I posit that the Dodgers do pick well and have done a great job of developing their picks. The Dodgers perhaps have the best development staff in baseball. Crane and Brown might want to duplicate the Dodgers’ development model.
It's been clear dodgers have that extra scouting and player development sauce for a while now . My guess , it's some of that LA under the table moolah. Or they just pay their scouts the most
The Dodgers spend an incredible amount of money on their developmental staff in salary, benefits and bonuses -- they also spend far more than any other team on travel and their facilities and on "projects" to get information to inform their player development. They also poach from any organization that they want. There is no real magic to what the Dodgers do -- they spend vastly more money than every other organization in baseball on every level of baseball. The Dodgers have had a top 10 farm system for a decade straight - they deserve credit for that, but there needs to be context..... when you can offer any scout or coach or person in the front office 2-3X what the rest of the league is spending, and can hire twice the staff as the rest of the league --- and the best complex, the best expense accounts, the best paid interns.... and can pay runners to get you players.... and then can draft purely BPA, because you can spend a billion dollars in an off season.... and know you will get every Japanese player........ you tend to do very well.
I will add though -- that I wonder how it would be if Crane decreased the payroll by $25,000,000 a year and dumped that $25,000,000 entirely into the salary of scouts, coaches - scientists, interns and the front office... would the Astros produce enough additional players from the domestic and international draft to justify the decrease in payroll. I think if the Astros were consistent with it, the answer would be "yes". The Astros are at a MASSIVE disadvantage against the Dodgers. The Astros can have a fairly big payroll and an average budget for everything else - OR a middle of the road payroll and an an elite scouting and development system. In the case of the Dodgers -- they get almost every Japanese player they want when they want to come over. The Dodgers can spend hundreds of millions of dollars to sign any players they want, and then if those players disappoint, they can sign other ones to take their spots. They also can buy the best scouting for the domestic draft -- can pay under the table for international prospects, and then have the best player development...... and can mostly trade for anyone if they are inclined to.
Truly a big shift in my lifetime from NYY being the evil empire to the dodgers.. But I'll be damned if the dodgers don't deserve the moniker
