While I agree with the idea of keeping your star prospects, that philosophy doesn't have to be inconsistent with signing free agents. The best Yankees prospect to come along since Jeter was Sorianio, who they traded for A-rod, which was an upgrade (and the Yankees are not paying his entire contract so they are basically getting him at market value). All joking aside, anybody who says they wouldn't love to have A-rod on their team is an idiot.
The point is, most of the other owners in the bigger cities are sort-changing their fans. Sure, keep your prospects, but every team has a few holes. Spend that money to plug those holes instead of pocketing it.
A-Rod is a stat machine. He's a great talent, and of course I'd love to have him (if $ were no object). But he's the Peyton Manning of baseball. If the game is on the line, I'd want Jeter up to bat.
Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' association, persuaded Mike Piazza to play for Italy. He tried to get Mike Mussina, too.I wished he would have said after that, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
"I told him I'm not Italian and nobody in my family is Italian," Mussina said.