After one of the busier days in NBA trade history, several teams have reshuffled and created new cores with whom they hope to secure a title or three. One last thought on the Blackhawks and Bulls, none of the current Bulls core was drafted by the Bulls whereas the remaining Hawks; Kane and Toews were originals.

I think MLB favors the term “core four” far more than the other sports leagues. Whether the organization correctly determines who is among their core is another story altogether. It seems that grouping and developing players of similar age and points in development is more important than position or skill set.

I’ve never concerned myself with how much money the Yankees of the late ’90’s made individually, and I have no doubt that Brian Cashman made sure Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada were properly appreciated and compensated.

Last night on the MLB Network, the crew was getting ready to share the next set of core four’s , but I didn’t hang around for the hype.

While it’s common knowledge that the Cubs achieved their greatest successes a season or two earlier than expected, there’s no doubt their core four/five played a part in it. It’s funny, but most fans forget the first member of that crew to leave was Albert Almora-not Kyle Schwarber. The Cubs seem to have missed on Almora’s greatness and longevity, and completely missed on Schwarber’s.

Money and an individual’s desire to maximize their wealth throw a wrench in a team’s plans. The Cubs were unable or unwilling to extend any of their key players and the latest addition to that crew, Ian Happ remains unextended as of today.

The White Sox took a completely different route in addressing the situation. They signed their core to multi-year deals before they established backs of baseball cards. They offered Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada immediate security. At the time, the Sox were credited as geniuses for getting the players on the cheap. However, if they never hit their stride/potential, it might not be great deals.

Some teams focus on starting pitching and lock down homegrown talent or mixing and matching free agents with former prospects. For a generation, the Braves HOF trio of Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz dominated the NL. However, the original trio didn’t included Maddux, but rather lefty, Steve Avery. Over the run, the Braves constantly tinkered with the fourth spot in the rotation. Fans from that era can probably list a handful of hopefuls and also ran’s.

Whatever one thinks of the Red Sox of the 21st century, they’ve been more successful at finding cores, developing them and reloading when things go south. It’s more than just finding players that played for multiple years and on multiple winners in determining who were keys. There were key players on both winners; 2004 and 2007 and entirely different guys on the ’13 and ’18 teams. In fact, three different managers won World Series rings in the 21st century (Terry Francona, John Farrell, and Alex Cora).

The Dodgers that seemed to win the NL West for the past 20 years had a very solid core group of players and their sustained success was due to their ability to adjust and adapt. They had a group of players that could play multiple positions effectively. They also have a strong history of great starting pitching.

When the Astros won their first World Series in 2017, it looked like being strong up the middle was going to be their model for sustained success. From the outside looking in, George Springer, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Carlos Correa it looked like that crew would be haunting us for years.

Less than five years later, Correa and Springer are gone, but the Astros have won it all again with Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Pena, and Kyle Tucker as suitable replacements.

Rating a team’s prospects for success might be as easy as ranking teams’ core groups, but one must consider the likely availability of those players and a team’s depth. If one believes that the 2022 White Sox possessed enough talent to win the division, then their lack of depth would be one of the reasons why they failed so miserably in their quest.

Even if one doesn’t have a horse in the NL East race, it might be the most interesting division to follow based on elevated expectations, rising payrolls and the attention given to the Mets, Braves and Phillies.