I've been doing this for a long time in the Dallas area and have found that there are good and bad aspects to almost every organization. Always do your homework as RonBon has done and be sure to ask for the number of a couple of players that have quit the team....any coach worth his salt will give them to you.
For many years my organization only had one 18U team and one 16U team. Both teams were established to teach the players, to get exposure for the players, and to succeed in AABC play at the State, Regional and National levels. We did exactly that and did it relatively cheaply. No one could questions our motives. For two summers earlier in this decade we added a 16U B team and an 18U B team in order to develop more players that we simply could not fit onto our top 16U or 18U teams. Our best coaches were with the contender teams and we did not want to water those teams down to distribute the coaching....so we added more coaches. IMO these non-contender teams were a failure. We could not offer the same level of coaching, the same level of exposure nor the same level of accomplishment as the older teams at those age levels. It just couldn't be done. From 2005 on we decided to only have two or three teams in the entire DBAT organization: DBAT 18, DBAT 17 & DBAT 16. All three were serious national contender teams that we could focus our goals upon. We have had great success with none of the complaints that I am reading about here. As they say...everyone loves a winner. All of that and aside from coaches being paid....no one made a nickel off of those teams. Quite to the contrary, the team's General Manager and the owners of DBAT were out a considerable amount of their own money on those teams.
In their rush to get their son on a 'select' team many parents overlook the fact that Little Johnny is not on the #1 team of that org. Therein lies the problem. The best orgs rarely have multiple teams at any pure age group. Many so-called select programs in our area have multiple teams at each level and logic should tell you that only so many of those teams are considered by that org to be teams that will contend for a legitimate title. The rest are sluffed off to some spare coach all the while raking in the same player fees that the 'contender' team's players are paying. Some of the also-ran teams of the org are there simply to make money for someone at the top or to sometimes offset the cost of providing scholarship players for their 'contender' teams.....players that are not even paying a dime to play in that organization.
So beware the organizations that have multiple teams at any given age level. Ask specifically at tryouts if there will be teams such as XYZ Muckdogs 14U Blue & XYZ Muckdogs 14U Red. One of those teams will usually be good (or at least try to be) and the other will be putting money in someone's pocket while taking all comers. Just because the XYZ Muckdogs 12U Black won the 2008 Super Dooper World Series does not mean that all teams in that org are the same. Trust me....they are not. Many organizations market their best team to bring in players for their profit-making also-ran teams.
Also fear the group that charges additionally for instruction....everyone knows the players on the top team in any organization get their instruction for free from their coaches. If they want you to pay for instruction/coaching on top of the team fee, well, that's because your cash is their lifeline....and because you are willing to do it.
You DO NOT have to pay thousands of dollars annually to play great baseball.....especially pre-high school!!!
Keep in mind, the parents on the good teams of an organization don't usually complain because their son has it good. They might even defend the org or paint you a rosy picture because they probably don't know what it is like to have a son play on one of the also-ran teams of that org. Do your homework on the whole organization, the team your son is to be placed on, the head coach of that team and their goals. Then try to sort through the BS to make an educated decision.
Good luck!