The farm isn't barren

The Reds have position pkayers in the minors...no budding superstars maybe but for fun I assembled a roster. Add your own...or make fun of mine. I think this team could make headway if it played the Stros, Padres or Fish.

Billy Hamilton CF
Jesse Winker LF
Yorman Rodriguez RF
Donald Lutz OF
Felix Perez OF
Neftali Soto 1b
Henry Rodriguez 2b
Zach Vincej SS
Seth Mejias-Brean 3b
Devon Lohman Inf
David Vidal Inf
Tucker Barnhart C
Joe Hudson C

Tony Cingrani SP
Sharky Rogers SP
Robert Stephenson SP
Drew Cisco SP
Daniel Corcino SP
Amir Garrett SP-RP
Curtis Partch RP
El'Hajj Muhammed RP
Nick Travieso SP-RP
Ishmael Guillon RP
Jacob Johnson SP-RP
Sal Romano SP-RP

The only rule to thus is assemble your best 25 man roster.
I left out retreading major leaguers like Yohan Pino
I also left off a lot of low level guys but some players currently scuffling made it on orojection. I feel like the Reds farm has a couple starters and a lot of utility guys to feed the big club but outside of YR Billy and Winker there a couple more who might have a couple really good years in them...HRod...Lutz and Perez.

Pitching is where the strength lies.

I'll give it a shot. All prospect team.

Hamilton CF
H-Rod 2B
Winker DH
Lutz LF
Y-Rod RF
Soto 1B
Rahier 3B
Barnhart C
J. Perez SS

Lohman IF
Hudson C
Arias U
Waldrop OF

Cingrani (1)
Stephenson (2)
Corcino (3)
Contreras (4)
Travieso (5)
Rogers
Romano
Cisco
Guillon
Moscot
Langfield
Garrett (CL)

No 27+ y/o minor leaguers need apply.

Next guys in line:.

Position Players - Gelalich, Mejias-Brean, Vidal
Pitchers - Villareal, Crabbe, Ravin

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Originally Posted by mth123

I'll give it a shot. All prospect team.

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I love this idea; surprised we don't do it more often. It's fun and seems like a good way to get a sense of the talent that isn't so focused on development timelines.

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Originally Posted by RedsManRick

I love this idea; surprised we don't do it more often. It's fun and seems like a good way to get a sense of the talent that isn't so focused on development timelines.

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I totally agree. Great thread

mth...I like that your team is different...I completely forgot about Junior Arias and also Juan Perez. I'd modify my team to fit both and I also think Van Loek should make the staff...mostly for off season basketball but he hasn't been too shabby pitching either. I thought his height would cause mechanical problems and control issues but that hasn t happened so far.

I thought Steve Selsky was developing pretty good but this year he is lost at AA.

Seems to be a hitting curse on Pensacola...Selsky is lost, Vidal has started badly, Lutz was hitting poorly despite being called up. Leaving hitters heaven and playing in a much more neutrak league has taken the starch out of Theo, guy can't buy his way on board to use his speed. Barnhart and to a smaller extent Smith and Lohman are the only guys at or above what was expected.

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Originally Posted by RedlegJake

Seems to be a hitting curse on Pensacola...Selsky is lost, Vidal has started badly, Lutz was hitting poorly despite being called up. Leaving hitters heaven and playing in a much more neutrak league has taken the starch out of Theo, guy can't buy his way on board to use his speed. Barnhart and to a smaller extent Smith and Lohman are the only guys at or above what was expected.

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Totally forgot about Bryson Smith. Might need to bump Arias for him. It's close and Arias has more upside, but I think Smith has useful 4th OF written all over him. Similar to Chris Heisey IMO. It's close.

Problem with this organization has been a fetish for 4th OF types at the expense of solid corner OF bats. Their strange fascination for infielders with a utility ceiling is not far behind.

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Originally Posted by corkedbat

Problem with this organization has been a fetish for 4th OF types at the expense of solid corner OF bats. Their strange fascination for infielders with a utility ceiling is not far behind.

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I don't think its at the expense of at all. Reds have concentrated on pitching with high picks. Its not like they passed on super prospects to take a utility man. They passed many times on hitters to take pitching inside and they nabbed some high ceiling hitters like Grandal and Alonso and Hamilton and Winker too. Its not easy drafting guys you can predict will wont be studs. What you see as fascination with 4th OFers and utility guys is the normal weeding and winnowing process. Every single team has the same thing happening but only a couple have had as productive asystem in the last 5 years.

Disagree on the budding superstars...

Any pitcher who projects as a starter at the MLB level to me is a superstar....:D

1.) Cingrani..
2.) Corcino
3.) Rogers
4.) Stephenson.


All four look to be ontrack to pitch in the majors as a starter..

Other than that the farm is solid if not spectacular.

The Reds farm system is ranked 23rd in the MLB power rankings. I'm sure various publications' rankings will vary, but I doubt any of them would have the Reds ranked very far from that number.

That's not very good. Just sayin'.

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Originally Posted by SpiritofStLouis

The Reds farm system is ranked 23rd in the MLB power rankings. I'm sure various publications' rankings will vary, but I doubt any of them would have the Reds ranked very far from that number.

That's not very good. Just sayin'.

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The reason it's ranked so low is because Uncle Walt has traded away the majority of his AA/AAA prospects who were ranked. Would you rather have Latos or the 3 prospects and Edison, also Sean Marshall is a key piece which prospects played a key role in. Add in Frazier who is our everyday 3rd baseman and Mes. who is the back up catcher are now in the majors.

I agree it could be better as I think they drafted a lot of filler guys who don't have high level talent but where advanced college players who were good ball players.

We still have Cingrani, Stephenson, Hamilton, Rogers, and Barnhart. All who will play in the majors within 2 to 3 years, and stand a good chance at being starters.

And what do you think happens to the Cards system in a couple years? All that top tier talent has to play or br traded because of free agent rrules to prevent hoarding Spirit. A couple years ago the Reds Cards farm rankings were reversed. Time is both blessing and curse in the farm system. Play em trade em or lose em. That's why few systems remain on top very long. The Reds just finished up the trade em/play em end of that cycle and are reloading. I like the system given its point in that cycle. In 2 years the Cards will be in the same lower rank due to this process...the Reds will be much higher.

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Originally Posted by RedlegJake

And what do you think happens to the Cards system in a couple years? All that top tier talent has to play or br traded because of free agent rrules to prevent hoarding Spirit. A couple years ago the Reds Cards farm rankings were reversed. Time is both blessing and curse in the farm system. Play em trade em or lose em. That's why few systems remain on top very long. The Reds just finished up the trade em/play em end of that cycle and are reloading. I like the system given its point in that cycle. In 2 years the Cards will be in the same lower rank due to this process...the Reds will be much higher.

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I agree about the nature of farm systems, as it pertains to fluctuation.

I disagree that in a couple years the Cardinals' system will drop significantly. Their AAA and AA teams are well stocked with young talent (both in first place, FWIW). Their high A team is average, but in fairness, they have promoted 6 players to AA since the start of the season. Their low A team is in 2nd place and have several players doing very well.

Last year's draft was widely considered their best in 10 years and they have 4 picks in the top 100 this year. They also have made great strides in their foreign scouting and have spent a lot of money on players like Taveras and Martinez.

As for the big team, assuming they let Westbrook walk after this year and fill his spot with one of the starters currently in the bullpen, their rotation is set for 4 years (injuries notwithstanding), with Wainright being the only starter over 25.

As for their position players, other than Beltran, who they might not re-up after this year, only Holliday and Molina are over 30. They'll probably replace Kozma (Jackson, in AAA, is hitting .350 and considered a better fielder). Wong was being groomed to take over next year at 2B, and is considered the team's best 2B prospect in forever, but with Carpenter's emergence, he might have to sit.

The difference in the new front office regime is that the farm system has gotten deep enough that they can gamble on high risk / high reward talent. The old regime got mired in picking " safe " players, and you never get the potential all star type talent drafting that way.

Off the top of my head, the only two players I might feature more prominently are Waldrop and Tim Crabbe.

I'm not certain that I'd rate Waldrop over Yorman, but I'm not certain that I wouldn't, either.

Crabbe has always been a good-stuff guy lacking consistency. This year, he's been much more consistent. Enough to put himself in the photo, anyway, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by mace

Off the top of my head, the only two players I might feature more prominently are Waldrop and Tim Crabbe.

I'm not certain that I'd rate Waldrop over Yorman, but I'm not certain that I wouldn't, either.

Crabbe has always been a good-stuff guy lacking consistency. This year, he's been much more consistent. Enough to put himself in the photo, anyway, in my opinion.

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Yorman has dropped back down to earth and is struggling to hit .250 or walk.
I know he is young.....so there is that.

Yeah. I'm disappointed with the current state of the Reds farm system.

It's barren.

I'd say there are four prospects that matter and 2 who are on the cusp:

Hamilton, Winker, Stephenson and Cingrani matter. They each carry significant trade value and project to be impact players at the big league level.

Corcino and Travieso are on the cusp- they could go either way.

At this point, no one else would remotely get consideration to be a Top 250 prospect. Hence no one else would be likely to make the average team's Top 10 prospects list. Our farm system is below average. However given the current state of the big club, that's OK. And hopefully it gets an infusion of talent with next month's draft.

When I look at the farm, I look for development and age levels. What I see is a lot more hopeful than the "it's barren" view. We've got some important players putting up some very good Mays after bad starts--Waldrop, HRod, LaMarre, and Lohman just for starters.

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Originally Posted by Benihana

I'd say there are four prospects that matter and 2 who are on the cusp:

Hamilton, Winker, Stephenson and Cingrani matter. They each carry significant trade value and project to be impact players at the big league level.

Corcino and Travieso are on the cusp- they could go either way.

At this point, no one else would remotely get consideration to be a Top 250 prospect. Hence no one else would be likely to make the average team's Top 10 prospects list. Our farm system is below average. However given the current state of the big club, that's OK. And hopefully it gets an infusion of talent with next month's draft.

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Exactly. Seeing a farm system somewhat depleted is NOT a big deal. Where would a top prospect even PLAY on the MLB club right now? We've got a window of a couple of years to rebuild the farm system before we'll really "need" the farm system.

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Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Exactly. Seeing a farm system somewhat depleted is NOT a big deal. Where would a top prospect even PLAY on the MLB club right now? We've got a window of a couple of years to rebuild the farm system before we'll really "need" the farm system.

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Left field. Shortstop. Third base. And who can't use more pitching? I would even add catcher to that list.

Also consider the Reds are likely to get a second first round pick this year with the departure of Choo, and then can likely only hold on to one of Bailey/Latos, and that means another bonus first rounder. So the system is looking at four first rounders in the next two years, and this year's draft. I would say there is plenty of reason to think the system will be stocked back up after having to trade assets (which is half the reason you have a farm system in the first place) to get players such as Marshall/Latos/Choo

You can go thru and ID some prospects, but relative to other teams....it's barren.

I think you have to be careful about dismissing a few of the well regarded players that had bad starts. I think the top 25 is still pretty strong when you allow for the whole season to play out. It will be interesting to hear from the development guys if they get interviewed this year.

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Originally Posted by mdccclxix

I think you have to be careful about dismissing a few of the well regarded players that had bad starts. I think the top 25 is still pretty strong when you allow for the whole season to play out. It will be interesting to hear from the development guys if they get interviewed this year.

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Agree. I take it that if guys are having difficulty at the beginning of the year it probably means we've gotten the levels right. Have to watch how the year develops and with an eye toward the ages. Seeing who can adjust to and handle the particular level--and at what age--is what minor league baseball is all about.