The following are mid-season farm system reports for the AL East. Instead of going team-by-team, I decided to publish by division. The players eligible are the players currently in the minor leagues. I also assume that the 2011 draftees will sign. The following provides a brief report of each team’s system, and a quickly-created list of the team’s Top 10 prospects. Hopefully, it will provide some good feedback about players we should consider ranking and/or players we have listed too high or too low.
Baltimore Orioles
System Rank: Bottom 10
System Trend: →
Coming into 2010, I considered the Orioles an intriguing sleeper in the AL East because I thought they were about to see dividends from an approach aimed at acquiring talent. Unfortunately, things did not work out. The primary cause of the disappointment was the Orioles’ seemingly intriguing pitching prospects (Matusz, Arrieta, Tillman, etc) failing to break through in the major leagues. The Orioles have a number of quality young players on their mlb roster, but in the farm system, the talent could stand to improve. The team’s best prospect is Manny Machado. Machado, the third selection in last year’s draft, has been impressive in his first minor league season, and ideally, will develop into a solid offensive-minded shortstop. Besides Machado, the team has several other reasonably-intriguing hitters in Jonathan Schoop, LJ Hoes, Xavier Avery, etc. In the 2011 draft, the team used its first round pick to improve its pitching by selecting Oklahoma HS standout Dylan Bundy. Bundy will be Baltimore’s best prospect behind Machado upon signing. Baltimore is in a difficult situation because it appears the team must wait longer than expected to compete in the AL East.
Top 10 Prospects
1. Manny Machado
2. Dylan Bundy
3. Jonathan Schoop
4. LJ Hoes
5. Xavier Avery
6. Jason Esposito
7. Nick Delmonico
8. Trent Mummey
9. Bobby Bundy
10. Mychal Givens
Boston Red Sox
System Rank: Top 10-15
System Trend: ↗
The Red Sox do an excellent job competing for the World Series every season without neglecting their future. Boston uses some of its substantial resources to aggressively acquire amateur talent, which allows the team to operate one of the league’s consistently better farm systems. I like how Boston drafts a nice combination of collegiate players who have fallen in the draft (Ranaudo and Brentz last year… Bradley this year) and elite high school players the Red Sox are willing to sign overslot. The strength of Boston’s system is its depth. Boston is one of the few teams where a prospect-watcher can go through every position on the diamond and easily discuss potential major leaguers in the system. The system ranked as average after the Adrian Gonzalez trade, but because of its depth, breakouts inevitably occurred. One of the leading breakouts is 3B Will Middlebrooks, who increased his value by improving his numbers upon reaching AA. The Red Sox also received a breakout season from Bryce Brentz, who has bounced back from a disappointing 2010 season. It is encouraging Boston’s affiliate in Greenville has multiple sleepers like Brandon Jacobs, Miles Head, Xander Boagerts, Season Coyle, etc. The pitching in Boston’s system is a little thinner, but the team used its first pick in the 2011 draft on Matt Barnes, a talented pitcher from UConn. Boston is a well-run franchise and should remain successful in the future.
Top 10 Prospects
1. Anthony Ranaudo
2. Will Middlebrooks
3. Bryce Brentz
4. Matt Barnes
5. Jose Iglesias
6. Ryan Lavarnway
7. Felix Doubront
8. Jackie Bradley, Jr.
9. Blake Swihart
10. Brandon Jacobs/Garin Cecchini
New York Yankees
System Rank: Middle-of-the-Pack
System Trend: ↘
The Yankees operate their system a little differently than the Red Sox. The Yankees have the resources to dominate the amateur market, but in recent drafts, they have tended to avoid spending heavily, instead relying on good scouting and compiling talent on the international market. At this point, the system’s strength is its starting pitching, lead by Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and respectable depth. While Jesus Montero remains an excellent prospect, his numbers in AAA this season could be better. One encouraging sign is three of the main hitters the Yankees drafted last season (Mason Williams, Cito Culver, and Angelo Gumbs) are performing well in the NY Penn League. Plus, first rounder Dante Bichette, Jr. signed early and is off to a solid start in the GCL (like the 23:18 K-BB rate). The Yankees have a lot of talent on their mlb roster, so they can afford to be patient. But with all their resources, I think they should be more aggressive spending because the relative cost for the Yankees to build an elite farm system is not particularly high.
Top 10 Prospects
1. Jesus Montero
2. Manny Banuelos
3. Dellin Betances
4. Gary Sanchez
5. Austin Romine
6. Mason Williams
7. Slade Heathcott
8. Cito Culver
9. Angelo Gumbs
10. Brett Marshall/Dante Bichette/JR Murphy
Tampa Bay Rays
System Rank: Top 5
System Trend: ↑
The Rays are the most well-run franchise in baseball, which allows them to compete against teams with larger payrolls. As always, their farm system is excellent. Desmond Jennings had a solid season, and thus far, is performing well after reaching the major leagues. Matt Moore looked great this season in AA. Beyond Moore, they have excellent pitching depth. In the draft this season, they added to this talent pool with an incredible number of first-round picks. I could literally write pages about this franchise because there are so many interesting prospects, strategies, etc. But in short, the Rays should remain competitive for a long, long time.
Top 10 Prospects
1. Matt Moore
2. Hak-Ju Lee
3. Alexander Colome
4. Alex Torres
5. Josh Sale
6. Chris Archer
7. Tim Beckham
8. Taylor Guerrieri
9. Enny Romero
10. Mikie Mahtook/Drew Vettleson
Toronto Blue Jays
System Rank: Top 5
System Trend: ↑
The Blue Jays are starting to compete for best-run franchise in baseball. In a very short time, they have compiled an incredible amount of young talent which will hopefully enable them to compete in the AL East. The system’s best prospect is Brett Lawrie, an mlb-ready infielder who should succeed if he can find a position. Beyond Lawrie, the system does not necessarily have another unanimous “5 star” prospect. However, starting just outside our Top 50, the list becomes loaded with Blue Jays including Travis D’Arnaud, Deck McGuire, Henderson Alvarez, Anthony Gose, Drew Hutchinson, etc. At this point, the Blue Jays have done a great job acquiring a large amount of amateur talent capable of major league success. Now, they must turn that elite potential into major league results. The front office has done a terrific job improving this franchise, and with some good fortune, their efforts should pay dividends in the not-so-distant future.
Top 10 Prospects
1. Brett Lawrie
2. Travis D’Arnaud
3. Deck McGuire
4. Jake Marisnick
5. Anthony Gose
6. Henderson Alvarez
7. Carlos Perez
8. Drew Hutchinson
9. Daniel Norris
10. Nestor Molina
Cobb would definitely make the list, except I didn’t include players who were already pitching in the major leagues. Based on his position on our 250 list, I would rank Cobb pretty high (ahead of Colome and Torres).
Alex Cobb not on there either and he’s been sparkling through 40 MLB innings
Yeah, seems like the best long-term investment ever. This is a great blog post from awhile back discussing the Yankees and their farm system.
http://youraveragejoe.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/neglect-a-history-of-the-yankees-mistreatment/
In retrospect, the post does not look as good today b/c the writer probably overstates his case re: how much the Yankees were focused on the short-term, and also, the Yankees’ huge investments in free agency helped them win the world series in 2009. But I still really like his background discussion of the Yankees’ system, especially how he mentions the work Gene Michael did after taking over in 1990 that did a lot to rejuvenate the Yankees. I think one of Cashman’s best qualities is he came to the Yankees around the time they bottomed out in 1990, which presumably gives him a strong appreciation of what went wrong and how the problem was fixed. Today, he’s got a tough job of balancing the goals of playing for the WS every season while ensuring the franchise stays competitive over the long-term.
I don’t think the Yankees neglect their farm system. But with the resources at their disposal and several of their key players getting older, it seems like being slightly more aggressive would be the right move b/c they could ensure their team remains dominant over the long-term at a fairly minimal cost.
For the cost of Nick Swisher (9.1 M), the Yankees could easily have the #1 farm system, far and above anybody else
Yeah, I perhaps could have spent a little more time proofreading this one, but “disgrace to the site” is harsh! Ah well…
I agree w/ you re: Yankees. They almost need to be evaluated differently than other teams b/c they have so many resources. They have done a great job using those resources to remain competitive, which is challenging even w/ lots of money. They certainly don’t neglect their farm system, but they don’t dominate the amateur market the same way they do free agency. With a payroll of almost $200 million, they could maintain the best farm system in baseball for a fraction of their total payroll.
Wow…And I though Leafs were passionate?!?! I guess from perspective, the Yanks do run a good team by outspending everyone else. The day MLB puts a cap on team salaries is the day the Yanks colapes for a decade! The Yanks dont realize they can completely dominate by spending like 10 extra million (which is peanuts for them) in their farm system and they would absolutly be tops!! The only problem is that the Yanks always lose their 1st round picks because they are grabbing free agents constantly.
After the Gonzalez trade, The Bosox do not have the depth they used to have. But the Bosox generally have the infrastructure to be sucessful through development it seems.
From a Blue Jays perspective, we are more concerned with the Bosox then the Yanks. The Yanks just outspend their way, while the Bosox spend and develope.
Sorry you didn’t like the report, Yanks! I am totally indifferent about Rays’ baseball, but I think they have done a good job. They piled up first round picks in the deepest draft in recent memory, made a bunch of really smart decisions (Evan Longoria’s contract, selling high on Kazmir, etc), and have not made too many mistakes.
I ranked Boston’s farm system slightly better than the Yankees’ system right now (top 10-15 compared to middle of the pack). The Yankees farm system is not bad. Unlike Boston, they have three “big name” prospects in Montero, Banuelos, and Betances. But after that, there is a pretty significant drop in value. When you look at their lower-levels, there are a number of intriguing prospects (Williams, Bichette, Gumbs, Culver, etc). But at this point, it’s speculative who will pan out. I was not grading on any biases or anything…don’t care about the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry.
Agree re: Perez, Geo! He’s played well the past week, but it seems like a number of guys in Toronto’s system might have passed him.
is competetive 10 games out of first?
i love your prospect top 100′s, but this report is a disgrace to the site. Tampa Bay is the best run franchise in baseball? Because they compiled top 5 five picks for about 15 years and they found a few gems a decade later you call that skillful? Clearly the Yankees have a middle of the pack farm system and the Blue Jays have a top 5….. Brett Lawrie and Travis D, thats some farm system. Red Sox depth in the farm? Really you listed their top 10, comparing it to New Yorks definitely a huge difference. Used to be a fan of the site, no longer.
I am not sure at years end Carols Perez will be a top 10 prospect as others will surpass him on the Jays depth chart. He is having an average season this year.
Absolutely. I was a fan of Dietrich coming into last year’s draft and I think the Rays made a good pick getting him in the second round. The Rays are playing him at SS, and one question affecting his value is whether he’ll need to switch positions (haven’t seen any info re: his defense this season). Another concern are the strikeouts. Ideally, you’d like to see Dietrich reduce those strikeout totals while maintaining the same power as he advances through the system. But he’s absolutely a prospect and having a good first season.
Another MI not listed in the Rays’ rankings I really like is Ryan Brett. He’s a 2B the Rays picked in the same draft as Dietrich. Like Sale, Vettleson, and Ian Kendall, he is a HS player from the pacific NW. He doesn’t get much attention, but I think he has the chance to develop into a solid player. One concern is he’s not a big guy at 5’9, and ideally, you’d like to see him develop a little HR power. I think the other concern is he still needs some work defensively.
What do you think of Derek Dietrich of the Rays? He reminds me of Chase Utley. Would he fit in that category of players that make a case for appearing on this list?
Saladino is an intriguing player. His strength is, unlike most relatively unknown SSs producing double-digit home runs, most reports I’ve seen re: Saladino indicate he can remain at SS. At this point, I would value him about on the level of a few other college guys his age like Jake Lemmerman, Rick Hague, etc. But it’s always hard to value college players until they reach AA.
What can you tell me about Tyler Saladino of the White Sox? I haven’t heard much about this kid, but looking at his numbers for a shortstop in high A he intrigues me.
Yeah, Iglesias reminds me a lot of Rey Ordonez from back in the day. It’s so fun watching him play defense that I can’t help keeping him on the list, but I have a tough time justifying how he’ll hit enough to help dynasty league teams.
The thing about Iglesias is that…I think he could potentially top out as a John McDonald/Alex Gonzalez player, a guy with a phenominal glove an a below average to average bat (for a SS, which is even lower than a usual average bat). The guy could win 15 gold gloves and never hit 50 home runs in his career.
Great call re: Torres. I started drafting the AL East lists awhile back when Torres made his brief MLB appearance, and I forgot to re-include him on the list. I went ahead and fixed that one. Even with Torres, I’m not overly impressed w/ my Rays’ list either. The lists are based on our Top 250, and to some degree, I use the team-specific rankings to spot places the 250 list can improve. The Rays are tough group to rank b/c there are tons of players who could theoretically make a case for appearing on the list.
But as I look through these lists, it appears I’ve been a little slow to demote certain struggling prospects in favor of players performing well. For example, as a sox fan, is Iglesias at #5 looking a little high?
no alex torres, jack thompson & nick barnese for tampa?
i think at least 2 of the 3 should be in there top 10