Keith Law: "by far the worst (farm) system I've ever seen"

[UndertheHalo]

I really don't get the butt hurt over the Simmons trade. With Newcomb and Ellis the Angels farm is still the worst in baseball. We got a good young MLB player. Newcomb might not ever be described as that. Odds are stacked even more against Ellis. It was a good trade, one Eppler had to pull the trigger on. Simmons might play short for us for 10 years. 5 for sure.

[UndertheHalo]

It's like you have two lottery tickets. One them has a 20 percent chance of being a 20 million dollar winner, a 60 percent chance of being a 5 million dollar winner and 20 percent chance of being a complete bust. The other ticket is 70% a complete bust 30% 10 million. But hey someone comes up to u and offers you 12 million right now for both tickets. You are retarded if you don't take the 12 million.

[Glen]

So, what teams' farm systems are almost as bad as ours and rank 25-29?

[Blarg]

So, what teams' farm systems are almost as bad as ours and rank 25-29?

Subscribe to Keith Law's insider page and all will be revealed.

[nate]

Toronto Detroit Baltimore Seattle Miami

[NrM]

I really don't get the butt hurt over the Simmons trade. With Newcomb and Ellis the Angels farm is still the worst in baseball. We got a good young MLB player. Newcomb might not ever be described as that. Odds are stacked even more against Ellis. It was a good trade, one Eppler had to pull the trigger on. Simmons might play short for us for 10 years. 5 for sure.

 

A top prospect is more valuable when you have no farmsystem after him.

 

It was a terrible trade.

[Mark68]

I really don't get the butt hurt over the Simmons trade. With Newcomb and Ellis the Angels farm is still the worst in baseball. We got a good young MLB player. Newcomb might not ever be described as that. Odds are stacked even more against Ellis. It was a good trade, one Eppler had to pull the trigger on. Simmons might play short for us for 10 years. 5 for sure.

I think the point was is that we traded our best (only?) asset (and had to add another, besides) to get someone to play a position we didn't have an immediate need for. It may end up being a good trade, Newcomb could end up not making the majors or sucking if he does, and Simmons may become a decent hitter to go with his outstanding defense.

 

I was opposed to the trade just based on what was given up.

[beatlesrule]

We all knew the farm was bad so this shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.

[NrM]

We all knew the farm was bad so this shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.

 

"Worst I've ever seen" 

 

kind of shocking.

[beatlesrule]

A top prospect is more valuable when you have no farmsystem after him.

 

It was a terrible trade.

 

[Angel Oracle]

I wasn't so much against the trade, as the org already had a lot of LHP and Ellis had decent to solid promise and nothing more.

But I was against not following up AT ALL on it, with either a LF acquisition that didn't reek of suckage or backend reliever who didn't either.

Nava/Gentry?    Tossed Salad/Al Al?    Meh times two

Edited February 10, 2016 by Angel Oracle

[bloodbrother]

A historically bad farm system and a bloated payroll with little talent to show for it. This team is in some pretty bad shape going forward. That's ok though, as Arte told us from his yacht, they're doing the best they can!

[Angel Oracle]

Arte is now into participation ribbons.

[eaterfan]

I can't stand Keith Law, he is Boston homer.  That being said, he isn't wrong that the system is really bad.

 

"Worse" is completely subjective but yes, it sucks.

 

I find Law pretty unbiased. But if you think he's a Boston homer then he must do a great job of hiding his bias. He grew up in New York as a Yankees fan. So pretty much the opposite of what you think.

[Dreams]

No reason to panic yet, but come mid-season and we're tanking (more than 10 games back) by all means it is time to sell and rebuild.  

[Oz27]

So, what teams' farm systems are almost as bad as ours and rank 25-29?

Despite the fact somebody has to be next to us in the rankings, the gap between us and number 29 in terms of talent levels must be gigantic.

[Stradling]

A top prospect is more valuable when you have no farmsystem after him.

It was a terrible trade.

What made it a bad trade is including Aybar. Didn't need to include him to get the deal done. Could have moved him to another team and gotten a prospect or kept him to play 2nd base.

[Inside Pitch]

The comment about the Simmons trade is indicative of just how dysfunctional this organization is right now....at a time when we have few prospects, we trade our two best for a nice player at a position that, at least for now, needed no upgrade...that, in and of itself is bad, but if the trade were made with the idea that we're going for it now, we're all in, it would be more tolerable....but we're not, we've essentially shut down any FA spending, for the third straight offseason....I guess I've become a Negative Nancy but I just don't get it....maybe there is a secret plan....right....

 

For me the comment about the Simmons trade is indicative of how bad the farm system was before the trade.   Chris Ellis isn't good enough to rank in the top 100, he's ranked as the 10 best pitching prospect in the Braves system, but our system is so awful that a guy like Chrs Ellis, essentially the 2016 version or Barret Browning, Tobin Mason, or Steven Shell was our second best prospect.  If you're an Angels prospect hound those names likely ring a bell.  If they don't -- that's sort of my point.

 

It's doubtful Newcomb was enough to lift the Angels system any higher than 29th out of 30.   Of all the issues the Angels have, the farm system is going to take the most amount of time and require the greatest amount of luck to pan out.   We are in a situation where every single player in the system with a hint of tools or ability has to pan out to overcome the normal attrition rates.   Jones, Abbott, Smith, etc etc -- they need to develop or it's nuclear winter.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Inside Pitch

[NrM]

Full list

 

1.Braves

2.Dodgers

3.Twins

4.Cubs

5.Brewers

6.Philies

7.Rockies

8.Pirates

9.Rangers

10.Redsox

11.Indians

12.Reds

13.Yankees

14.Rays

15.Nationals

16.Mets

17.Astros

18. A's

19.Cards

20.Padres

21.Giants

22.White Sox

23.Royals

24.Dbacks

25.Blue Jays

26.Tigers

27.Orioles

28.Mariners

29.Marlins

 

 

 

 

 

30.Angels

 

http://www.hngn.com/articles/177911/20160210/mlb-atlanta-braves-los-angeles-dodgers-sit-atop-espn-insider-keith-law-s-farm-system-rankings.htm

 

 

 

 

[Inside Pitch]

**** Keith law, he stole my thunder

 

There is still room for you to fawn over Jerry and pretend he has no part in the state of the farm system...    

Edited February 10, 2016 by Inside Pitch

[Angelsjunky]

F'n Dipoto. Great job drafting, jackass.

 

It's like you have two lottery tickets. One them has a 20 percent chance of being a 20 million dollar winner, a 60 percent chance of being a 5 million dollar winner and 20 percent chance of being a complete bust. The other ticket is 70% a complete bust 30% 10 million. But hey someone comes up to u and offers you 12 million right now for both tickets. You are retarded if you don't take the 12 million.

 

This is actually pretty good.

[Stradling]

It's crazy people watch Aybar last year and didn't see the need to upgrade short stop. Just because he's under contract another year doesn't mean it wasn't a position of need. Simmons is going to be great to watch the next five years.

[NrM]

There is still time for you to fawn over Jerry and pretend he has no part in the state of the farm system...    

 

He doesn't...He's kept this team afloat by making some great trades.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Poozy

[Docwaukee]

It's an awful farm system. 

 

Stupid lame annoying high floor draft for position players. 

 

But here is something interesting to consider.  Here are our top 20 from 2013 when we were also ranked as the worst system

Cowart

Maronde

Grichuck

Cron

Lindsey

Alvarez

Calhoun

Yarbrough

Jiminez

Schugel

Austin Wood

Sappington

Clevinger

Witherspoon

Tillman

Stamets

Walsh

Sherman Johnson

Hinkle

 

with the just missed list including Bedrosian, Geltz, and a couple other guys with outside shots at being major leaguers. 

 

Now granted, I would kill to have that farm system right now.  But sometimes prospects actually end up better that expected. 

 

We just need all of ours to exceed expectations and then we'd have a system that was in the lower third instead of dead last.

[Stradling]

He doesn't...He's kept this team afloat by making some great trades.

Poozy you could have drafted better than Dipoto.