The Truth About Rebuilding

The players that will be the centerpieces to our future are probably not in the system yet. We can try to project Singleton and Cosart, but chances are that neither one will be around when the team starts winning again. A winning baseball team requires quality from the top of the roster to the bottom. You need 26 players who all serve some purpose well, and to sustain winning, you need their replacements down on the farm. It seems like a daunting task to say the least.

If Singleton, Cosart or any of the other youngsters appear to be blossoming into a star, we must pay attention to the rest of the roster. If Singleton peaks, and the organization still lacks the depth that we need, we must flip him for even more quality pieces. The Mark Teixeira trade stands out as a prime example to me. That trade landed three significant pieces to the Rangers success.

This is where being the GM of a rebuilding franchise gets difficult. You have to decide when the team is ready to compete. What is the arrival date? Fans don't want to feel like they are in a perpetual state of rebuilding like the Pirates or Royals have been. It appears that the Royals are well on their way, but the Pirates are still a ways off and will probably have to move McCutchen for even more pieces.

Patience is more key to the Astros situation that we can understand at this point. We are hearing five to seven years until being competitive. What does competitive mean? Is it .500 or contending for the playoffs? All I know is that we aren't winning anything next year. Mr. Crane might not want to hear this, but rebuilding will require financial investment. We will need to be more active in the international market, and we will need to take risks on free agents that we can flip at the deadline.

It's good that we have direction, but we can't expect instant results at the Major League level. Patience will be the key. There will be more days when we have to say goodbye to a star in the making in order to make the organization deeper and healthier in the long term. Pay attention to what ownership says the team's arrival date is. Hold them to that, but let's be realistic and agree that it won't be 2012 or 2013.