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ESPN's 2009 Organizational Rankings

nate82

By nate82,
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Fear The Chorizo ACL Brewers

Fear The Chorizo

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I believe he had the Brewers at #13

 

For the NL Central, the Cards were #6, Brewers at #13, and the Pirates (#22), Reds (#26), Cubs (#27), and Astros (#30) all toward the bottom of the heap.

 

Breakdown on the Brewers farm system was that while it had good depth, they had little in the way of impact, star-quality prospects aside from Jeffress (if he gets his act together). I think it was a more than fair assessment of the Brewers' minor leagues. Keep in mind that his list doesn't include players that have seen any part of major league action. He also mentions Jack Z.'s large shoes that need filling in order to keep the farm system productive.

 

His analysis of the Astros at #30 was pretty entertaining, and he slammed the Cubs for basically drafting garbage during most of the mid 2000's. Reds got docked because Votto, Bruce, Cueto, Volquez all were major leaguers last season.

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Fear The Chorizo ACL Brewers

Fear The Chorizo

Verified Member
Posted
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I believe he had the Brewers at #13

 

For the NL Central, the Cards were #6, Brewers at #13, and the Pirates (#22), Reds (#26), Cubs (#27), and Astros (#30) all toward the bottom of the heap.

 

Breakdown on the Brewers farm system was that while it had good depth, they had little in the way of impact, star-quality prospects aside from Jeffress (if he gets his act together). I think it was a more than fair assessment of the Brewers' minor leagues. Keep in mind that his list doesn't include players that have seen any part of major league action. He also mentions Jack Z.'s large shoes that need filling in order to keep the farm system productive.

 

His analysis of the Astros at #30 was pretty entertaining, and he slammed the Cubs for basically drafting garbage during most of the mid 2000's. Reds got docked because Votto, Bruce, Cueto, Volquez all were major leaguers last season.

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MJLiverock Draft Eligible

MJLiverock

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I just quickly glanced through some of the organizations and it doesn't seem all that well thought through but I don't follow the minors that closely to know, just some of his comments seem contradictory. On one hand he says the Yankees top four prospects have serious quesitons and as a whole the system lacks players with upside and the 2008 class isn't very good, yet he rates them 15th. He then rates the Blue Jays 18th while saying two very good prospects on top, some middle to back of the rotations guys, and a fair amount of high risk but promising guys. Just based on his comments I would think the Jays would rate higher the Yanks.

 

Boston ranks 7th based solely on the 2008 draft? Seems pretty high for a bunch of low level players with probably high potential, sort of the reasons why he downgrades some teams with too much low level talent, not enough upper level. He rates the Marlins just below the Sox and comments on the system being top heavy with 6 or 7 excellent prospects and not much depth below them.

 

On the bottom end he pretty much calls out some teams for just having horrible drafts and not much in the system after trades.

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MJLiverock Draft Eligible

MJLiverock

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I just quickly glanced through some of the organizations and it doesn't seem all that well thought through but I don't follow the minors that closely to know, just some of his comments seem contradictory. On one hand he says the Yankees top four prospects have serious quesitons and as a whole the system lacks players with upside and the 2008 class isn't very good, yet he rates them 15th. He then rates the Blue Jays 18th while saying two very good prospects on top, some middle to back of the rotations guys, and a fair amount of high risk but promising guys. Just based on his comments I would think the Jays would rate higher the Yanks.

 

Boston ranks 7th based solely on the 2008 draft? Seems pretty high for a bunch of low level players with probably high potential, sort of the reasons why he downgrades some teams with too much low level talent, not enough upper level. He rates the Marlins just below the Sox and comments on the system being top heavy with 6 or 7 excellent prospects and not much depth below them.

 

On the bottom end he pretty much calls out some teams for just having horrible drafts and not much in the system after trades.

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StearnsFTW First Round Pick

StearnsFTW

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I think it's pretty well thought through, considering it's pretty much all he does.

 

I agree with most of his rankings, although I don't agree with Boston or St. Louis being as high as they are, particularly St. Louis.

 

He does contradict himself, as MJ mentioned. Particularly with Boston.

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StearnsFTW First Round Pick

StearnsFTW

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I think it's pretty well thought through, considering it's pretty much all he does.

 

I agree with most of his rankings, although I don't agree with Boston or St. Louis being as high as they are, particularly St. Louis.

 

He does contradict himself, as MJ mentioned. Particularly with Boston.

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jjfanec ACL Brewers

jjfanec

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How Gamel and Escobar aren't "impact" prospects puzzles me, but reading that kind of stuff is always fun.
I have wondered this too. Escobar was the number 8 prospect on MILB and Gamel was 23. That seems like impact prospects. I am sure Law must not be as high on Escobar or Gamel but when you have two guys in the top 23 that is pretty solid.
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jjfanec ACL Brewers

jjfanec

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How Gamel and Escobar aren't "impact" prospects puzzles me, but reading that kind of stuff is always fun.
I have wondered this too. Escobar was the number 8 prospect on MILB and Gamel was 23. That seems like impact prospects. I am sure Law must not be as high on Escobar or Gamel but when you have two guys in the top 23 that is pretty solid.
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Kricket755 Prep Ball

Kricket755

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Chorizo mentions that no player who has seen any part of major league action is considered for this list. If I understand correctly, that would mean Escobar, Gamel, and Salome are all not in the equation due to time spent in Milwaukee last September. I would have to think all 3 would be "impact players" if they were part of it. I find the fact that the system is ranked 13 minus the consideration of those 3 to be extremely impressive.
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Kricket755 Prep Ball

Kricket755

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Chorizo mentions that no player who has seen any part of major league action is considered for this list. If I understand correctly, that would mean Escobar, Gamel, and Salome are all not in the equation due to time spent in Milwaukee last September. I would have to think all 3 would be "impact players" if they were part of it. I find the fact that the system is ranked 13 minus the consideration of those 3 to be extremely impressive.
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jjfanec ACL Brewers

jjfanec

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Neither guy looks like a Fielder or Braun type impact player right now. In this writing I read "impact prospect" as a likely elite major league player. Both guys have serious questions yet.
I know they have questions, but I am just looking off rankings and if a guy is a top 10 prospect (which I thought was too high) like Escobar that seems like an impact player. I am okay with the statement that we don't have any impact players, because each scout views players differently. I am interested to see what this organization will be next year if Gamel and Escobar are able to spend most of the year in AAA.
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jjfanec ACL Brewers

jjfanec

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Neither guy looks like a Fielder or Braun type impact player right now. In this writing I read "impact prospect" as a likely elite major league player. Both guys have serious questions yet.
I know they have questions, but I am just looking off rankings and if a guy is a top 10 prospect (which I thought was too high) like Escobar that seems like an impact player. I am okay with the statement that we don't have any impact players, because each scout views players differently. I am interested to see what this organization will be next year if Gamel and Escobar are able to spend most of the year in AAA.
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Fear The Chorizo ACL Brewers

Fear The Chorizo

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Actually, after reading through Law's rankings again, as long as a player is eligible for consideration as a rookie, they're included in his ranking system. So guys like Escobar, Gamel, etc in the Brewer system would be part of their minor leagues. I think Law interprets an impact player as a guy like Braun, Longoria, Fielder, Pujols, Howard, etc - a guy that will hit the ground running and be all-star caliber as soon as he sets foot on a major league field. In any given year, there are maybe 2-3 players in all of baseball's minor leagues who fit that bill. Low level prospects start to show signs of becoming that and replacing the blue chippers as they develop, so I think based on his ranking system, almost any team listed in the top 20 this year could be top 5 next year if their low level prospects excel.

 

He also seems to have put a lot of emphasis on who he viewed as having the best drafts in 08, which I think is being a bit risky - until prospects get challenged at higher levels of the minors, it's tough to draw accurate conclusions on major league ability.

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Fear The Chorizo ACL Brewers

Fear The Chorizo

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Actually, after reading through Law's rankings again, as long as a player is eligible for consideration as a rookie, they're included in his ranking system. So guys like Escobar, Gamel, etc in the Brewer system would be part of their minor leagues. I think Law interprets an impact player as a guy like Braun, Longoria, Fielder, Pujols, Howard, etc - a guy that will hit the ground running and be all-star caliber as soon as he sets foot on a major league field. In any given year, there are maybe 2-3 players in all of baseball's minor leagues who fit that bill. Low level prospects start to show signs of becoming that and replacing the blue chippers as they develop, so I think based on his ranking system, almost any team listed in the top 20 this year could be top 5 next year if their low level prospects excel.

 

He also seems to have put a lot of emphasis on who he viewed as having the best drafts in 08, which I think is being a bit risky - until prospects get challenged at higher levels of the minors, it's tough to draw accurate conclusions on major league ability.

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RobertR First Round Pick

RobertR

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MiLB overrates Escobar, IMO. There's upside there, but a good year at AA doesn't erase all questions about his bat. And Gamel's glove is even more of a question mark. Law doesn't have any Brewer prospect in his top 25, so he's being internally consistent. Perhaps wrong, but consistent.

 

Saying that the Brewers farm system is deep, but perhaps lacking in truly extraordinary prospects strikes me as very defensible. We could quibble over the exact rankings a bit, but the Brewers are saying that they need the extra draft picks to restock the farm system, so I don't see anything wrong with saying that the current farm system is slightly above average.

 

Robert

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RobertR First Round Pick

RobertR

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MiLB overrates Escobar, IMO. There's upside there, but a good year at AA doesn't erase all questions about his bat. And Gamel's glove is even more of a question mark. Law doesn't have any Brewer prospect in his top 25, so he's being internally consistent. Perhaps wrong, but consistent.

 

Saying that the Brewers farm system is deep, but perhaps lacking in truly extraordinary prospects strikes me as very defensible. We could quibble over the exact rankings a bit, but the Brewers are saying that they need the extra draft picks to restock the farm system, so I don't see anything wrong with saying that the current farm system is slightly above average.

 

Robert

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