Here is a look at Scouts, Inc rankings of the Major League Baseball teams, minor league systems. This is the criteria that was used in determining the rankings:

  • Players who have lost their rookie eligibility don’t count for this exercise.
  • Both ability and performance count when looking at individual players, and both ceiling and depth count when looking at systems.
  • “time value of prospects” — the idea that a prospect’s value increases significantly as he gets closer to the big leagues. So an organization like Washington, with most of its best prospects in short-season ball in 2006, scores poorly here, because those prospects are four or five years away from the majors, and the attrition rate on those kids is going to be high.

1. Tampa Bay Devil Rays 16. Chicago White Sox
2. Colorado Rockies 17. LA Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks 18. Houston Astros
4. Kansas City Royals 19. Chicago Cubs
5. NY Yankees 20. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Cleveland Indians 21. Oakland A’s
7. NY Mets 22. Florida Marlins
8. LA Angels 23.Washington Nationals
9. Milwaukee Brewers 24. Toronto Blue Jays
10. Minnesota Twins 25. Seattle Mariners
11. Detroit Tigers 26. Texas Rangers
12. Atlanta Braves 27. San Francisco Giants
13. Baltimore Orioles 28. St. Louis Cardinals
14. Boston Red Sox 29. Philadelphia Phillies
15. Cincinnati Reds 30. San Diego Padres

The beloved Boston Red Sox are at 14th. Before Theo Epstein took over as General Manager, the Red Sox routinely were in the bottom of the rankings. He has drafted very well in the past drafts and two guys that have very high ceilings are Jacob Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz have high ceilings and they should be in the majors no later than 2008. Ellsbury has been compared to Johnny Damon because of his leadoff and centerfield abilities. Buchholz has the make-up of an ace and could assume that role with the Red Sox in the near future. Buchholz has a mid-90s four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a slider, curveball, and a circle change.There are other names that the Red Sox have as well: SP Michael Bowden, 2B Dustin Pedroia (should be the starting 2B), Bryce Cox (in the closer mix this spring training), SP Daniel Bard, SP Justin Masterson, C George Kottaras, OF Jason Place, and OF David Murphy. All these names and many more came courtesy of Theo’s drafting abilities.

TechnoratiTechnorati: , , ,