Reds minor league system worst in MLB

[Guest oldschooler]

[quote][size=5][b]Grading the top farm systems[/b][/size]

Dayn Perry / FOXSports.com




As you've probably noticed, for the last several weeks we've been counting down our list of the top 100 prospects in baseball.

Last week, we wrapped it up by bestowing top honors upon outfielder Delmon Young of the Devil Rays. This time around, we'll put the finishing touches on the prospect countdown by taking a look at the systems as a whole and how they've graded out.

While evaluating systems based on the top 100 prospects in all of baseball leaves out a few key elements (namely, the depth of a particular system), it will provide a decent thumbnail idea of which organization's minor league corps is the best.

For starters, let's rank each system based on how many prospects they placed in the top 100:

As you can see, the Dodgers stand above the fray in this regard, and the D-Backs and Marlins are right behind them with eight prospects each among the top 100. The Jays, Cards, Mets, Reds, Rockies and White Sox, meanwhile, have not a single prospect in the top 100.


Top 100 prospects per team
Team Prospects
Dodgers 9
D-Backs, Marlins 8
Indians 7
Angels 6
Brewers, Cubs 5
Pirates, Red Sox, Twins 4
Braves, Mariners, Orioles, Padres, Rangers, Royals 3
A's, Astros, Devil Rays, Giants, Nationals, Phillies, Tigers, Yankees 2
Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mets, [b]Reds[/b], Rockies, White Sox 1

While depth is important, it's also vital to have at least a handful of top-shelf young players in the system. Those with two or fewer in the top 100 don't have as many premium prospects as they should. Those with five or more, on the other hand, are in good shape in terms of high-end talent.

Let's switch gears a bit and bring prospect ranking into the calculations. To do this, we'll devise a quick-and-dirty point system for the top 100. And I do mean "quick-and-dirty."

We'll award 100 points for the top spot in rankings, 99 for the second spot, 98 for the third sport and so forth, all the way down to one point for the 100th-ranked prospect.

Below, we ranked the organizations based on their point total for each prospect in the top 100. Here's the results:


Prospect rankings by team
Ranking Team Points
1. Diamondbacks 529
2. Dodgers 462
3. Marlins 391
4. Angels 335
5. Indians 278
6. Red Sox 255
7. Royals 238
8. Pirates 215
9. Brewers 199
10. Twins 172
11. Mariners 171
12. Cubs 144
13. Nationals 143
14. Tigers 139
15. Orioles 132
16. Phillies 130
17. Braves 118
18. Yankees 117
19. Devil Rays 116
20. Padres 111
21. Rangers 96
22. A's 88
23. Rockies 87
24. Mets 85
T-25. Cardinals, Giants 83
27. White Sox 64
28. Blue Jays 37
29. Astros 22
[b]30. Reds 10 [/b]

As you can see, in the point system, the Diamondbacks leapfrog the Dodgers into the top spot.

Other observations:


NL Central clubs occupy three of the bottom five spots. That's good news for the Brewers, who rank in the top 10 and have young talents like Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy already in Milwaukee.

Don't be fooled by the D-Rays' modest ranking. A number of talented youngsters — B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir, Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and Jonny Gomes — have already exhausted their rookie status and thus were ineligible for the top 100. If you expand it to pre-arbitration-eligible talent, the Rays have the best system in the AL.

Speaking of players who had previously exhausted their rookie status, Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez, were he still a prospect, would've been a ridiculously easy choice for No. 1.

As profoundly impressive as Arizona's prospects already are, keep in mind that they'll enjoy the 11th overall pick of this June's draft. Good times ahead for Snake fans.

The Blue Jays' "college players or death" approach to the draft clearly isn't working. They've picked in the upper half (or thereabouts) of the first round in every draft since J.P. Ricciardi took over as GM, yet they have the worst farm system in the AL and haven't graduated any high-ceiling talents to the major leagues. It's time for a more diverse approach.
And that's a wrap on your top 100 prospects for 2006.[/quote]





[url="http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5418188"]http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5418188[/url]

[tracenuts]

ehh not really a suprise, the reds have been shitty for soo many years no one really cared about their farm system. i was reading ESPN magazine like 2 days ago and adam dunn is the reds only player in the top 100 player in the MLB and he comes in at something like 56th. hopefully Narron can turn this around and acctaully have us in the post season race the whole year instead of just until the all-star break.

[eskimo]

We used to have the best system up until marge ruined it.

[-GoBengals-]

perfect match to the major league team

[Guest ThurmanMunster]

this article holds no water with me, i know the reds farm sucks, BUT the twins, brewers, pirates and royals easily have top 5 systems and dont rate there. The Red Sox minors is shitty and it was REALLY hard for them to get beckett from florida because florida thought most of Bostons farm was shit. Florida is probably the best at scouting talent compared to some douche from Fox Sports.


Wayne Krivsky was brought in to help the farm too because he is a genius when it comes to building a minors too.

[|Bunghole|]

I just think that it is somewhat silly to get all worked up over what basically amounts to a collective of sportswriters opinions and ranking system they created in order to rank the farm systems in the first place.
I wish they would have posted the criteria by which players were ranked and the references of those who ranked them.

[Guest ThurmanMunster]

[quote name='Bunghole' post='234549' date='Mar 18 2006, 11:29 PM']I just think that it is somewhat silly to get all worked up over what basically amounts to a collective of sportswriters opinions and ranking system they created in order to rank the farm systems in the first place.
I wish they would have posted the criteria by which players were ranked and the references of those who ranked them.[/quote]

yep, just a big pile of shit to waste time.

[|Bunghole|]

[quote name='ThurmanMunster' post='234553' date='Mar 18 2006, 11:33 PM'][quote name='Bunghole' post='234549' date='Mar 18 2006, 11:29 PM']
I just think that it is somewhat silly to get all worked up over what basically amounts to a collective of sportswriters opinions and ranking system they created in order to rank the farm systems in the first place.
I wish they would have posted the criteria by which players were ranked and the references of those who ranked them.[/quote]

yep, just a big pile of shit to waste time.
[/quote]
It gets hard mustering up the enthusiasm for the Reds when to me it's just a way to get by during the NFL and NCAA B-Ball offseasons.....mostly because the Reds stink....great ballpark though, which makes it all better....

[Jamie_B]

This is troubling ...it means that it will be a while untill things get turned around.

[Guest ThurmanMunster]

[quote name='Jamie_B' post='234731' date='Mar 19 2006, 12:46 PM']This is troubling ...it means that it will be a while untill things get turned around.[/quote]

thats not true. The Reds have a legit lineup already. All they lack is a couple of SPs. With the new ownership i expect revenue to increase some because the Reds actually have POSITIVE things going for them for the first time in a LONG time. If the reds increase their payroll like they say they will next year, they could easily sign a SP or 2 and i expect Wayne to pull off a trade or 2 this year that really helps this team. They seem to have a pretty good bullpen being put together now. The Reds are an ace and closer away from being a legit contender in the NL. Ryan Wagner could possibly be that closer and if the Reds really want to win, they will find a way to get a SP.


Harang is a legit # 2 SP and Claussen is a legit # 3 SP and we all know they have a bunch of # 4 and # 5 SPs.


Add a # 1 to that and the Reds can get really nasty. Thats y i would love us to trade Dunn for a # 1 or Kearns.We dont need all those power hitters anyways, we could use signing an OBP guy to replace them and trade one for a legit # 1.


Oh well, i can never not get interested in the reds. for some reason i always follow them even if they suck, but i expect a 500 season this year, which would be a very positive season.

[CarsonDaMan]

The reds definitely don't have a front line system, but in no way do they have the worst either. The upper levels of the Reds system is pretty weak, but the lower levels have some talent. Homer Bailey is a legit frontline pitcher. Travis Wood needs to show more but he has a good shot as well. Jay Bruce also cracked BA's top 100 list and looks like a legit prospect. There are other guys down in the low levels with legit upside as well. I would rate the Reds in the lower teens to low 20's of MLB as far as farm systems go.

[Guest ThurmanMunster]

[quote name='CarsonDaMan' post='234842' date='Mar 19 2006, 04:53 PM']The reds definitely don't have a front line system, but in no way do they have the worst either. The upper levels of the Reds system is pretty weak, but the lower levels have some talent. Homer Bailey is a legit frontline pitcher. Travis Wood needs to show more but he has a good shot as well. Jay Bruce also cracked BA's top 100 list and looks like a legit prospect. There are other guys down in the low levels with legit upside as well. I would rate the Reds in the lower teens to low 20's of MLB as far as farm systems go.[/quote]

ya they dont have a whole lot ready to come to the majors now, but they have alot of talent a few years off.

[sm00th_kw]

Felipe Lopez is arguably (he was last year) the best SS in the National League. Period. Latino Heat can mash and has learned to play defense at the MLB level.

Encarnacion is playing fantastically this spring, he has massive pop in his bat.

Homer Bailey should be on the Reds roster right now...wouldn't be surprised to see him get a taste if he produces well in the minor leagues this season.

Claussen and Harang-a-tang are quality 2-3 starters.

Jay Bruce is a fantastic outfield talent, look for him to be with the big club withing 3 years.

Plus, Dunn and Kearns are still very young.



We're not that bad...