Struck by Lightning in a Bottle

Rough Justice here to play a little devil's advocate with myself and Lefty Specialist's posts regarding Mssrs. Marquis and Lilly. Perhaps there is an answer as to why General Managers prefer to sign high-priced veterans over letting the kids play. Perhaps I will share that answer with you, in two part form, perhaps it will even be coherent, and perhaps you'll even read and enjoy it.
1. Experience: Now experience seems to be the buzzword (is buzzword in and of itself a buzzword? Can it apply to itself? Maybe that's a different post... anyway) when GMs sign grizzled veterans to large contracts. Guys like Craig Counsell, Mark Grudziialifjewofjkakislanik and Ted Lilly are known quantities. Known SHITTY quantities, but KNOWN nevertheless. These players have shown the remarkable quality, to paraphrase Teddy KGB, of having alligator blood. 3IP 8H 9ER 4BB 2K? Don't worry, you'll be out there again next week. 0-4 with three popups? Go get 'em tomorrow. So add that 3IP to your total, those 4 at bats to your tally, because some September, we'll need your veteran leadership as we coast to a third place finish, 10+ games out of first. Why the obsession with experience? Who the FUCK knows! Craig Counsell is a millionaire three times over because he talks to teammates in the clubhouse and is a generally nice guy, of course it doesn't hurt that he holds his bat like a drunk clinging to a telephone pole and managed to get hit by Mariano Rivera BY STANDING TOO GODDAMN CLOSE TO MARIANO'S FUCKING PLATE in that game that never happened back in 2001. Otherwise, he sucks. No range at any infield position (I have NO statistical backing on this, but if things like range factor continually show Jeter to be the worst fielding shortstop in the majors, I have to question just who the fuck is judging these things), has no power since that magical time noone cared if a hypodermic was hanging out of your asscheek, and is frequently injured thanks to his "gritty," "dirty-uniform," "scrappy," and "extremely caucasian" play. Whoops, this turned into a Craig Counsell lovefest here.
My point about experience basically is that the only way to GET it is by playing, irregardless of performance as these three examples show. Why not let a twenty-two year old somewhere in the minors hit Counsell's .255/.327/.347? It is absurd to think that merely by changing uniforms, Counsell or Lilly will magically begin to realize potential THEY'VE NEVER SHOWN. Which leads to my second and final point.
2. Lightning in a bottle: Remember 1996? Sure, it was in the heart of those years MLB would just as soon forget about, but forget that for a moment. A man known to his friends as Brady Anderson hit 50 homeruns that year. Previous career high? 21. Post 1996 high? 24. Leave out the obvious conclusion that the same diabolical conspiracy that poisoned Shawn Merriman (WARNING: NFL REFERENCE) worked its magic on Brady that year, and that is Jim Hendry's wet dream: sign a veteran with a middling track record (Lilly's 59-58, Marquis' 56-52) and hope for the big year. No doubt Hendry will be praying to whatever idle idol (oooh a homonym) Cubs fans pray to that flower boy and J-Marq can magically get to the next level. He'll never admit it, but these two are on the Sign-and-Pray plan in Chi-town.
As a post-script, why not give the aforementioned Sean Marshall a chance at compiling some experience, maybe he'll actually be ABOVE average... and if not, go ahead and let him compile some mediocre numbers so he can sign a massive deal in 6 or 7 years.