So much of sustaining success comes down to the Stearns mission statement: acquire and develop young, controllable talent. Notice how the prime buyers this year are expected to be the Dodgers, Yankees, Astros and Braves: teams that already have young, controllable talent on their rosters, have already traded prospects to improve their MLB roster, yet still have an abundance of minor league talent to either call up or use for acquisitions. Yes, being able to dish out a nine figure contract helps, but payroll doesn't explain how they can call up homegrown All-Star level talent, trade away prospects, yet still have loaded farm systems. We haven't had that luxury - if the Brewers are winning, our farm is generally bottom 10 in baseball. When we were rebuilding and trading away talent for prospects, we had a top five farm. The Stearns objective is to have so much organizational talent that we can be a playoff contender, replenish with an incoming pipeline of talent, make upgrades to the MLB roster, and still have a strong system.