Last night while Marty and Tom were yapping with each other, Marty commented that the talent level gap between AAA and the major league level has never been wider. He asserted this as something those familiar with baseball agree on.
Obviously with this banter between play by play, he didn't elaborate, but I'm not sure I concur. I think he was engaging in hyperbole. My reason for questioning it is that, IMO, for the last 10-15 years, I think we've seen a significant rise in the number of veteran players who are offered minor league contracts or who have split contracts. In some ways, it's the classic AAAA that folks mention here. I have no data on it, but I would be willing to bet that the average age of AAA players has risen in the last 20 years or so.
It would seem to me that "back in the day", players were making their ML debut at a younger age, therefore they would tend to be a little more raw than they used to be. Until Krivsky came along, in the Reds systems, it seemed that a number of our top prospects were skipping AAA or spending a brief time at AAA before coming to the big club.
NB: This isn't meant to be a thread bashing Marty. Heaven knows he gives us enough reason to do that. The intent is to foster a discussion as to whether that gap is wider than it's ever been, as Marty asserted.