Devote some money to the draft rather than sign less than mediocre free agents. Take Rod Barajas for example, for the money he signed for the Phils could have instead used it to draft Rick Portcello. Also they could have signed their 3rd Round pick Brandon Workman who chose college instead, and possibly one or two other talents that were available that the Phils passed on since they didn't want to pay. I don't think anything would have been lost if the Phils didn't have Barajas instead of Coste. Regardless of injury, I just don't see a big gap between the two. I know the owners are loathe to add more to the payroll, so instead the Front Office should hold off on one or two menial signings a year (save around 3-4 mil) and use it to bust slot and draft premium talent.

The Yankees have been spending around 6-7 million a year on the draft while the Phils have been around 3-4. Look at what the extra money has done for the Yankees in Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy, Horne, Jackson, and others. The Yankees system was in shambles not too long ago and now is regarded as one of the top 5 in the game. While it may be turn out to be misguided, Cashman was so confident in these young arms he did not get Santana. If the owners aren't going to spend the big bucks on free agents then the Front Office needs to compensate for that by devoting more money to draft picks and then milk their 6 years for all they are worth. Are the Phils automatically going to hit on every pick because they pay more money? Of course not, but they would have a much better opportunity to do so. I have a feeling that much like Phil Hughes, we are going to be wondering what Portcello would have looked like in a Phillies uniform in a few years.

The benefits would be significant. First is the most obvious in the fact that we would not have to rely on castoffs from other teams (Feliz, Jenkins, Barajas, Eaton, Nunez, Mesa, Alfonseca, etc.)in the free agent market as our homegrown talent would be better. Maybe they would have another reliever or 3rd baseman ready to go right now. In addition to that the Phils would be able to sign the better free agents (rather than bargain basement ones)/resign their own players because of the fact that the team would have more cost controlled contributers on the roster freeing up payroll.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Phils would be able to make trades for premium talent. I know I just said that freeing up money would allow us to sign big name free agents, and that still does happen, but more and more the teams are locking up their best players before they hit free agency. Peavy, Pujols, Zambrano, Santana, and many others have not gotten to free agency. Revenue sharing is allowing more and more teams to lock up their players and in addition GMs are getting smarter about dealing players before players are eligible for free agency. The best way to acquire these players is through trades. Santana, Haren, Bedard and even Swisher were all traded for a slew of prospects this off-season. The Phils were not involved in any of these discussions not because they didn't need them but because our prospects are not very good. They would not have even gotten Lidge were it not for Ed Wade's severe man crush on Michael Bourn and they would have had to either overpay for Francisco Cordero or keep Myers in the bullpen.

Maybe I am oversimplifying this, but I think it is the best route for the team. I think this philosophy makes sense on the whole, but what do you guys think?