“However, to simply say that the Marlins have a talented scouting department dismisses the fact that when the Marlins trade talented players, they usually receive numerous prospects in return; thereby increasing the chance that at least one of those prospects will turn out to be talented.”

Fair point, except that these prospects that they get in return for their aging veterans are themselves heavily scouted. It’s not like teams just dump a random group of players on the Marlins in return for their aging vets. The Marlins spend money on scouts who pore over a team’s minor league players to determine which are the best risks. That so many turn out right for the Marlins isn’t luck…It’s scouting.

Nothing determines the success of a team so much as their ability to accumulate good players. It seems so simple, but it’s very difficult to do. Whether it be drafting good players or acquiring good players through trade or signing the ‘right’ free agent…it’s all about a team’s ability to judge which players will be helpful and which will not. For example…the Yankees didn’t win all those years in the late ’90’s because they spent the most money. They won because Gene Michael was able to draft Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. True, once those players became free agents, it didn’t hurt to have Yankee money to keep them in place, but these were all either HOF or near-HOF players…all coming through an organization at the exact same time. No other team has had that kind of perfect storm of talent since then.

The Marlins actually do a very good job of identifying good players and getting them….and then developing them once they have them. The Pirates/Royals simply do not. So I agree with you that the Marlins’ model is one to copy. I just don’t agree that you can discount scouting as incidental to what’s going on there. To me, it’s fundamental to any team’s successes. Get good players. Don’t pay too much for them so that you’re prevented from building a balanced team. Get rid of bad players. Again, sounds so simple, but you’ve really got to have good talent people in charge for that to actually happen. The Mets for example are TERRIBLE at this. They have money so they buy the flavor of the month…at the expense of a balanced roster. They give hundreds of AB’s to players like Daniel Murphy and Omir Santos who don’t get on base. They spend millions on Santana but have no money to spend on quality 2-5 starters. THey waste money on Perez because they feel their fans want a “big signing”.