How many times have we seen a team, that’s in the hunt for a playoff spot, trade away a few of their minor league prospects just to get a major league player that fills a hole for the next 2-3 months?

Five or 10 years ago, a lot of teams wouldn’t think twice about doing so.  Fast-forward to 2007, and you can think of 5-6 teams that are rebuilding their farm systems and reaping the benefits. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers with Andre Etheir, Matt Kemp, James Loney and Andy LaRoche.  The New York Yankees with Philip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy.  The Boston Red Sox with Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Clay Buchholz who had a no-hitter for the Sox in 2007, and Dustin Pedroia.

I bring up those three teams because they all have 1 thing in common.  All three teams had a legit shot at landing Minnesota Twins’ right-hander Johan Santana, before he landed with the Mets, if they were willing to give up a few of their top prospects.  All three teams decided that giving up 3-4 major league ready prospects was too much to ask for 1 player, and I applaud each one. 

The one team that, maybe, should have made that move was the New York Yankees.  They needed a bonafide ace to add to their staff, especially since they really don’t have that kind of pitcher at this point.  Boston could have made the move and put him into a rotation that was, arguably, already the strongest in the American League if not in baseball entirely with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Clay Buchholz.  I didn’t add Curt Schilling to that list because of his injured shoulder.

If there was any fan of any team in baseball that doesn’t think a team’s farm system is important, ask the defending National League Champion Colorado Rockies.  They got HUGE contributions from players they brought through their own system.  Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brad Hawpe and Troy Tulowitzki were big contributors to the National League title, all came through Colorado’s own system.

The one thing that may come of teams rebuilding within, fewer trades.  Is it possible that we may be only a few years from the non-existence of the “blockbuster trade?”  Will the Winter Meetings become a “ho-hum” event?  What will baseball fans do when the offseason is just that….off?

Not to fret, trades will still happen, blockbusters will still occur, but I think they’ll be few and far between than what we had gotten used to in years past.  One thing is for sure, spring training has begun and we’re just a few short days away from the first spring training games getting underway.

Can you smell that?  America’s pastime has returned.

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