We're going to keep chugging through the top-15 lists today. And if you think we're skipping your favorite team, remember that Dave and I will be diong side-by-side lists for a few of the top farm systems in the game- Kansas City, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and the Yankees. But we'll be leaving those posts for last, so before we get into the elite farm systems and the top-100 lists, I thought we would continue our team-by-team lists today. I'll keep posting these lists over the next few days, so expect to see the aforementioned side-by-side lists and our top-100 lists some time next week.
NEW YORK METS
1) RHP Jennry Mejia
2) SS/3B Wilmer Flores
3) RHP Matt Harvey
4) OF Cesar Puello
5) 2B Reese Havens
6) 3B Aderlin Rodriguez
7) OF Kirk Neiuwenhuis
8) LHP Juan Urbina
9) OF Fernando Martinez
10) 1B/OF Lucas Duda
11) OF Cory Vaughn
12) OF Darrell Ceciliani
13) RHP Jeurys Familia
14) RHP Erik Goeddel
15) RHP Akeel Morris
This system is pretty much the result of the Wilpon ownership's insistence on not paying above slot recommendations in the draft. They've done a really strong job in Latin America over the years, with Mejia, Flores, Puello, Rodriguez, Urbina, Martinez and Familia all being a result of that work, but this system could be consistently strong like their city rival's or Boston's if they did more with the draft. The top-4 here is pretty solid, with Mejia, Flores and Harvey all regarded as consensus top-100 prospects, and many have Puello on their lists as well. Havens could easily join that group if he can stay healthy, too, given that injuries have been the main thing holding him back. Beyond those guys, there's a bevy of interesting outfielders and some big-armed pitchers, but they're all pretty raw outside of Nieuwenhuis and Martinez, who may end up as fourth outfielders, though. There are some nice prospects in this system, but the depth isn't great and this is somewhere that Sandy Alderson presumably plans on addressing.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
1) OF Domonic Brown
2) 1B Jonathan Singleton
3) RHP Jarred Cosart
4) RHP Brody Colvin
5) RHP Trevor May
6) LHP Jesse Biddle
7) C Sebastian Valle
8) OF Jiwan James
9) RHP Julio Rodriguez
10) OF Aaron Altherr
11) RHP J.C. Ramirez
12) OF Domingo Santana
13) RHP Vance Worley
14) 2B Cesar Hernandez
15) OF Leandro Castro
It's pretty astonishing that this system is as good as it is. They traded away Cliff Lee for scraps and gave up good pieces to land Roy Oswalt, and yet this is still among the very best farm systems in the game. Ruben Amaro has made some iffy moves as GM (ahem, Ryan Howard, ahem), but you can't deny that his club's done an absolutely fantastic job of drafting and developing players. In 2008, they drafted Cosart, May, Worley, Rodriguez and two other players that turned into key trade chips: Anthony Gose and Jason Knapp. Oh, and that's while wasting their first two picks on Anthony Hewitt and Zach Collier, both of whom have struggled greatly in the minors. In 2009, they hit on Colvin, Singleton and Altherr with their seventh-, eight- and ninth-round picks, respectively. You have to wonder if teams will begin to follow suit and target a large number of high-risk/high-reward prospects in the draft, which has been Philly's apparent strategy in recent years.
FLORIDA MARLINS
1) 3B Matt Dominguez
2) 1B/OF Christian Yelich
3) LHP Chad James
4) LHP Brad Hand
5) LHP Rob Rasmussen
6) SS Osvaldo Martinez
7) RHP Jhan Martinez
8) LHP Michael Dunn
9) OF Scott Cousins
10) RHP Jose Ceda
11) C Kyle Skipworth
12) OF Marcell Ozuna
13) RHP Josh Hodges
14) RHP Arquimedes Caminero
15) C J.T. Realmuto
There are pretty much two ways that you can look at this system. You ca take the positive route, and say that the system is simply going through a downswing after the graduations of Mike Stanton, Logan Morrison and Gaby Sanchez. Or you ca take the negative route, and note that there's minimal star power in the system and zero premium prospects either, both major issues for a team that depends so much on internal player development. Even after graduating two elite prospects and another solid one, that shouldn't justify a drop to the bottom of the farm system rankings. Dominguez is a great glove and should emerge as a good regular but his bat is pretty iffy, and people have soured on James a little after a rough full-season debut. This is arguably the worst farm system in baseball outside of Milwaukee, I would have to say.