Teams With Better Farm Systems Than The Reds

[New Fever]

I have been checking around different sites and the consensus is that the Reds farm has improved quite a bit. People are saying that it is anywhere between 10 to 20. Would you guys thinks this is about right? What farm systems would you rate over the Reds and why. Only judge players in the minor leagues now.

[toledodan]

i agree we are somewhere between 10-20. that is a big improvement from a few seasons ago. the only problem is we are closer to 20 than 10.

[dougdirt]

I would probably put the Reds somewhere between 15-20. The problem is the lack of depth still. They are stacked at the top between Bailey, Bruce, Votto, but after Wood and Cueto the talent level starts to drop off. Its a little early to count out the guys drafted this year, but its also to early to say any of them are real prospects. I mean I would think its almost a consensus idea that 1-5 include Bailey, Bruce, Votto, Wood and Cueto in some sort of order. After that, there are a bunch of guys who you can almost just mix and match and it almost makes sense.

[IslandRed]

I would probably put the Reds somewhere between 15-20. The problem is the lack of depth still.

Exactly. Bailey and Bruce might be the best pitcher-hitter tandem of any system, but the depth isn't there. Particularly with pitching. The performance gauntlet and injury potential of pitching prospects is so high, a team needs to start with a fistful of good arms for every one it expects to deliver to the show.

[New Fever]

So what teams in the central would you rate over the Reds and why?

[LoganBuck]

Pittsburgh. They have good arms throughtout their system. However that has been true for several years now, and what have they done with them?

[dougdirt]

The Brewers. They have one of the best systems in baseball. They have depth and talent.

[Doc. Scott]

The Brewers. They have one of the best systems in baseball. They have depth and talent.

Eh... I'd say Milwaukee's entering a downcycle. Fielder, Weeks, Hart, etc. are all in the bigs. Who's really left? Off the top of my head I can recall the Huntsville Stars, the Brewers' AA affiliate, being the worst team in the Southern League this year.

[dougdirt]

Ryan Braun, Yovanni Gallarado, Mark Rogers (despite his problems, he is a legit prospect), Jeremy Jefress may have been drafted this year, but I really like what I see, Will Inman and I personally really like Angel Salome (small catcher, but I just like him, dont know why). Graduating Weeks, Feilder and Hart hurts them but they still have quite a handful of guys in the system that are keeping them ahead of the Reds....at least in my opinion.

[New Fever]

The Reds seem to be ahead of Pittsburgh in my mind because we are a lot stronger in our top 5 prospects and Pittsburgh doesn't have much depth either. Milwaukee is very solid even with the graduations because of their depth. St.Louis has the worst system in our division. The Cubs have fallen a lot and they have been highly overatted because the system hasn't produce much outside of Matt Murton. The Astros graduated Hirsch but still have Hunter Pence and a couple other guys. My Rankings would be:


1. Brewers
2. Reds
3. Pirates
4. Astros
5. Cubs
6. Cardinals

The Brewers and the Reds are very close though because we look a lot better at the top but they have a little more depth.