FanShot

Billy Beane on shrinking windows for small market teams

4

Interesting column by SI, with implications for Mission 2012 and beyond. Money quote: "What you'll find is that the window for a small market team will grow smaller and eventually go away completely. We had seven years. Tampa Bay -- and they are very, very smart -- has made it to the playoffs two out of the past three years, and may not make it this year, and then what? To have any kind of window will take building a team organically, having to have something like 80 percent of your roster [homegrown]. That is extremely hard."