to get expensive. If the Royals can’t do what they did with Greinke, sell high and acquire building blocks for the future, will they have anything left in a couple of seasons when Butler, Holland, and Alex Gordon are heading into free agency? And all in all, that’s why I think I prefer San Francisco’s approach more. If one of their minor league or low-risk free agent signings goes wrong, it’s not a huge deal. If the Royals trade one of their stars and don’t get building blocks in return, they’re in a very bad position.
Hell, just look at the Phillies – they traded four prospects of varying quality to the Astros for Pence, and spun him off to the Giants for peanuts a year later. And look at them now, two years – they’re a last place team. The Royals struck gold with who they got from the Brewers for Greinke, but will they be able to bring in that kind of value when dealing stars in the future? Will they be able to retain their young talent? It’s a very scary roll of the dice for them, and failing to get a ring this month could completely destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to build.
