State of the sox farm system

[southsider2k5]

I am not usually one for bumping old threads, but with the additions since the end of the season, is it possible we have gone from one of the worst to one of the best farm systems in baseball?

[Heads22]

I am not usually one for bumping old threads, but with the additions since the end of the season, is it possible we have gone from one of the worst to one of the best farm systems in baseball?

 

No.

[CWSGuy406]

I'd say our pitching ranks right up there among the best, but that depends on who you consider to be 'prospects'. Looking at pitchers 25 or younger, there's Sisco, Broadway, Danks, Gonzalez, Floyd, Masset, Haeger, Logan, and Perez. I understand that at least three of those guys will end up as bullpen (Perez and Logan for sure, and probably Masset), but that's still a solid group, with some fringe guys (Phillips) as well as some guys like Harrell and Egbert and McCollough with a chance to take a step up this year at Birmingham.

 

Our hitting prospects, however, is still as dismal as it was when this post was made. Honestly, there's very few guys of note in our system besides Sweeney and Fields. Cunningham is another, but besides that, we're greatly lacking in position guys.

 

That's why it irks me that the Sox didn't offer Riske arbitration. Even if he would've accepted, his salary would have been very tradeable at about $2.25 million.

[southsider2k5]

Is there any team in baseball that has a better set of pitching prospects than we do? Seriously. This is one hell of a collection of arms.

[beautox]

the yankees.

[3E8]

Is there any team in baseball that has a better set of pitching prospects than we do? Seriously. This is one hell of a collection of arms.

Unfortunately, I think two teams in our own division (Twins, Indians) have better pitching prospects than we do.

[hitlesswonder]

Unfortunately, I think two teams in our own division (Twins, Indians) have better pitching prospects than we do.

 

I agree. Look at Sickels rankings. The Indians have Miller/Lofgren and Twins Garza/Slowey and that's just at the top. The guys the Sox have brought in via trade are all B/B+ types in Sickels book at best. There's still no one at the level of Pelfrey or Hughes. And Floyd and Sisco have failed pretty abysmally in the big leagues.

 

This offseason is a huge indictment of the Sox scouting and minor league system. They've weakened the team in 2007 (and beyond in the case of McCarthy) to bring in a level of talent that should already have been in the system.

[gosox41]

This offseason is a huge indictment of the Sox scouting and minor league system. They've weakened the team in 2007 (and beyond in the case of McCarthy) to bring in a level of talent that should already have been in the system.

 

 

That's what irks me about the KW regime. The first couple of years he was here and people questioned the Sox farm system the alleged experts would jump on you saying it takes years to clean up Schu's mess. Well it's been 6 years and the system is worse then before.

 

In fact, when it came to producing young talent, Schu does cartwheels versus what KW has done. Both guys were GM's when the team was getting late picks so that's not an excuse.

 

There's something rotten going on here. Who has KW drafted that has been a difference maker? I realize KW has traded prospects for a win now philosophy, and that's fine. But of those guys traded or still with the team, who has turned out to be an above average major leaguer? How about average?

 

So far I can't think of anyone who has made a big impact, either with the Sox or with another team. And that's bad. Especially when you look at how teams with lesser resources have been above to sustain long runs of winning with a pay roll siginificantly lower then the Sox 2006 payroll.

 

So let the so-called minor league experts praise Kris Honel (no surprise a HS pitcher blew his arm out) to the mighty Royce Ring as solid picks (I remember reading how he was the most major league ready player in the draft and how KW was drafting closers before Beane) but the question to KW in regards to drafting and developing minor league talent is: What have you done for me lately??

 

I hope things improve, but it's hard to be optimistic. I realize drafting is far from an exact science but there are teams that do it and do it well. The Sox can't even be average at it. One can even argue that if the Sox had any sort of legit pitching prospects, they may not have needed to trade McCarthy.

 

 

Bob

[Flash Tizzle]

This offseason is a huge indictment of the Sox scouting and minor league system. They've weakened the team in 2007 (and beyond in the case of McCarthy) to bring in a level of talent that should already have been in the system.

So perhaps now we can all quit complimenting this "safe" draft philosophy.

 

Williams finally realizes this cycle of trading prospects for proven veterans no longer applies to the current market. We need production from within, and what we currently had prior to the recent flux of trades wouldn't have been enough for the Royals. New approaches to sustaining success are necessary. Maybe he'll finally recognize the areas of land which exist south of Mexico, as well. Lord knows we've ignored it for over a decade.

Edited December 27, 2006 by Flash Tizzle

[Heads22]

So perhaps now we can all quit complimenting this "safe" draft philosophy.

 

Williams finally realizes this cycle of trading prospects for proven veterans no longer applies to the current market. We need production from within, and what we currently had prior to the recent flux of trades wouldn't have been enough for the Royals. New approaches to sustaining success are necessary. Maybe he'll finally recognize the areas of land which exist south of Mexico, as well. Lord knows we've ignored it for over a decade.

 

Maybe we can send you to Venezuela for a year to go scout then.

[Flash Tizzle]

Maybe we can send you to Venezuela for a year to go scout then.

Hey, why not? Being a Latin American scout for the White Sox is equal to a paid vacation. No one's doing any work down there far as I can tell

[Heads22]

Hey, why not? Being a Latin American scout for the White Sox is equal to a paid vacation. No one's doing any work down there far as I can tell

 

[southsider2k5]

So perhaps now we can all quit complimenting this "safe" draft philosophy.

 

Williams finally realizes this cycle of trading prospects for proven veterans no longer applies to the current market. We need production from within, and what we currently had prior to the recent flux of trades wouldn't have been enough for the Royals. New approaches to sustaining success are necessary. Maybe he'll finally recognize the areas of land which exist south of Mexico, as well. Lord knows we've ignored it for over a decade.

 

That's what I don't get. The Sox get crap for drafting "safe" guys who are years away from the majors, over "stuff" guys who are even further away, and much less sure, yet when we trade for the same kind of guys, who are on the cusp of the majors, instead of just out of college, HS, or the barrio, they get crap about that too. Pretty much every guy Kenny Williams has brought in in the last few months has been a high risk, high potential reward, "stuff" guy.

[BamaDoc]

I actually like bringing in the former high draft pick who looks like he is going to pan out. The high picks are normally "stuff" guys and someone else has already paid the signing bonus.

Edited December 27, 2006 by BamaDoc

[YASNY]

I actually like bringing in the former high draft pick who looks like he is going to pan out. The high picks are normally "stuff" guys and someone else has already paid the signing bonus.

 

Exactly. You can't teach 'heat'.

[Hangar18]

FWIW, there was a recent blurb in the Tribune where Ozzie said that the Sox are going to start to scout Latin America better in order to try and find some players. Maybe that's one of the good things about having Ozzie as our manager.

 

 

Shouldnt we have been doing that more in the first place?

Maybe we should follow the lead of a couple of other teams .......... build a glorified soup kitchen down there, give away free gloves, and hope someone pans out