Perhaps this is so, and I'm with you on what you hope for, to avoid the organizational mood swings, which are going on 12 years now post Theo. Surely they can find someone who has the capacity to balance building a farm while also acquiring top line ML talent to build a championship caliber team. I mean - it really can't be so impossible that you have to keep swinging through "types" of GMs/CBOs (whatever), can it?
I'll regurgitate an earlier post on this, posted below this one. TLDR is that there are not "grow" types and "spend" types of GMs. Cherrington created a talent gap in the org that hit in 2020. That gap, combined with various FA signings led to an expensive club with key players rocketing toward FA.
So no.
You can't:
1) shed albatross contracts (Sale, Price) - without giving up $ or talent.
2) easily sign FAs or extend players - because you have a cap and albatross contracts.
3) acquire young, cost-controlled ML players - without trading out of a small stockpile of prospects.
4) grow the prospect pool overnight.
***
Earlier post:
There's this weird memeish suggestion that keeps floating around that Cherrington was this great minor league developer that DD sort of cashed in on early. That's 100% not the case.
-Theo left a pretty amazingly stocked farm system with the 2011 draft.
-Cherrington's drafts were awful to "meh" though he did add a few key players (Devers). His main plus (vis a vis the farm system) was not trading away good players.
-DD traded mostly out of Cherrington's good to meh picks for guys like Sale. DD also drafted/signed well and restocked the system.
I don't think you can really "spend" out of the system to acquire Pomeranz and Sale level talent for the 2016-19 GFIN bubble, while
at the same time stocking the system with equally developed talent. Just the nature of the beast.
But it's sort of a fantasy that DD somehow shoveled actual talent out the door for ephemeral gains. I mean, do we really want a 2016-21 team with Yoan Moncada on it?
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/moncayo01.shtml Michael Kopech?
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kopecmi01.shtml
They're not bad players, but Sale was the key to the 2018 WS victory - they would not have been.
For drafts Theo was 2004-2011, Cherrington was 2012-2015, and DD 2016-2019. I added notable international signings with an underline. So:
DD:
2019- Cannon, Lugo, Song, Murphy.
2018- Casas, Duran.
Rafaela, Bello.
2017- Houck, Crawford.
Hector Velazquez.
2016- Groome, Dalbec.
Mata.
BC:
2015- Benintendi, Allen, Poyner
2014- Chavis, Kopech, Travis, Beeks.
Moncada, Rusney, Espinosa, Bazardo.
2013- Ball, Stankiewicz, Denney, Dubon.
Devers, Darwinzon.
2012- Marrero, Johnson, Light, Maddox, Buttrey
TE:
2011- Barnes, Swihart, Owens, JBJ, Jerez, Ramirez, Mookie, Travis Shaw.
Margot.
2010- Brentz, Workman.
2009- Kelley, Hazelbaker.
Iglesias, Bogaerts.
2008- Weiland, Federowicz, Vazquez.
Tazawa.
2007- Hagadone, Rizzo, Middlebrooks.