Is it safe to assume that Baseball is in the poststeroid era, considering the effectiveness of drug testing, suspensions for use of performance-enhancing drugs, a 2008 season in which the frisky Tampa Bay Rays won the American League title, home runs falling in 2008 to their lowest per-game total since 1993, and finally, Alex Rodriguez coming out of the medicine cabinet to issue a mea gulpa? Tic-tacs, anyone?

Of course it's not safe to assume a poststeroid era.

There is still no test for human growth hormone, and somebody somewhere has likely already come up with a new, hard-to-detect performance enhancer for athletes. Baseball's Latin American talent pipeline remains rife with stories of usage, and players still have bottles of dietary supplements in their lockers. Clubhouse walls in spring training had memos from the Players Association warning of yet another over-the-counter product that might cause players to fail drug tests.

Physique alone is not evidence of use. But steroid testing and suspensions are changing the game.

Free agents and veteran players are being evaluated with what Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi calls "a different set of eyes." Teams would rather spend money on kids and, as the San Diego Padres found out, not even former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy will get you a treasure trove of prospects via trade.

This will have implications in the amateur draft, when commissioner Bud Selig's beloved "slotting system" for bonuses gets torn to shreds. Consensus first-round pick Stephen Strasburg wants six years and $50-million (all currency U.S.) - Daisuke Matsuzaka money - to sign. He'll come close.

"I think you're going to see age be what it is," Ricciardi said. "I don't think you're going to see guys playing into their late 30s or early 40s any more, and I'd be surprised if you see many guys get multiyear deals later in their careers.

"We've been in a difficult situation for the past couple of years, in terms of evaluation," Ricciardi continued. "What plays? Is it the 30 home runs the guy hit? Is he going to get those again? I think we've taken a giant step back and a totally different look at things.

You may not see it for a few more years, but I know that for me at least, last year in batting practice ... balls just weren't flying where they used to.

"You'll still value the guy who walks more than he strikes out. Certain skills will have the same value. But you know that 10-homer guy who suddenly hit 20 homers? Maybe he's really just a 10-homer guy, after all."

Did the Rays herald the birth of a new, better, steroid-free game by reaching the World Series last season? The Rays pitched better and played better defence - going from worst to first in the majors in defensive efficiency - but they hardly own a copyright on the poststeroid template.

Increasingly, that template focuses on age. As Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci reports, using pitchers' earned-run average relative to league average, the number of top pitchers in their 20s since 1998 has doubled while the number of top pitchers 30 or over has decreased by two-thirds.

A similar trend is true using OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging). Last year, the oldest of the top seven vote-getters for the AL's most valuable player award was Kevin Youkilis, who turned 30 on March 15. The other six were all born in 1981 or later. The top three NL vote-getters were all under 30.

Look around at the best teams in Baseball. They were built largely from within, and that includes the Boston Red Sox, who for all their financial clout, signed and developed an inner core of Dustin Pedroia, Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester.

"The thing about developing your own guys is that you can keep a handle on them," Ricciardi said. "You know what they're doing. You know their background."

Forget the financial gap. It's the youth gap that counts in 2009. Even the New York Yankees are talking openly about having Derek Jeter go to the outfield to make room for Ramiro Pena. So it's no surprise that Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston, who will have rookie-of-the-year candidate Travis Snider playing every day, spent so much time this spring watching Brad Emaus and Scott Campbell play, and Brad Mills and Brett Cecil pitch.

Mills and Cecil, as well as catchers J.P. Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman, are the next wave. They could all be here in 2010. Behind them is Emaus, Campbell and a shortstop named Justin Jackson, the 45th player chosen in the 2007 draft, out of Asheville, N.C., who at the request of teammates does a perfect imitation of Jeter throwing from the hole.

When Jackson first reported, he came out to watch the major-leaguers during workouts, and Blue Jays first base coach and former minor-league hitting instructor Dwayne Murphy looked at him, shook his head and bellowed: "Hey, when you gonna put some weight on?" It was good-natured stuff, although Jackson looks like a point guard more than a power-hitting shortstop, and Gaston says there is consistent power in his lightning-quick wrists and hands.

"You think Justin looks small?" Ricciardi asked when it was suggested that the player who could finally fill the deepest hole in the Blue Jays' lineup looked a little light. "He's not small. To me, he's what a 5-foot-11, 20-year-old kid is supposed to look like. And that's just fine."

Yes, it is.

jblair@globeandmail.com