2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

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Dominican republic is #1 in car accident deaths if i'm not mistaken.

When i go there, it just feels uneasy driving around.
 
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SLP Product said:
erupt107th said:
I'm really hoping alcohol was not involved in either accident. Are there any details?
Click to expand...

All reports suggest that Yordano and Co. were drinking. :smh:
Sad, just sad.
RIP Ventura & Marte.
Click to expand...

My brother who reads about news in dr was telling me that there were ppl stealing his wallet, jewelery and shoes. Flat out dispicable, not surprised.
 
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Jewbacca2 said:
:nerd:

http://insider.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6159
Farm system rankings: The top 10
Jan 20, 201
Keith Law
ESPN Senior Writer
Eight of the top 10 teams could comfortably be called rebuilders, teams that traded away major-league talent in 2016 to add prospects. Even the Yankees, whether or not they used the term, were in rebuild mode last season, landing three top-100 prospects in their two big deadline deals. And yet there's also one team here that nearly reached the World Series last season, but is this high in the organization rankings because of the money it spent on Cubans in 2015 and because of some shrewd drafting that predates the current front office.

1. Atlanta Braves

2016 rank: 1

Atlanta has been hoarding prospects, especially pitching prospects, for two years now, and the result is a system that is primed to produce good young players just as the team moves into its new stadium.

Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks


Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers

» Law's 2016 rankings
This torrent of arms has entered the organization from two avenues. General manager John Coppolella has been trading for young pitching at every opportunity, and scouting director Brian Bridges has crushed pitching in his two drafts at the helm. There are players in this system with viable cases to be in the global top 100 but struggle to crack Atlanta’s top 10. They just took Ian Anderson third overall in the draft and he couldn’t even crack their top six. Their High-A rotation in 2017 could include four first-round picks and a major international signing, only one of whom will be 21 on opening day. It’s as if someone told Coppolella the axiom that you can never have too much pitching, and he just said, “hold my beer.”

They do have position players, primarily guys up the middle, including three high-end shortstop prospects, multiple center fielders, and the best prospect from last year’s July 2 class, Kevin Maitan, who might not stay at shortstop but has earned comparisons at the plate to a young Miguel Cabrera. They do lack power bats in the system, primarily at the upper levels, but there is just so much pitching here that it overwhelms that concern -- and if they just have a normal attrition rate among that pitching depth, they’ll have plenty of young arms left over to fill a major-league need via trade.

Coppolella has stayed opportunistic this winter, adding prospects who had fallen out of favor with their organizations, including two of Seattle’s top six prospects. You can make an argument for the Yankees deserving the top slot; I won’t dispute that they have more position-player talent. My vote is for the deluge of arms and up-the-middle players heading for Atlanta, giving them the best farm system in baseball.

2. New York Yankees

2016 rank: 13

I’m so glad something is finally going right for Yankee fans, who have been suffering for, like, seven whole years now, but this system is absolutely loaded.

Brian Cashman went bananas once he got the green light to turn the roster over, flipping two very good relievers for enormous packages that gave the Yanks three of their current top six prospects. The other three are all recent first-round picks, and the system is full of the products of the team’s drafts, a side benefit of the end of their trades of prospects for veterans to prop up the aging big-league roster.

The system just keeps on going, with tons of pitching depth, a passel of natural shortstops -- we need a better collective noun for that; a "belanger" of shortstops, perhaps -– who will end up playing all over the diamond, and a lot of outfielders who rake. Even Dermis Garcia, who isn’t among their 20 best prospects, has 80 raw power and finished second in the advanced-rookie Appalachian League in homers as an 18-year-old.

There’s no weakness here. They will trot out teams full of prospects at every level, and several of them will show up in the Bronx this year. I don’t know if Gleyber Torres is the new Jeter or James Kaprelian the new Pettitte, but I’ll take that bet.

3. San Diego Padres

2016 rank: 20

You could make a compelling case for any of the top three teams on my list to be first overall. In San Diego’s case, the argument would be that they boast more upside potential, more guys with huge ceilings that are 10 percent likely to happen (or less) than any other system.

The Padres went very young in their rebuild, and they went big. Six of their top 10 guys were 20 or younger in 2016, and they signed a huge batch of teenagers on July 2, dominating the class among both pitchers and position players. Their draft similarly went for high-ceiling players, leading off with Cal Quantrill -- who in hindsight might have been the best prospect in the class -- with several other rolls of the dice on other pitchers coming off injuries who are showing positive early returns.

They’re third on this list because nearly all of that value is far from the majors, and there’s risk on every one of those guys -- every teenage pitcher is a risk because of the natural attrition rate of arms, and some of these hitters haven’t even sniffed full-season baseball yet. They’re also more pitching-heavy, which entails a little more risk but probably makes sense given the market price for pitching. The major-league team might be ugly this year, but their affiliates will be fascinating to watch.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates

2016 rank: 8

The Pirates return their top five prospects from last year, three of whom really boosted their stock and the likelihood of reaching their ceilings, and they added another premium guy to the mix with the emergence of 2014 draft pick Mitch Keller, an Iowa high school product who improved in every possible way in 2016.

Cole Tucker, their first pick from 2014, had a mostly positive return from shoulder surgery and returns to their top 10. Nick Kingham, who was a top 100 prospect before 2015, returned from Tommy John surgery and could see the big-league rotation this year. They also have stocked their upper levels with relief prospects who should help them avoid having to pay anyone to handle the seventh through ninth innings for them.

If there’s a weakness here, it’s that they’re not as deep as the three teams ahead of them, in part because they traded two second-tier prospects to Toronto to lose Francisco Liriano’s salary. I was not as big a fan of their 2016 draft class as I was of their drafts the last few years before that.

But the Pirates should be in good shape to remain contenders for the next few years by turning over the big-league roster to the likes of Austin Meadows, Josh Bell and Tyler Glasnow, freeing up the cash to spend on pieces they can’t supply internally.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers

2016 rank: 2

The top of the Dodgers’ system rivals anyone’s. They have four top prospects whom you could legitimately give a 20 percent chance to become stars in the big leagues, although two are pitchers, one of whom has already blown out his elbow once and the other of whom struggled to throw strikes when he first signed.

They’ve put money into the international market, aiming for ceiling, and have been more conservative in the draft, looking for lower-floor guys early and taking fliers after the second or third round. The system has also gotten deeper in some ways but lost two elite guys to promotion last year -- one of those won Rookie of the Year, you may have heard of him -- and depth in the midyear trade that brought in Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.

There are systems that run deeper in likely regulars, because those teams have been able to focus just on building without having to balance that and contention, but for a team this good to have this kind of star potential in full-season ball is remarkable.

Law's 2017 farm systems methodology


Our 2017 farm rankings are based on seeing prospects and talking to scouts, executives and team officials. For the prospect rankings, at least 10 prospects will be ranked, though most teams will have more than 10 players in the minors who project to be more than replacement-level big leaguers -- and every one of those players count.

This means some teams near the top of the list get "credit" for having 20 or more of these types of players, whereas the bottom third may struggle to include 10. Favor is given to prospects with higher upside compared to those with less potential to become stars but with a higher probability of reaching the majors in some role.

As few clubs are able to afford stars on the open market, a team developing its own stars is critical for many franchises. A prospect who projects as a star is currency to acquire current major leaguers. Teams in the top 10 have potential stars and second-tier prospects with future big-league value, while teams in the bottom 10 don't have much of either.
6. Milwaukee Brewers

2016 rank: 5

The Brewers’ rebuild has been overshadowed by the presence of three contenders in the division, but they’ve done a good job restocking the system in the last 18 months with two strong draft classes and huge returns on trades of veterans.

The trades of Jonathan Lucroy, Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez all yielded prospects on this year’s top 100. The system is still stacked in favor of hitters, with their top two pitching prospects both carrying significant reliever risk (Josh Hader’s delivery, Luis Ortiz’s conditioning), while Jorge Lopez, who broke out as a top prospect in 2015, had a disastrous follow-up season this year.

They need to see more return on the July 2 market, as their one big signing there, Gilbert Lara, is off to a rough start to his pro career, and they have no one else from that avenue in their top 20. Their 2014 draft class has been similarly unproductive to date. But what the new regime has accomplished in a short period of time gives the Brewers a chance to keep pace with their better-heeled competitors in the NL Central.

7. New York Mets

2016 rank: 16

The Mets were not aggressive at the trade deadline in July, and while that may have angered some of their fans, it means we won’t see someone they traded win a Rookie of the Year award in 2017. It also means a very strong, deep system remained intact, with two potential stars at the top of the system and a lot of pitching depth to potentially help, even as soon as this year with the sudden velocity spike Robert Gsellman saw in 2016.

Several years of strong draft results have restocked the system, first with young position players with upside and now with polished starting pitchers, led by Justin Dunn and Thomas Szapucki. Getting the team’s Low-A affiliate out of the hitters’ graveyard of Savannah won’t hurt matters either. And there’s more upside to come, with three of their top 20 prospects coming back from major injuries (Luis Carpio, Wuilmer Becerra, Anthony Kay).

8. Cincinnati Reds

2016 rank: 12

No system surprised me more from the start of this process (of putting together the annual prospects package) than the Reds’. The Reds’ highest ranking since I started these lists is the culmination of years of productive drafts, capped off by what looks right now like a tremendous one-two punch from their 2016 class, plus big international signings that look promising so far. They have a lot of pitching on the way -- probably not any aces, unless Robert “The Lighthouse” Stephenson turns it around -- to fill out the last three spots in any rotation and keep a steady supply of power arms for their bullpen.

They’ve got patient, polished bats coming, guys who will quietly make the Reds among the majors’ leaders in OBP if they all get there at once. And they have some lottery-ticket (high risk/low probability guys with huge ceilings) players further down the system, including catcher Tyler Stephenson, whose first full pro season was wrecked by injuries.

Cincinnati has more guys who project comfortably as fourth starters than most teams have pitching prospects, period. For a team that will never be able to buy a fourth starter on the open market, that’s critical. Their biggest obstacle now will be Triple-A, a level where many of their prospects have struggled upon reaching for the last few years.

9. Colorado Rockies

2016 rank: 7

The Rockies continue to stock up on arms, especially power arms, drafting Riley Pint -- a high school pitcher who would regularly hit 100 mph as a starter -- with their first pick in June, but the system overall is well balanced between pitchers and position players. Optimizing your roster is crucial when your home park is the most extreme offensive environment in MLB history, and the Rockies seem to be filling their system along those lines now, going for pitchers whose velocity will still play in the thin air and for position players who are athletic and/or project to be above-average defenders.

Nothing held their system back so much as injuries did in 2016, with Tom Murphy, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Nevin, Antonio Senzatela, and David Hill all losing significant time to the DL. The Rockies will probably never sign a major free-agent starting pitcher, so they have to develop their arms from within. The current system looks primed to fill out their rotation well behind Jonathan Gray.

10. Chicago White Sox

2016 rank: 22

The White Sox went from a probable bottom-five system to the border of the top 10 thanks to a great draft and two enormous hauls in trades of major leaguers, giving them the strongest farm system they’ve had in the 10 years I’ve been doing these rankings. Eight of their top 10 prospects weren’t in the organization on June 1, 2016. They may have landed a second first-round talent with Alec Hansen, their third pick of last year’s draft, and they’re going to be all over my top 25. So why aren’t they ranked higher?


Well, once you get past those eight guys, it falls off fast. Of their top 10 from last year, No. 1 graduated, and the next nine guys all had poor to lousy seasons. Some of the younger guys on the list still have promise but just haven’t performed. There’s no sugarcoating the lack of progress -- which I think made Rick Hahn’s decision to rebuild all the smarter, given what was on the way. And perhaps the infusion of older prospects will let the White Sox give some of their youngest prospects more time in low- or high-A to develop physically and mentally.

Everything’s coming up roses on Chicago’s South Side right now, but there’s still more work to be done


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Farm system rankings: The middle 10

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Jan 19, 2017
Keith Law
ESPN Senior Writer
The middle group of 10 teams includes last year's two pennant winners, both of whom still have some young talent on the horizon despite last summer's big trades, as well as five other teams expected to contend for playoff spots this season.

While it's certainly difficult to maintain a strong farm system while contending -- you promote prospects who can help you, and you trade others to fill holes you can't fill internally -- it's not impossible, as you can see quite clearly from the teams listed today.

Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks


Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers

» Law's 2016 rankings
11. Minnesota Twins

2016 rank: 3

The Twins have been drafting high for a while now, and it’s starting to have a positive effect on their big league roster, but there’s still a lot of talent on its way. They even have some pitchers who throw hard for once. What they don’t have, at least anywhere at a full-season level, is a future star -- a No. 1 or No. 2 starter, a middle of the order bat, a potential MVP candidate, nothing quite like that.

They have a surfeit of players who should have major league value: a half-dozen or so potential midrotation starters, a slew of hard-throwing relievers and a few high-probability position players, led by shortstop Nick Gordon. Their potential stars are still in short-season ball and probably four to six years away from the majors, which means their probability is low and so is their potential value to other clubs.

The Twins might have those potential stars in the majors already -- Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler -- and could add one with the first overall pick in this June’s draft, but at the moment, that’s the one real weakness of their farm.
12. Houston Astros

2016 rank: 17

It’s a coincidence that the Astros and Cardinals are next to each other ... or is it? They employ similar philosophies, they’re both trying to balance winning now with maintaining a pipeline for the major league roster, and now the Astros are no longer drafting in the top 10.

Houston’s system has lost a ton of talent in the last two years -- their top two prospects from last year, Alex Bregman and A.J. Reed, both graduated -- but they’ve managed to keep it backfilled with extremely strong drafts and shrewd trades.

They even saw big steps forward from a few players already in the system, with Teoscar Hernandez reaching the majors and Ramon Laureano emerging as a legitimate offensive prospect. They’re a little light at the three infield skill positions (second, third and shortstop) and behind the plate, but they can at least rest easy knowing their major league infield is set for a while.

13. St. Louis Cardinals

2016 rank: 19

The Cardinals’ system might only have one likely star -- Alex Reyes -- in it, but the remainder of their organization is loaded with players who look likely to play in the majors as at least extra guys, and their Palm Beach (high-A) rotation in 2017 might provide a second or third future star as well.

The real strength of this system, though, is its depth with starting pitchers and with position players who are likely to remain in the middle of the field. This should give the major league team the versatility they seem to value highly in hitters and will give GM John Mozeliak assets with greater trade value as well.

They’ve drafted well, but I think even more value has come from their international department, which is responsible for four of their top 10 guys and about half of the valuable players beyond that.

14. Philadelphia Phillies

2016 rank: 6

The Phillies have a good farm system that had a bad year in 2016, with six or maybe seven of their top 10 guys coming into the season underperforming, getting hurt or both.

As good as J.P. Crawford could be, he scuffled in Triple-A at the plate. He clearly has some adjustments to make and another gear to find before he can become a superstar in the majors, while Mark Appel, a key part of the return for Ken Giles, struggled badly before his season ended because of elbow surgery.

There were bright spots -- Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins took advantage of a good power park in Reading to break out with 78 homers between them, and some of the Phillies’ unheralded Latin American pitchers emerged as potential midrotation starters given enough time.

For the rest of their near-to-the-majors prospects, 2017 looks like a critical season, whether it’s about getting healthy or performing well enough in Triple-A to earn a big league job.

Law's 2017 farm systems methodology


Our 2017 farm rankings are based on seeing prospects and talking to scouts, executives and team officials. For the prospect rankings, at least 10 prospects will be ranked, though most teams will have more than 10 players in the minors who project to be more than replacement-level big leaguers -- and every one of those players count.

This means some teams near the top of the list get "credit" for having 20 or more of these types of players, whereas the bottom third may struggle to include 10. Favor is given to prospects with higher upside compared to those with less potential to become stars but with a higher probability of reaching the majors in some role.

As few clubs are able to afford stars on the open market, a team developing its own stars is critical for many franchises. A prospect who projects as a star is currency to acquire current major leaguers. Teams in the top 10 have potential stars and second-tier prospects with future big-league value, while teams in the bottom 10 don't have much of either.
15. Texas Rangers

2016 rank: 9

The Rangers’ top 10 this year bears little resemblance to their top 10 from last year, as they promoted their first two guys, traded the next three and No. 10 as well. Prospect No. 9, Mike Matuella, made one appearance all year before getting hurt again.

So their system is no longer among the game’s strongest, which it’s been for most of the time I’ve been assembling these lists. Thanks to the team’s superaggressive approach in Latin America, they still have a lot of high-upside talent left in the system’s lower levels. Their top five prospects were all signed by the Rangers from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic or Panama. Only one other team has as many as four Latin American prospects in its top five.

There are still potential stars here, on both sides of the ball, but the Rangers aren’t likely to get much if any big league help from the system in the next two seasons.

16. Boston Red Sox

2016 rank: 10

The Red Sox have dealt heavily from their system since Dave Dombrowski took over, trading three top-25 prospects just since last June, to make the major league team the best in the AL on paper. But that has left them with the most top-heavy system in baseball.

Boston has three elite prospects leading off their system, led by the barely-eligible Andrew Benintendi. But after that troika and Sam Travis (who is coming back from an ACL tear), it’s a quick drop to players who either have much lower ceilings or much lower probabilities of becoming average big leaguers.

Some creativity in this past draft helped, with the team landing my No. 2 prospect in the class, Jason Groome, with the 12th overall pick. Also, fourth-rounder Bobby Dalbec’s pro debut was very promising, but all those trades and two years out of the international market have thinned out the system quite a bit.

17. Cleveland Indians

2016 rank: 11

Another team that harvested heavily to get to the World Series last year, Cleveland retains great depth in its system, with potential back-end starters and fringe regulars beyond their top 10 prospects, but with few potential stars beyond catcher Francisco Mejia and some of the kids who were still in rookie ball this year.

Trading Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield sliced a layer right off the top of the system, but Cleveland has done well with later draft picks who’ve at least turned into viable major league assets. Cleveland then turned around this past draft and rolled the dice on two high school hitters with huge ceilings who are both several years away from even reaching Double-A.

They’ve also benefited from an apparent focus in the international market on players who at least might play in the middle of the diamond, even though the presence of Francisco Lindor may move a few of them to corners. The system that produced last year’s AL pennant winner seems like it should keep the big league club supplied with the extra pieces that a low-payroll team such as Cleveland should never try to buy on the open market.

18. Chicago Cubs

2016 rank: 4

You can’t complain, Cubs fans, although some of you will. The front office used the fruits of years of strong drafts and trades to bolster the big league club via promotions and the deal for Aroldis Chapman. The result was a world championship.

Even with the trade of Gleyber Torres, the Cubs still have a very high-end hitting prospect in teenager Eloy Jimenez -- the guy who hit a ball in the Futures Game that bounced off the third story of the left field façade at Petco Park -- and some midlevel starting pitching depth coming, with one potential ace if the guy can just stay healthy.

Between the trades, promotions, and lack of a Day 1 draft pick in 2016, this is a thinner system than it was a year ago. It will probably stay down for a while now that the team is in full-throttle contention mode.

19. Tampa Bay Rays

2016 rank: 14

The Rays had a trio of top pitching prospects who appeared to be on the fast track to the big league rotation, but all three had rough years, with Brent Honeywell missing time because of injury, Taylor Guerrieri losing his fastball and Jacob Faria losing his command.

Between that, losing Blake Snell to the majors and the disastrous year from their 2015 first-rounder Garrett Whitley, this could have been a catastrophic year for a team that depends on its farm system to have any shot of contending.

Yet there were positives throughout the system too, especially on their Double-A Montgomery club, which might end up producing a half-dozen big leaguers from its lineup, three of them regulars.

Adrian Rondon, who got Tampa’s biggest July 2 signing bonus ever, improved dramatically over 2015, and they added another shortstop and international bonus baby by acquiring Lucius Fox from San Francisco. They may face a pitching deficit if the trio mentioned above can’t turn things around, but there are bats coming, and for the first time in a while, some high-ceiling guys to get you excited.

20. San Francisco Giants

2016 rank: 21

The Giants continue to find good value beyond the first round, with players in their top 10 coming from Round Nos. 2, 5, 6 and even 23, after the two high first-round picks who lead off their system.

A big step forward this year from Tyler Beede was somewhat offset by a step back for Christian Arroyo, and three of last year’s top 10 prospects departed in midseason trades for Matt Moore and Will Smith.

The system does seem primed to continue to pump out extra pieces for the major league roster -- fifth starters, quality relievers, extra outfielders -- to

http://insider.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6115
Farm system rankings: The top 10
Jan 20, 201
Keith Law
ESPN Senior Writer
Eight of the top 10 teams could comfortably be called rebuilders, teams that traded away major-league talent in 2016 to add prospects. Even the Yankees, whether or not they used the term, were in rebuild mode last season, landing three top-100 prospects in their two big deadline deals. And yet there's also one team here that nearly reached the World Series last season, but is this high in the organization rankings because of the money it spent on Cubans in 2015 and because of some shrewd drafting that predates the current front office.

1. Atlanta Braves

2016 rank: 1

Atlanta has been hoarding prospects, especially pitching prospects, for two years now, and the result is a system that is primed to produce good young players just as the team moves into its new stadium.

Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks


Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers

» Law's 2016 rankings
This torrent of arms has entered the organization from two avenues. General manager John Coppolella has been trading for young pitching at every opportunity, and scouting director Brian Bridges has crushed pitching in his two drafts at the helm. There are players in this system with viable cases to be in the global top 100 but struggle to crack Atlanta’s top 10. They just took Ian Anderson third overall in the draft and he couldn’t even crack their top six. Their High-A rotation in 2017 could include four first-round picks and a major international signing, only one of whom will be 21 on opening day. It’s as if someone told Coppolella the axiom that you can never have too much pitching, and he just said, “hold my beer.”

They do have position players, primarily guys up the middle, including three high-end shortstop prospects, multiple center fielders, and the best prospect from last year’s July 2 class, Kevin Maitan, who might not stay at shortstop but has earned comparisons at the plate to a young Miguel Cabrera. They do lack power bats in the system, primarily at the upper levels, but there is just so much pitching here that it overwhelms that concern -- and if they just have a normal attrition rate among that pitching depth, they’ll have plenty of young arms left over to fill a major-league need via trade.

Coppolella has stayed opportunistic this winter, adding prospects who had fallen out of favor with their organizations, including two of Seattle’s top six prospects. You can make an argument for the Yankees deserving the top slot; I won’t dispute that they have more position-player talent. My vote is for the deluge of arms and up-the-middle players heading for Atlanta, giving them the best farm system in baseball.

2. New York Yankees

2016 rank: 13

I’m so glad something is finally going right for Yankee fans, who have been suffering for, like, seven whole years now, but this system is absolutely loaded.

Brian Cashman went bananas once he got the green light to turn the roster over, flipping two very good relievers for enormous packages that gave the Yanks three of their current top six prospects. The other three are all recent first-round picks, and the system is full of the products of the team’s drafts, a side benefit of the end of their trades of prospects for veterans to prop up the aging big-league roster.

The system just keeps on going, with tons of pitching depth, a passel of natural shortstops -- we need a better collective noun for that; a "belanger" of shortstops, perhaps -– who will end up playing all over the diamond, and a lot of outfielders who rake. Even Dermis Garcia, who isn’t among their 20 best prospects, has 80 raw power and finished second in the advanced-rookie Appalachian League in homers as an 18-year-old.

There’s no weakness here. They will trot out teams full of prospects at every level, and several of them will show up in the Bronx this year. I don’t know if Gleyber Torres is the new Jeter or James Kaprelian the new Pettitte, but I’ll take that bet.

3. San Diego Padres

2016 rank: 20

You could make a compelling case for any of the top three teams on my list to be first overall. In San Diego’s case, the argument would be that they boast more upside potential, more guys with huge ceilings that are 10 percent likely to happen (or less) than any other system.

The Padres went very young in their rebuild, and they went big. Six of their top 10 guys were 20 or younger in 2016, and they signed a huge batch of teenagers on July 2, dominating the class among both pitchers and position players. Their draft similarly went for high-ceiling players, leading off with Cal Quantrill -- who in hindsight might have been the best prospect in the class -- with several other rolls of the dice on other pitchers coming off injuries who are showing positive early returns.

They’re third on this list because nearly all of that value is far from the majors, and there’s risk on every one of those guys -- every teenage pitcher is a risk because of the natural attrition rate of arms, and some of these hitters haven’t even sniffed full-season baseball yet. They’re also more pitching-heavy, which entails a little more risk but probably makes sense given the market price for pitching. The major-league team might be ugly this year, but their affiliates will be fascinating to watch.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates

2016 rank: 8

The Pirates return their top five prospects from last year, three of whom really boosted their stock and the likelihood of reaching their ceilings, and they added another premium guy to the mix with the emergence of 2014 draft pick Mitch Keller, an Iowa high school product who improved in every possible way in 2016.

Cole Tucker, their first pick from 2014, had a mostly positive return from shoulder surgery and returns to their top 10. Nick Kingham, who was a top 100 prospect before 2015, returned from Tommy John surgery and could see the big-league rotation this year. They also have stocked their upper levels with relief prospects who should help them avoid having to pay anyone to handle the seventh through ninth innings for them.

If there’s a weakness here, it’s that they’re not as deep as the three teams ahead of them, in part because they traded two second-tier prospects to Toronto to lose Francisco Liriano’s salary. I was not as big a fan of their 2016 draft class as I was of their drafts the last few years before that.

But the Pirates should be in good shape to remain contenders for the next few years by turning over the big-league roster to the likes of Austin Meadows, Josh Bell and Tyler Glasnow, freeing up the cash to spend on pieces they can’t supply internally.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers

2016 rank: 2

The top of the Dodgers’ system rivals anyone’s. They have four top prospects whom you could legitimately give a 20 percent chance to become stars in the big leagues, although two are pitchers, one of whom has already blown out his elbow once and the other of whom struggled to throw strikes when he first signed.

They’ve put money into the international market, aiming for ceiling, and have been more conservative in the draft, looking for lower-floor guys early and taking fliers after the second or third round. The system has also gotten deeper in some ways but lost two elite guys to promotion last year -- one of those won Rookie of the Year, you may have heard of him -- and depth in the midyear trade that brought in Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.

There are systems that run deeper in likely regulars, because those teams have been able to focus just on building without having to balance that and contention, but for a team this good to have this kind of star potential in full-season ball is remarkable.

Law's 2017 farm systems methodology


Our 2017 farm rankings are based on seeing prospects and talking to scouts, executives and team officials. For the prospect rankings, at least 10 prospects will be ranked, though most teams will have more than 10 players in the minors who project to be more than replacement-level big leaguers -- and every one of those players count.

This means some teams near the top of the list get "credit" for having 20 or more of these types of players, whereas the bottom third may struggle to include 10. Favor is given to prospects with higher upside compared to those with less potential to become stars but with a higher probability of reaching the majors in some role.

As few clubs are able to afford stars on the open market, a team developing its own stars is critical for many franchises. A prospect who projects as a star is currency to acquire current major leaguers. Teams in the top 10 have potential stars and second-tier prospects with future big-league value, while teams in the bottom 10 don't have much of either.
6. Milwaukee Brewers

2016 rank: 5

The Brewers’ rebuild has been overshadowed by the presence of three contenders in the division, but they’ve done a good job restocking the system in the last 18 months with two strong draft classes and huge returns on trades of veterans.

The trades of Jonathan Lucroy, Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez all yielded prospects on this year’s top 100. The system is still stacked in favor of hitters, with their top two pitching prospects both carrying significant reliever risk (Josh Hader’s delivery, Luis Ortiz’s conditioning), while Jorge Lopez, who broke out as a top prospect in 2015, had a disastrous follow-up season this year.

They need to see more return on the July 2 market, as their one big signing there, Gilbert Lara, is off to a rough start to his pro career, and they have no one else from that avenue in their top 20. Their 2014 draft class has been similarly unproductive to date. But what the new regime has accomplished in a short period of time gives the Brewers a chance to keep pace with their better-heeled competitors in the NL Central.

7. New York Mets

2016 rank: 16

The Mets were not aggressive at the trade deadline in July, and while that may have angered some of their fans, it means we won’t see someone they traded win a Rookie of the Year award in 2017. It also means a very strong, deep system remained intact, with two potential stars at the top of the system and a lot of pitching depth to potentially help, even as soon as this year with the sudden velocity spike Robert Gsellman saw in 2016.

Several years of strong draft results have restocked the system, first with young position players with upside and now with polished starting pitchers, led by Justin Dunn and Thomas Szapucki. Getting the team’s Low-A affiliate out of the hitters’ graveyard of Savannah won’t hurt matters either. And there’s more upside to come, with three of their top 20 prospects coming back from major injuries (Luis Carpio, Wuilmer Becerra, Anthony Kay).

8. Cincinnati Reds

2016 rank: 12

No system surprised me more from the start of this process (of putting together the annual prospects package) than the Reds’. The Reds’ highest ranking since I started these lists is the culmination of years of productive drafts, capped off by what looks right now like a tremendous one-two punch from their 2016 class, plus big international signings that look promising so far. They have a lot of pitching on the way -- probably not any aces, unless Robert “The Lighthouse” Stephenson turns it around -- to fill out the last three spots in any rotation and keep a steady supply of power arms for their bullpen.

They’ve got patient, polished bats coming, guys who will quietly make the Reds among the majors’ leaders in OBP if they all get there at once. And they have some lottery-ticket (high risk/low probability guys with huge ceilings) players further down the system, including catcher Tyler Stephenson, whose first full pro season was wrecked by injuries.

Cincinnati has more guys who project comfortably as fourth starters than most teams have pitching prospects, period. For a team that will never be able to buy a fourth starter on the open market, that’s critical. Their biggest obstacle now will be Triple-A, a level where many of their prospects have struggled upon reaching for the last few years.

9. Colorado Rockies

2016 rank: 7

The Rockies continue to stock up on arms, especially power arms, drafting Riley Pint -- a high school pitcher who would regularly hit 100 mph as a starter -- with their first pick in June, but the system overall is well balanced between pitchers and position players. Optimizing your roster is crucial when your home park is the most extreme offensive environment in MLB history, and the Rockies seem to be filling their system along those lines now, going for pitchers whose velocity will still play in the thin air and for position players who are athletic and/or project to be above-average defenders.

Nothing held their system back so much as injuries did in 2016, with Tom Murphy, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Nevin, Antonio Senzatela, and David Hill all losing significant time to the DL. The Rockies will probably never sign a major free-agent starting pitcher, so they have to develop their arms from within. The current system looks primed to fill out their rotation well behind Jonathan Gray.

10. Chicago White Sox

2016 rank: 22

The White Sox went from a probable bottom-five system to the border of the top 10 thanks to a great draft and two enormous hauls in trades of major leaguers, giving them the strongest farm system they’ve had in the 10 years I’ve been doing these rankings. Eight of their top 10 prospects weren’t in the organization on June 1, 2016. They may have landed a second first-round talent with Alec Hansen, their third pick of last year’s draft, and they’re going to be all over my top 25. So why aren’t they ranked higher?


Well, once you get past those eight guys, it falls off fast. Of their top 10 from last year, No. 1 graduated, and the next nine guys all had poor to lousy seasons. Some of the younger guys on the list still have promise but just haven’t performed. There’s no sugarcoating the lack of progress -- which I think made Rick Hahn’s decision to rebuild all the smarter, given what was on the way. And perhaps the infusion of older prospects will let the White Sox give some of their youngest prospects more time in low- or high-A to develop physically and mentally.

Everything’s coming up roses on Chicago’s South Side right now, but there’s still more work to be done.

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Farm system rankings: The middle 10

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Jan 19, 2017
Keith Law
ESPN Senior Writer
The middle group of 10 teams includes last year's two pennant winners, both of whom still have some young talent on the horizon despite last summer's big trades, as well as five other teams expected to contend for playoff spots this season.

While it's certainly difficult to maintain a strong farm system while contending -- you promote prospects who can help you, and you trade others to fill holes you can't fill internally -- it's not impossible, as you can see quite clearly from the teams listed today.

Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks


Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers

» Law's 2016 rankings
11. Minnesota Twins

2016 rank: 3

The Twins have been drafting high for a while now, and it’s starting to have a positive effect on their big league roster, but there’s still a lot of talent on its way. They even have some pitchers who throw hard for once. What they don’t have, at least anywhere at a full-season level, is a future star -- a No. 1 or No. 2 starter, a middle of the order bat, a potential MVP candidate, nothing quite like that.

They have a surfeit of players who should have major league value: a half-dozen or so potential midrotation starters, a slew of hard-throwing relievers and a few high-probability position players, led by shortstop Nick Gordon. Their potential stars are still in short-season ball and probably four to six years away from the majors, which means their probability is low and so is their potential value to other clubs.

The Twins might have those potential stars in the majors already -- Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler -- and could add one with the first overall pick in this June’s draft, but at the moment, that’s the one real weakness of their farm.
12. Houston Astros

2016 rank: 17

It’s a coincidence that the Astros and Cardinals are next to each other ... or is it? They employ similar philosophies, they’re both trying to balance winning now with maintaining a pipeline for the major league roster, and now the Astros are no longer drafting in the top 10.

Houston’s system has lost a ton of talent in the last two years -- their top two prospects from last year, Alex Bregman and A.J. Reed, both graduated -- but they’ve managed to keep it backfilled with extremely strong drafts and shrewd trades.

They even saw big steps forward from a few players already in the system, with Teoscar Hernandez reaching the majors and Ramon Laureano emerging as a legitimate offensive prospect. They’re a little light at the three infield skill positions (second, third and shortstop) and behind the plate, but they can at least rest easy knowing their major league infield is set for a while.

13. St. Louis Cardinals

2016 rank: 19

The Cardinals’ system might only have one likely star -- Alex Reyes -- in it, but the remainder of their organization is loaded with players who look likely to play in the majors as at least extra guys, and their Palm Beach (high-A) rotation in 2017 might provide a second or third future star as well.

The real strength of this system, though, is its depth with starting pitchers and with position players who are likely to remain in the middle of the field. This should give the major league team the versatility they seem to value highly in hitters and will give GM John Mozeliak assets with greater trade value as well.

They’ve drafted well, but I think even more value has come from their international department, which is responsible for four of their top 10 guys and about half of the valuable players beyond that.

14. Philadelphia Phillies

2016 rank: 6

The Phillies have a good farm system that had a bad year in 2016, with six or maybe seven of their top 10 guys coming into the season underperforming, getting hurt or both.

As good as J.P. Crawford could be, he scuffled in Triple-A at the plate. He clearly has some adjustments to make and another gear to find before he can become a superstar in the majors, while Mark Appel, a key part of the return for Ken Giles, struggled badly before his season ended because of elbow surgery.

There were bright spots -- Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins took advantage of a good power park in Reading to break out with 78 homers between them, and some of the Phillies’ unheralded Latin American pitchers emerged as potential midrotation starters given enough time.

For the rest of their near-to-the-majors prospects, 2017 looks like a critical season, whether it’s about getting healthy or performing well enough in Triple-A to earn a big league job.

Law's 2017 farm systems methodology


Our 2017 farm rankings are based on seeing prospects and talking to scouts, executives and team officials. For the prospect rankings, at least 10 prospects will be ranked, though most teams will have more than 10 players in the minors who project to be more than replacement-level big leaguers -- and every one of those players count.

This means some teams near the top of the list get "credit" for having 20 or more of these types of players, whereas the bottom third may struggle to include 10. Favor is given to prospects with higher upside compared to those with less potential to become stars but with a higher probability of reaching the majors in some role.

As few clubs are able to afford stars on the open market, a team developing its own stars is critical for many franchises. A prospect who projects as a star is currency to acquire current major leaguers. Teams in the top 10 have potential stars and second-tier prospects with future big-league value, while teams in the bottom 10 don't have much of either.
15. Texas Rangers

2016 rank: 9

The Rangers’ top 10 this year bears little resemblance to their top 10 from last year, as they promoted their first two guys, traded the next three and No. 10 as well. Prospect No. 9, Mike Matuella, made one appearance all year before getting hurt again.

So their system is no longer among the game’s strongest, which it’s been for most of the time I’ve been assembling these lists. Thanks to the team’s superaggressive approach in Latin America, they still have a lot of high-upside talent left in the system’s lower levels. Their top five prospects were all signed by the Rangers from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic or Panama. Only one other team has as many as four Latin American prospects in its top five.

There are still potential stars here, on both sides of the ball, but the Rangers aren’t likely to get much if any big league help from the system in the next two seasons.

16. Boston Red Sox

2016 rank: 10

The Red Sox have dealt heavily from their system since Dave Dombrowski took over, trading three top-25 prospects just since last June, to make the major league team the best in the AL on paper. But that has left them with the most top-heavy system in baseball.

Boston has three elite prospects leading off their system, led by the barely-eligible Andrew Benintendi. But after that troika and Sam Travis (who is coming back from an ACL tear), it’s a quick drop to players who either have much lower ceilings or much lower probabilities of becoming average big leaguers.

Some creativity in this past draft helped, with the team landing my No. 2 prospect in the class, Jason Groome, with the 12th overall pick. Also, fourth-rounder Bobby Dalbec’s pro debut was very promising, but all those trades and two years out of the international market have thinned out the system quite a bit.

17. Cleveland Indians

2016 rank: 11

Another team that harvested heavily to get to the World Series last year, Cleveland retains great depth in its system, with potential back-end starters and fringe regulars beyond their top 10 prospects, but with few potential stars beyond catcher Francisco Mejia and some of the kids who were still in rookie ball this year.

Trading Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield sliced a layer right off the top of the system, but Cleveland has done well with later draft picks who’ve at least turned into viable major league assets. Cleveland then turned around this past draft and rolled the dice on two high school hitters with huge ceilings who are both several years away from even reaching Double-A.

They’ve also benefited from an apparent focus in the international market on players who at least might play in the middle of the diamond, even though the presence of Francisco Lindor may move a few of them to corners. The system that produced last year’s AL pennant winner seems like it should keep the big league club supplied with the extra pieces that a low-payroll team such as Cleveland should never try to buy on the open market.

18. Chicago Cubs

2016 rank: 4

You can’t complain, Cubs fans, although some of you will. The front office used the fruits of years of strong drafts and trades to bolster the big league club via promotions and the deal for Aroldis Chapman. The result was a world championship.

Even with the trade of Gleyber Torres, the Cubs still have a very high-end hitting prospect in teenager Eloy Jimenez -- the guy who hit a ball in the Futures Game that bounced off the third story of the left field façade at Petco Park -- and some midlevel starting pitching depth coming, with one potential ace if the guy can just stay healthy.

Between the trades, promotions, and lack of a Day 1 draft pick in 2016, this is a thinner system than it was a year ago. It will probably stay down for a while now that the team is in full-throttle contention mode.

19. Tampa Bay Rays

2016 rank: 14

The Rays had a trio of top pitching prospects who appeared to be on the fast track to the big league rotation, but all three had rough years, with Brent Honeywell missing time because of injury, Taylor Guerrieri losing his fastball and Jacob Faria losing his command.

Between that, losing Blake Snell to the majors and the disastrous year from their 2015 first-rounder Garrett Whitley, this could have been a catastrophic year for a team that depends on its farm system to have any shot of contending.

Yet there were positives throughout the system too, especially on their Double-A Montgomery club, which might end up producing a half-dozen big leaguers from its lineup, three of them regulars.

Adrian Rondon, who got Tampa’s biggest July 2 signing bonus ever, improved dramatically over 2015, and they added another shortstop and international bonus baby by acquiring Lucius Fox from San Francisco. They may face a pitching deficit if the trio mentioned above can’t turn things around, but there are bats coming, and for the first time in a while, some high-ceiling guys to get you excited.

20. San Francisco Giants

2016 rank: 21

The Giants continue to find good value beyond the first round, with players in their top 10 coming from Round Nos. 2, 5, 6 and even 23, after the two high first-round picks who lead off their system.

A big step forward this year from Tyler Beede was somewhat offset by a step back for Christian Arroyo, and three of last year’s top 10 prospects departed in midseason trades for Matt Moore and Will Smith.

The system does seem primed to continue to pump out extra pieces for the major league roster -- fifth starters, quality relievers, extra outfielders -- to avoid the need for future trades for extra guys like the one that sent Adalberto Mejia to the Twins for Eduardo Nunez

http://insider.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6108
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Farm system rankings: The bottom 10

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Jan 18, 2017
Keith Law
ESPN Senior Writer
The surprising factor most of the teams in this tercile have in common is that they didn't get to the bottom through contention. There are a few recent playoff teams here, but there are more franchises in this section that have been out of the playoffs for a few years and yet don't have the farm systems you'd expect from teams that have drafted high and perhaps traded away veterans.

That means the road back to respectability will be tough for any team here that isn't already in playoff shape.

The first part of my annual ranking of the top prospects in baseball is, as always, all 30 farm systems. This year, that ranking will roll out over three days, 10 teams a day, starting at the bottom of the list. There is more description of what's in each system this year, and I've tried to provide more context of what might distinguish their system from the teams ranked immediately ahead and behind.

Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks


Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers

» Law's 2016 rankings
While these rankings are ultimately subjective -- this is, after all, my personal opinion of each system's relative merits -- I base the rankings on as broad a collection of information as I can. I've seen many of these prospects, I've talked to many scouts and executives about prospects, and I've talked to team officials about their own systems. Within each system, I'll rank at least 10 prospects, but these rankings consider everything in each system. Most teams have more than 10 players within their minor leagues who project to be more than just replacement-level big leaguers, and all of those guys count.

I'd rather have potential stars, even if there's some risk involved, but there's also real value in being able to provide your own fifth starters or utility players without having to pay for them on the open market. That means some teams here toward the top of the list got "credit" for 20 or more players in their systems, whereas those in the bottom-third might not have gotten much past 10. For the bottom few teams, even finding 10 names where I felt confident there was a good chance of future value was difficult.

I do favor prospects with higher upsides (or "ceilings") over those with less potential to become stars but higher probability of reaching the majors in some role. Few clubs are able to afford stars on the open market, so developing your own is critical for half or even two-thirds of the franchises in baseball right now. And if you have a prospect who projects as a star, you have the currency to acquire almost any major leaguer you want. We saw this in 2016, with midseason trades for Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman, and then offseason trades for Chris Sale and Adam Eaton (and "Adam Eaton's unbelievable contract"), all of which involved prospects found in my top 30. The teams in the top 10 have potential stars and a lot of second-tier prospects with future big-league value while the teams in the bottom 10 don't have much of either, with two clubs lacking any top 100 prospects at all.

21. Toronto Blue Jays

2016 rank: 25

The Blue Jays’ system was a real strength until 2015, when then-GM Alex Anthopoulos dipped into it to get the team to the playoffs with a series of trades that not only secured the division but got the team within two wins of the World Series. The depletion from those deals, combined with a sudden shift toward a conservative draft approach in 2016, has strip-mined this system in a way that might make any recovery slow.

Rough years for returning prospects Anthony Alford and Conner Greene didn’t help matters either, but one enormous bright spot was the emergence of Vlad Guerrero Jr. He’s a potential superstar who impressed scouts with his approach at the plate and his defense at third base as the youngest regular in the Appalachian League.
22. Washington Nationals

2016 rank: 15

The Nationals dropped several places here after their big trade for Adam Eaton, which cost them three of their top four prospects and put a huge dent in their overall pitching depth, though it helped make the big-league club one of the best teams on paper in either league. Washington aims for high-ceiling prospects in every endeavor, often taking players who’ve slipped due to injury (Lucas Giolito, Erick Fedde, Jesus Luzardo) in the draft, while shooting for huge upside in the international prospects they sign (Victor Robles, Juan Soto).

Ultimately, you can’t trade away as many prospects as the Nationals have without taking a real hit to your system. What was once 12-15 names deep in guys projected to have real major-league value might now stop around five or six.

23. Oakland A's

2016 rank: 18

There’s a lot of pitching coming in Oakland, and while it’s probably all more than a year out, that at least provides a glimmer of promise for A’s fans staring at a below-average roster and the team’s impending expulsion from the Revenue Sharing Country Club. This is never going to be a franchise that spends big to acquire major-league pitching via free agency.

The system as a whole, however, lacks high-ceiling or high-impact prospects. Their first-round picks from 2010, 2012 and 2013 have all been traded, and their limited forays into the deep end of the international free-agent market haven’t panned out. They did sign three players to million-dollar bonuses in the international July 2 class in 2016, and the early returns on their draft from last year are also positive. So there is at least an upward trend here.

24. Detroit Tigers

2016 rank: 26

The Tigers do love them some hard throwers, so that’s the obvious strength of the system, with 2016 first-round pick Matt Manning -- who’s consistently throwing up to 98 mph as a starter -- standing as the exemplar of a "Top Tigers Prospect."

While there are plenty of future relievers to be found here (led by potential closer Joe Jimenez), there’s a quiet underclass of prospects who project to play in the middle of the field and provide real defensive value, with the primary questions around their bats rather than their gloves or positions. That said, too many recent Tiger draft picks have had disappointing starts to their pro careers, even still-promising prospects like Beau Burrows, Derek Hill and Spencer Turnbull. If that group continues to stagnate, this system will end up in the bottom three next winter.

25. Baltimore Orioles

2016 rank: 27

The Orioles’ system has been down for a while now, hurt largely by the lack of progress and health issues affecting their best pitching prospects. But their 2016 draft class might finally give the organization the starting pitching hope they’ve needed for a while.

The long-term outlook here is much better than the short term, but the short term is where the probability and the trade value lies -- and that’s where Baltimore is lacking, with only catcher Chance Sisco and lefty Chris Lee both close to the majors and bringing high enough floors that they could return a significant big-league piece in a deal. What’s still lacking is up-the-middle talent, with Sisco their only top 15 prospect who is going to stay at any of those four positions.

26. Kansas City Royals

2016 rank: 23

Of all of the systems down here on the bottom rung, none has the untapped upside of the Royals’ organization, with more guys whose scouting reports start with “if…” than any other.

If Kyle Zimmer is healthy after thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, he has top-of-the-rotation stuff and control.

If any of their four high-upside high school arms from the past two drafts takes a step forward, they’re all potential No. 3s in the rotation or better.

If Josh Staumont gains another grade of command on top of the gains he’s already made … if Garrett Davila’s projection pans out … if Marten Gasparini shows any patience … and so on.

The Royals swing for the fences in the draft and internationally, and after years of hitting on a good percentage of those guys, they’ve hit a dry spell. There’s still reason for optimism here if you’re a Royals fan (and aren’t still on cloud nine from their 2015 season), but they could use a system-wide hit of good fortune this year.

27. Los Angeles Angels

2016 rank: 30

They’ll be popping champagne bottles in Anaheim, as the Angels’ worst-ever farm system from last year is no longer No. 30 … but they still have a long way to go toward respectability, with so many prospects and even fringy guys traded to bolster the major-league club, most recently in the successful deal for Andrelton Simmons.

Their 2015 first-rounder Taylor Ward has been a disaster so far, but their second-rounder from that year, Jahmai Jones, has emerged as the team’s best prospect, and their 2016 crop looks like their most promising draft since at least 2010, which produced Kole Calhoun and Cam Bedrosian. Missing on big-dollar Cuban infielder Roberto Baldoquin also set them back by knocking them out of the international market for the past two cycles. While it’s easy to assume any nascent prospects will be fodder for GM Billy Eppler to deal, the Angels really need to develop some of their own starting pitching to prop up the big-league rotation.

28. Seattle Mariners

2016 rank: 28

Jerry Dipoto has made it very clear that his goal is to win now, having traded three of the team’s top dozen prospects already this offseason, including last week’s trade of Luiz Gohara (who was No. 2 on my Mariners list at the time) in a deal that eventually resulted in them acquiring Drew Smyly.

Years of poor drafts have caught up with the Mariners’ system, with $14 million spent on three top-three picks -- Dustin Ackley, Mike Zunino and Danny Hultzen -- who returned no value at all, and only one big leaguer from their second-round picks from 2007 to 2014. Their last first-round pick to reach 10 WAR (career) is 2003’s Adam Jones, who was traded to Baltimore in the Erik Bedard deal. Dipoto’s strategy to go all-in right now, having inherited an above-average major league team, makes a lot of sense, but if it doesn’t work there’s going to be a long, cold winter in Seattle.

29. Miami Marlins

2016 rank: 29

The Marlins landed command lefty Braxton Garrett with their first pick in the 2016 draft, a departure from their history of taking big, hard-throwing, unpolished prep arms. He immediately became their best prospect after several years of high picks who haven’t panned out.


They’ve already traded their first-rounders from 2012, 2013 and 2015. Their 2014 first-rounder is out after Tommy John surgery, and they have only had one pick after the first round produce even 5 WAR on his career since 2007’s draft produced two. They also don’t spend much internationally, with their top three Latin American prospects right now including one acquired in trade and two who signed for a total of $350,000. The Marlins will probably never run huge payrolls under their current ownership, so they are going to have to introduce more young talent to the farm system than they have during the past five years.

30. Arizona Diamondbacks

2016 rank: 24

Dave Stewart ritually disemboweled a solid farm system in just two years at the helm of the Diamondbacks. Stewart has better things to do now, and the challenge for new GM Mike Hazen & Co. is substantial. Arizona did not draft well under Stewart. The best player they took in those two drafts is now the starting shortstop in Atlanta, and I don’t think anyone else from either class would make my global top 150 prospects list.

They blew their international signing budget in 2015 on Yoan Lopez, now a non-prospect, and that precluded them from participating in any meaningful way in the strong 2016 international class. They traded two top 100 prospects plus a third who didn’t miss the top 100 by much in moves that made the club worse off in the long run. This system is several drafts away from getting back into the middle of the pack, and unless they’re willing to trade their superstar first baseman, I don’t think they have a shortcut available.

http://insider.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6172

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