Even without the penalties, the system has changed to hamper richer teams from drafting and signing lower picks to big contracts or signing as many of the best IFAs as possible.
This was a major reason I felt the upcoming "cliff" was all but certain. Many said, in a cavalier manner, "all we have to do is rebuild the farm, and we'll be fine," like it was easy and could be done overnight. The other aspect on rebuilding a farm, is that even if you do rebuild it overnight, it still takes a few years for the prospects to mature and start contributing to the big club in meaningful ways, especially when you primarily draft HS players in the upper rounds.
One of the main reasons I give Bloom a pass on the 2022 ML club results, is that I think he has exceeded my expectations on rebuilding the farm more quickly, deeply and strongly than I imagined anyone could. Of course, the high draft pick after the disastrous 2020 season helped, and many of DD's prospects have risen by more than I expected, but he also did not trade them away. His prospects added via trade have not really panned out, yet, but we may get something from Wink, German, Seabold, Wong, RHern, Downs and others still in the lower ranks of the farm (Binelas, hamilton, de la Rosa, Wallace and more.)
I've said this before, but I think it needs repeating: since the Devers call-up in 2017, the only significant prospects called up or traded have been Houck, Dalbec and Duran. Since the the start of 2022, here is a list of prospects called up or expected to be called up at some point in 2023. Not all have or will succeed, but the sheer number and promise of some is very encouraging, to me...
Some ML Experience:
Bello
Casas
Crawford
Winckowski, Seabold, Wong, Kelly, German, Ort, Downs
No ML Experience, so far:
Rafaela
Mata
Walter
E Valdez
Murphy
RHern
Politi
Granberg
TWard ('24?)
W Abreu ('24?)
That's over 15 players with maybe 5 or 6 looking very promising and another 5 or 6 looking like they may fill some lesser roles adequately.