I wonder what it would have been without Downs & Wong.Originally Posted by mvp 78
I wonder what it would have been without Downs & Wong.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
21st
I'm thinking lower. Downs is our #1 or 2 and Wong is #12-20th.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Downs would have had more impact on it than Wong - Downs seems to have a pretty solid MLB level floor.
I could see a significant variation on the Red Sox system too - a lot of the interesting prospects are further away from the bigs, and while Dombrowski and company did a good job putting a lot of interesting arms in the organization - most of the arms come with some significant reliever risk. Like Bryan Mata is the 3rd best prospect in the Sox org if you really think he can be a starter. But if you are bearish on that, it's going to knock him down a few pegs.
Dalbec is a swing prospect too - he worked his butt off last year on making more contact. He's never going to be 2008 Dustin Pedroia or anything, but he has to be able to make enough contact to get to his ridiculous power. Combine that with the pretty good odds of him staying at 3B, and there is something there. Of course he is running out of time as a "young" player ...
22nd
Law system rankings ... https://theathletic.com/1641139/2020...-30-mlb-teams/
1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. BravesThe Rays need a strong farm system to stay competitive, given their revenue constraints and unwillingness to spend big on their major-league payroll, but they have enough depth in their system right now that they can trade from it to keep the big-league team competitive. Not only do they have the top prospect in the game, but they also have substantial pitching depth — even after trading one of their top pitching prospects — and have benefited from a recent change in draft philosophy as well as increasingly productive classes of international free agents. They’ve also done well in stocking the system with middle-infield prospects, many of whom will eventually move to other positions but at least start out with the potential to stay up the middle. The only place they’re really weak at the moment is behind the plate. The Rays may not know where they’ll be playing for the next few years, but they should be competitive for some time to come.
3. DodgersThe pipeline in Atlanta continues, even though the team has been effectively out of the international prospect market for two years now. That’s thanks to the last fruits of the previous regime’s efforts and several very productive drafts in the time since, including a 2019 draft class that already looks like it’s yielding positive results. They have depth in pitching, even with several graduations of top pitching prospects the past two years, and behind the plate, which is always valuable. They are light in the middle infield, although Braden Shewmake’s emergence as a likely long-term shortstop is a very promising development.
4. DiamondbacksThe Dodgers’ chain of elite prospects remains unbroken, to the point where perhaps we should no longer be surprised. Corey Seager was followed by Cody Bellinger, who is now followed by Gavin Lux. Julio Urías was followed by Walker Buehler, who was followed by Dustin May, who may now be followed by Josiah Gray. They’ve drafted well, they’ve fared exceptionally well internationally, and they’ve even added some prospects in trades while still contending, a neat trick few teams pull off more than once. They even have enough catching depth to put their third-best catching prospect, Keibert Ruiz, on the trade block. The Dodgers get credit for the money they spend but not enough for the players they develop on their own.
6. YankeesThe Diamondbacks traded two major-league stars for a total of seven prospects, but those deals have little to do with their ranking here, with two already graduated and only one of the other five in the team’s top 10. It’s about everything else: very productive drafts, goosed by some extra picks and a little good fortune (e.g., the No. 4 player on my 2019 board, Corbin Carroll, getting to them at pick 16), and some strong early returns on international classes, including a payoff on an early, aggressive effort in the Bahamas. They’re even here despite trading their No. 1 prospect at the time, Jazz Chisholm, to Miami in July.
25. Boston Red SoxThe Yankees have clearly figured out some things on the development side, especially finding ways to help pitchers throw harder or throw higher-quality pitches (like boosting spin rates), and have also stayed active on the international side. Their Latin American contingent helmed one of the most lauded groups of short-season prospects I found during the process of assembling these rankings, with teams already asking for some of their GCL kids in trade talks. They’ve also got pitching coming, headlined by a risky first-round pick who’s worked out extremely well so far in Clarke Schmidt.
27. Houston AstrosTrades, promotions, and low draft picks have caught up with the Red Sox, whose major-league need for pitching won’t be satisfied by the fruits of the farm any time soon. Their top two pitching prospects have big questions — one is just coming back from Tommy John, the other may have to go spend a few years on a submarine — and beyond them it’s back-end starters or, more often, starters who project as relievers due to deliveries or lack of a third pitch.
29. Washington NationalsIt’s funny, but when you get rid of all of your amateur scouts, your drafts get a whole lot worse. If it weren’t for the work of the international scouting department, helmed by Oz Ocampo (now with Pittsburgh), this would absolutely be the bottom system in the majors.
30. Milwaukee BrewersYou don’t care, right, Nats fans? You got a ring! That’s what the farm is for, and Mike Rizzo and company worked the heck out of their system to get to that World Series. They’ve traded a lot of prospects, two of whom look like they’ll hurt (Lucas Giolito and Jesús Luzardo), but they have a world championship to show for it. That’s good, because it gets thin very quickly here, most notably on the pitching front.
The Brewers have traded or promoted so much talent the past few years that a couple of misses on early draft picks are much more noticeable; they were the only team that came close to failing to place a prospect on my top 100 this year, and they were the hardest team to write up with my self-imposed minimum of 20 prospects per team, saved largely by some high-upside players signed in the past three years out of Latin America. This was a choice, to some extent — the major-league team came within one win of a World Series and continues to contend, at the cost of the long-term value of the farm system.
Last edited by sk7326; 03-02-2020 at 01:48 PM.
@SoxProspects
Per an organization source, the following players retired this offseason:
RHP Austin Maddox
IF Daniel Bakst (current SP no. 58 prospect)
LHP Gregorio Reyes
OF Luke Tendler
In addition, the club released C/1B Kleiber Rodriguez
Maddox was very effective in limited MLB time in 2017, but battled injuries the last two seasons.
Bakst was a sleeper pick from the 2019 draft class. Former Team USA in HS, played at Stanford but sat out junior yr. He put up good numbers in GCL last year.
Nice story on Houck giving back to his community. I was hopeful that he'd have a strong spring, but his velo was way down in his last start.
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020...an-myself.html
So why did Bakst retire?
IDK, couldn’t find it anywhere. He did sit out 2018 due to lack of interest.
The Yankees have clearly figured out some things on the development side...
Yes, HGH and more...
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
@SoxProspects
Red Sox announce they received C Johnny Pereda from the Cubs to complete the Travis Lakins trade. Spent last year in AA. Will be 24 this season
@SPChrisHatfield
For what it's worth, I'm skeptical that Pereda's 2019 minor league gold glove,while cool, means much. My guess is it was based mostly on his fielding percentage (which was quite high at .996) and caught stealing percentage (33%), with some consideration of age for level.
MLB going with a 5 round draft this year. Losing that 2nd rounder sucks really hard.
I was just reading about that. That is really a very drastic cut from the typical 40 rounds. I can see cutting back, but cutting down to 5 rounds seems a bit much. There are so many players who are going to be left hanging, with nowhere to play. I feel bad for them. Many potentially very good players will slip through the cracks.
And yes, it does magnify the Red Sox' loss of their 2nd rounder.
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