Sunday, January 4, 2009

Baseball America Ranks The Yanks' System 15th

Jim Callis of ESPN and Baseball America had a chat on ESPN a few days ago. After mentioning that in the Baseball America 2009 Prospect Handbook the Red Sox farm system was ranked 13th overall, Doug from New York asked him, "Since you can't give away the Sox ranking without their heated rivals, Yankees please. thanks!"

Here was his answer:
"OK, that seems fair enough. The Yankees ranked 15th."
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Last year in Baseball America's 2008 Prospect Handbook the Red Sox ranked 2nd in the farm system talent rankings and the Yanks ranked 5th.

Was it the bad years from Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz that set the team's ranking back so far? I'm sure that's part of it, but there had to be more factors involved for both teams to go from top of the heap to middle of the road. Players who were ranked high in each system are now no longer considered prospects. Like Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain on the Yankees side, and Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson on the Sox side. The Yankees also traded away prospects like Daniel McCutchen and Jose Tabata, and that couldn't have helped the rankings.

But even with all that I'm still surprised they fell as far as they did.

12 Comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe last year, Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy were considered prospects, and now they aren't?

Given that Sanchez didn't regain his velo in the AFL, his ranking could be down.

The Yankees didn't sign two of their their top three picks.

Also, they (foolishly) traded away Tabata when his value was low.

As for that other team, a number of their prospects are now on the ML roster.

Anonymous said...

Yeah what Rich said. Some players like Joba, Hughes, Robertson etc... that made the system a top 5 aren't prospects anymore.
Also consider the trade for Marte and Nady that took some quality prospects away.
Add it up and the system slipped.

But if the Yankees could get good years out of Jackson, Betances, Montero, Romine, Laird, Brett Marshall, Brackman, Garcia, McAllister.......come next year they will be a top 10 system again.

I always thought the Red Sox system was a tad overrated. They had no business being #2 last year. They system is good but NOT that good.

Greg Cohen said...

Good point guys. I still think both systems are better than middle of the road, though.

Anonymous said...

The lack of quality position players at the AAA level, the complete lack of any can't-miss stud starting pitchers, failure to sign Gerit Cole, the loss of draft picks next year from this offseason's free agent signings in addition to Rich's comments makes it easy to project the Yankees farm system as middle of the road or worse than average. What has the farm system done to improve or maintain itself from last year? Nothing.

Greg Cohen said...

Anon,

I totally agree that they've taken a step back. I have no argument there. All I'm saying is I'm surprised at how far that step has been. I figured they'd be ranked somewhere around 10th.

Greg Cohen said...

Hey guys, I posted this when I was a little, um drunk last night, so I didn't really think the post through. But after reading some of your responses I felt I had to edit the post. So if it looks different, that's why.

Rich said...

Another fairly highly rated Yankee prospect who has fallen off the radar due to injury is Alan Horne.

Actually, on another board a little over a year ago, I had proposed trading Kennedy, Tabata, and Horne for Santana. I think that was a better package than the Mets offered.

Anonymous said...

As the "Doug" from the original post by Greg, I actually agree with the previous posters. We dropped from 5 to 15 in the rankings due mainly to a couple of things: trades and graduation.

Here's our top 10 last year:
1. Joba Chamberlain, rhp
2. Austin Jackson, of
3. Jose Tabata, of
4. Ian Kennedy, rhp
5. Alan Horne, rhp
6. Jesus Montero, c
7. Jeff Marquez, rhp
8. Brett Gardner, of
9. Ross Ohlendorf, rhp
10. Andrew Brackman, rhp

Tabata, Marquez, and Ohlendorf are not in the organization because they were dealt, while Joba and Kennedy are not "prospect" eligible anymore due to playing time with the big club. So, half of our top 10 are no longer around.

As for the remaining 5 guys, Jackson is now our #1 prospect, while Montero is #2, and Brackman is #3. Horne has had injury problems and isn't even on our 40-man roster anymore. And while Gardner may be our starting CF this year, he really isn't a great prospect.

Now, here's our current top 10:
1. Austin Jackson, of
2. Jesus Montero, c
3. Andrew Brackman, rhp
4. Austin Romine, c
5. Dellin Betances, rhp
6. Zach McAllister, rhp
7. Alfredo Aceves, rhp
8. Phil Coke, lhp
9. Mark Melancon, rhp
10. Bradley Suttle, 3b

Of the above, the only one who may graduate to the majors is Coke. So barring trades (and injury of course), the other 9 guys should be on this list next year as well.

And that brings us to another reason we dropped 10 slots. When BA does their system rankings, they give greater weight to guys closer to the majors (and rightfully so as they have a better chance of having any impact at all at the major league level). Now, looking at our top 10 again, only 3 guys will begin the year at AAA Scranton (Jackson, Aceves, and Melancon), and probably only 1 at AA Trenton (McAllister). That leaves 5 guys at HiA and lower (actually, there'll all be at HiA Tampa). So, since we have a "young" top 10 experience-wise, we rank out a little lower than organizations who have more upper level prospects. As these guys gain another year of experience and move closer to the majors, we should automatically move back into the BA top 10 next year.

And looking beyond next year, Yankee fans can anticipate the team to be very highly ranked for years to come. The lower levels of our minor league system are full of "toolsy" guys who, with a little experience (and good health), should develop into top-notch prospects over the next few years. For those interested, among the names to keep an eye on are Christian Garcia, Wilkins de la Rosa, Arodys Vizcaino, Jeremy Bleich, Garrison Lassiter, Kelvin De Leon, Jairo Heredia, Ryan Zink, Carmen Angelini, Brandon Laird, and Eduardo Sosa.

Anonymous said...

Anyone think Melancon makes the team out of ST..??

Rich said...

If Melancon has a strong ST, I would hope so. Looking at his stats at SWB, in 20 IP, his WHIP was 0.75 and his K/9 was 9.9. I think he's ready, and his arm strength shouldn't be a problem.

Actually, I'd like to see Veras get traded (his command is too inconsistent), which could open up a spot for him.

Greg Cohen said...

Hey Doug,

Thanks for asking the question that's created all this interest.

And what you say about BA's rankings holding more weight to guys closer to the majors makes a lot of sense.

I also agree that the Yanks system will be good for years to come. There is a lot of good young talent at low and high A ball.

Yankee Rebel,

I think there's a slim chance he could, but knowing the Yankees they will "play it safe" and start him in AAA. But if he has a good month or two in the minors I wouldn't be surprised if he got the call.

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