So... With the addition of Chapman, where does the Reds farm rank now?

[AtomicDumpling]

Much rather have Chapman than Bumgarner. Friedrich, I am not sure about. Perez, I honestly would need to talk to my friend who is a scout and loves the Rangers to get a better feel on him first.

I would rather have Chapman over Bumgarner for sure. Bumgarner's drastic loss of velocity is a huge red flag for me. I think he is way overrated on most sites because of his high ranking last year before his loss of velocity occurred. He lost 8-10 mph off his fastball during the season. I don't think that is just fatigue.

Chapman and Perez are similar in that they have great stuff but need to learn to harness it. Perez is much younger though, so I will take Chapman over him because he is much closer to the majors.

There are some very bad mistakes in those minorleagueball.com community rankings. Much more so than last year. I am sure they will differ a lot from Sickels' final list.

[dougdirt]

I would rather have Chapman over Bumgarner for sure. Bumgarner's drastic loss of velocity is a huge red flag for me. I think he is way overrated on most sites because of his high ranking last year before his loss of velocity occurred. He lost 8-10 mph off his fastball during the season. I don't think that is just fatigue.

Chapman and Perez are similar in that they have great stuff but need to learn to harness it. Perez is much younger though, so I will take Chapman over him because he is much closer to the majors.

There are some very bad mistakes in those minorleagueball.com community rankings. Much more so than last year. I am sure they will differ a lot from Sickels' final list.

One of the major problems with the minorleagueball.com community rankings is that some rank solely on fantasy value. When that enters into the equation things like stolen bases count a lot more than they should and defense never enters the situation. The park and league you play in also come into play, things that shouldn't matter.

[AtomicDumpling]

One of the major problems with the minorleagueball.com community rankings is that some rank solely on fantasy value. When that enters into the equation things like stolen bases count a lot more than they should and defense never enters the situation. The park and league you play in also come into play, things that shouldn't matter.

Yeah that is definitely true. I realize it is largely a fantasy site, which is fine by me because I do play fantasy baseball. But even then I think those rankings are not very good. I thought they were much better last year.

The problem is everybody's vote counts the same, whether they know what they are talking about or not. Kind of like democracy. The smart votes get drowned out by the foolish votes.

[malcontent]

In fact, I'd take Chapman over everyone on that list except for maybe Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward.

I've always wondered whether the Reds would have taken Heyward at 15 if the Braves hadn't picked him at 14.

[OnBaseMachine]

I've always wondered whether the Reds would have taken Heyward at 15 if the Braves hadn't picked him at 14.

I think so. I remember reading an article just before the 2007 draft where the Reds said they were heavily interested in Heyward. Those friggin' Braves just had to take him one pick ahead of the Reds.