S.F.Giantsはなぜ高齢プレイヤーを好むか

The Hardball Times 11/18/04 Inside the Mind of Brian Sabean
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/inside-the-mind-of-brian-sabean/
この論考では、
(1) Younger/Winning(8): MIN, TEX, ANA, LAD, ATL, FLO, OAK, CHW
(2) Older/Winning(8): NYY, BOS, SFG, HOU, STL, CHC, SDP, PHI
(3) Older/Losing(5): BAL, COL, NYM, SEA, ARI
(4) Younger/Losing(9) : CLE, CIN, PIT, TBD, DET, TOR, MIL, KC, MON
の4象限の全チームをマッピングしている。

But how about that upper right quadrant? Winning is good no matter how old you are, right? In fact, did you notice that this year's "final four" teams are all in the upper right quadrant? The four teams that didn't advance to the League Championships were the four younger teams (Braves, Twins, Dodgers and Angels).

First of all, there's a natural progression downwards from the age of 28 to 36. This is a reflection of a number of things, such as the effect of long-term contracts for players who age (think 36 year-old Mike Piazza or Sammy Sosa), a market that has declined in the past several years, so that younger players who have signed more recent contracts represent better deals (think 28 year-olds Vlad Guerrero and Miguel Tejada), and the structure of long-term contracts that pay out less in the beginning and more at the end (all of the above).
After age 36, things change, however, and there are a number of age brackets that represent very good value. In general, this graph resembles a "U" shape, with the bottom of the "U" occurring at age 36 and then turning positive (with a couple of exceptions) thereafter. This second part of the "U" is Sabean territory.