Why don't teams play their youngsters any more? Evene the bad teams with no hope of making the palyoffs?

Question

A young Jeter and Posada, bernie, Rivera mixed in with some old vets is what the Ynaks were built on. Now they figure that they need to keep signing these aging vets. Why not play one of the young farm people at first instead of platooning two vets. Lets see Phill hughs and co. pitch..... Why are the Reds not playing Josh Hamilton in the outfield put Adam Dunn back at first and put old vet Scott hatterberg on the bench. Give the youngsters some time to shine. Tampa bay finally is playing all their young players. For many years they kept signing old vets, like mcgriff and vinny castilla and jose cruz jr. why? If you suck already then give the future of the team some experince. How can you expect Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young not to get frustrated sitting in the minors for so long when they know they are better than some of the players in the big leagues. Because of a few failures of some at the big league level, teams are scared to rush some of their ... just a thought.....

Answer 1

i think teams would rather let their young talent develop in the minor leagues because they believe that veterans give them a better chance of winning now, while younger players are for the future...i do agree with you that clubs should not be so reluctant to play their young kids, but it seems that they don't want to jeopardize their careers by exposing them to the major league pressure too early

Answer 2

It hasn't even been a week. ANd what you're describing is nothing new.

Further, just because a younger player has made the major league roster doesn't mean that he's ready to play full time. That's something that must be earned, over time. That's why these players are always worked into the lineup slowly. As the season goes on, the best of them will get more and more and more playing time, and by the end of the season, they will almost certainly be out there just about every day.

Playing in the majors is unlike anything else that they've ever done. Younger players have to adjust in all ways to the majors. Crowds ten times bigger than anything they've ever experiences. Much larger stadia with lighting very different that anything they've ever seen, making it that much more difficult to judge the flight of the ball in night games. A whole new set of opposing pitchers, opposing players, umpires and team mates, all of whom have to be "figured out". An entirely different lifestyle to which they must adjust without having it go to their heads. Another new city in which to live. Different cities on the road. Any and all of these can have a major and at times negative affect on any given player. That's why younger players are given time to work their way into the lineup. ALWAYS.

Give them a chance.

Answer 3

Many teams play their young players: the Pirates, for example: 3 starting position players and 4 of their 5 starting pitchers have less than 2 years experience in the majors. The Marlins, too, are heavy on the youth. The Yankees and a few other teams do focus on veterans rather than youth, true, but if you look I think you'll find most teams have at least one or two young guys in starting roles.

Answer 4

It is often a financial decision.

Teams have complete control over players for their first six full seasons of league service. The longer you can wait to add prospects to your MLB roster the longer time you have them at a significant discount (3 years league minimum + 3 years arbitration {exception of Super 2's}) during their peak years of performance.