By Richard Justice

updated 12:56 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2008

PHILADEPHIA - The Rays and Phillies mirror each other in a lot of ways.

They were built through the draft and with under-the-radar signings and trades. Neither team has a marquee manager. Their general managers understand that building a roster is more an art than a science, that championship teams must be constructed using players who understand the big picture.

There's a lesson in there for every fan and reporter who screams for the local owner to spend more, to give Manny Ramirez or CC Sabathia or Mark Teixiera whatever he wants. That lesson: There aren't any shortcuts. Maybe that's what the 2008 World Series proved. Free agency buys short-term fixes. Teams that don't have productive farm systems are kidding themselves.

Some owners allow their front-office people to tear down and start over. Others try to fool themselves or their fans. At the start of the season, the Phillies ranked 13th in total payroll at $98.3 million; the Rays were 29th at $43.8 million.

The Phillies and Rays didn't have a single big-ticket free agent on their rosters, so anyone who thinks the best way to build a champion is to spend more might want to take a second look.

Philadelphia has money to spend this season. Indeed, there are rumors they'll make a run at Sabathia or Ramirez. General manager Pat Gillick might go for Sabathia, but not Ramirez. Then again, it's unclear whether Gillick intends to stick around.

Gillick is baseball's best general manager of at least the past 50 years. He constructed playoff teams in Toronto, Baltimore, Seattle and Philadelphia. His Toronto teams won back-to-back world championships. Now he has a third ring. He is finishing the final year of a three-year deal and apparently intends to ride off into the sunset. Phillies CEO David Montgomery apparently intends to make one more pitch to keep Gillick on the job.

Gillick gets it in a way few general managers do. He isn't swayed by columnists or talk-show hosts or owners. He believes teams must be build from top to bottom, that character is important, that winning must be important to them.

INTERACTIVE Phillies Moments of '08 NBCSports.com takes a look back at some of the plays that helped make the season a World Series winner for Philadelphia.

Sure, Gillick did spend money. He threw $24.51 million at righthander Adam Eaton, but has gotten just 14 victories in the past two seasons. He also gave reliever Tom Gordon $18 million over three years. Gillick's other signings were guys he believed in and thought would fit: third baseman Pedro Feliz (two years, $8.5 million), outfielder Geoff Jenkins (two years, $13 million) and reliever J.C. Romero (three years, $12 million).

He acquired outfielder Jayson Werth, a free agent no one wanted. He went out and got lefthander Jamie Moyer, outfielder/first baseman Matt Stairs and reliever Scott Eyre. He got rid of some guys, too. In the end, those subtractions might have been as important to the Phillies as the guys they added. It might have created both a different atmosphere and a different environment.

Gillick's significant spending was done to keep his own players. Second baseman Chase Utley is signed through 2013, shortstop Jimmy Rollins and closer Brad Lidge through 2011.

And then there's Charlie Manuel, who has been underestimated by almost everyone most of his life. He understood that the most important part of his job was dealing with people, getting them to believe.

"He never has a bad day," Gillick said. "He keeps the players in the right frame of mind."

When it was over, Phillies fans chanted his name and Manuel smiled broadly, joking with a Cleveland reporter about finally having a championship. The Indians had fired him, and almost no one second-guessed that move. With his broken language and homespun values, Manuel wasn't slick enough for some.

"Why don't you go back to Cleveland and tell them that we won a World Series, all right? Okay?" Manuel said.

Trying to prove something, Charlie?

"I wasn't working on trying to prove nothing," he said. "Don't take this in a cocky way, I already knew how good I was."

Yes, Manuel and the Phillies are good. And although it's popular to write how the Phillies are poised to win again and again, that doesn't appear to be true.

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