Organization Report

[ChrisLDuncan]

Okay my Yankee thread was a bit self serving...so this includes ALL organizations.

Which are the good ones and the bad ones? What can the bad ones do to become good ones, and what can did the good ones do to stay good or become good?


The Yankees as we all know cut the dead weight and added young arms for them which put their farm in the top ten-five catagory


Another organization that I like is the A's they always contend and make smart deals.



The ones I see in danger of becomming bad are the Padres and the Braves. The Padres have about nothing left in the farm, and the Braves had a tremendous fall from grace. They lost Mazzone who may have been the genious behind the organization, and they're going to lose Smoltz to retirement or free agency soon...I see them becomming the NL's Os


Bad organizations that I see are the Rangers and the Os

The Os are unwilling to trade Tejada even if they get offered about twice what he's worth and that's bad business

THe Rangers just seem to be stuck in a rut

[Erik Bedard]

Much as I would love for the O's to trade Tejada, especially for that sweet package the Angels offered them near the deadline, I understand why they aren't. He is their main marketing point, someone who appeals to the casual fan. It's about making money, and Tejada is the face of the franchise. However, if Markakis comes out and has a huge first half, and if Bedard has another July in May, June, or July, I would expect Tejada to be dealt.

The O's have also made some very good non-moves, such as holding on to Erik Bedard, who will be, whether you like it or not, among the upper echelon of MLB pitchers, right with Santana, Webb, and Carpenter, and not trading Adam Loewen and Daniel Cabrera, both of whom made great strides last season. If these three guys can put it all together, then this looks like a team that can compete, if not in 2007, then in 2008. They've got some tremendous talent low down on the farm in Reimold, Olsen, Liz, and Erbe. Knowing Angelos, he'll probably trade all four, plus Cabrera and Loewen, for some old injury-plagued former superstar who will suffer a career-ending injury and retire, but demand to be kept on the 40-man roster. If the O's get rid of Angelos, they are a solid organization.

[Jose Reyes]

The Mets are set at 3B, SS, and CF, for the next 5+ years. The current pitchers are old but we have young arms who could be ready within the next year or two. Pelfrey, Humber, Maine, and Perez could be the foundation for some solid future rotations. Our corner outfielders, Green and Alou, are both old bums but again there are young guys waiting to fill their shoes. Martinez, Gomez, and Milledge are all great outfield prospects. I think 2B is the only position that is in question for the future. We may have to go outside of the organization to find someone.

[milladrive]

Perhaps they're working to make things right again, but I think the one org that should be noted for being run into the ground is the Royals. Arguably the most poorly run organization of the past five years.

[Dasperp]

Perhaps they're working to make things right again, but I think the one org that should be noted for being run into the ground is the Royals. Arguably the most poorly run organization of the past five years

They don't have great depth in their systems, but they may have the best top three in baseball with Gordon, Butler, and Hochevar

[ChrisLDuncan]

I'd say that the Red Sox are straying away from the Jamesian plan that they did well with. Signing Lugo, Drew, etc they all look like bad moves. Also maybe dealing a top prospect (Ellsbury) for Helton seems silly too. Hansen wouldn't be as bad since he doesn't fit into their long term plan as well as Ellsbury does. They're still a top fifteen organization.

[PhilWings24]

A's are the best-run organization, head and shoulders above everyone in my opinion.

ChrisLDuncan, sorry to be blunt, but judging any organization on one off season is just dumb. and also, pointing out individual bad deals by the sox shows that you don't get what their philosophy is.

it's simple: build a core of good, young, cheap players so that you CAN overpay for really good players. if you have 2 solid starting pitchers, 2 solid relievers, and 3 solid position players paying for minimum wage, you canoverpay when a good player comes along.

no one has made any mention of the sox dealing an ellsbury-quality prospect for helton.

it's turning out the worst thing epstein ever could have done for his reputation was win the world series in '04. people saw how beautifully he ran things his first 2 years and collectively went "if we don't win it every year, it's cus theo just doesn't care about winning or isn't paying attention." its seriously ridiculous.

the red sox are still one of the top 5 best-run organizations in baseball in my opinion, and i find it confusing how anyone in their right mind could put them outside of the top 10. since theo took over, they've made 2 moves taht seemed dumb at the time they were made (its amazing how some people don't even TRY to limit hindsight lol), dealing bard and merdith for mirabelli was terrible, and drew's 5 year deal was bad. also, i was against the beckett deal when it was made, but i wasn't adament about it; wasn't sure what i thought.

also, dealing ellsbury wouldn't be that terrible a move, simply because manny, drew, and coco are all probably better than him, and wmp is barely worse.

anyways, my top 5 are
1. Oakland A's
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Florida Marlins. I really, depending on my mood, could put them anywhere from 2 to 10 lol

bottom 5 are
25. Brewers, although they have been imrpoving rapidly
26. Nationals
27. Cubs
28. Giants (i know they're competitive, but every year it seems like they go "we have barry. let's give 24 guys multi-million dollar deals, at random. bonds'll bail us out. i can understand someone saying this is way too harsh though)
29. Pirates
30. Royals

[cubsfan1073]

I think the Mets are going to be a great organization for the next several years. They have some great young players with experience and they have what it takes to be a contender for a long time to come.

[digglahhh]

Getting Liriano, Nathan and Bonser for A.J. Pierzynski is enough by itself to put the Twins in the discussion.

Letting Ortiz go was the only bad move I remember them making in a while, and that's a bigger folly in hindsight than it was at the time.

[Biggtone23]

Philwings, you have to look at in hindsight. The point is the deals you make today are supposed to help you win tomorrow, if they dont then you failed. Your job as a GM is not only to win today but tomorrow also.

The best organizations in no real order are the A's, Yankees, Marlins, Twins, Tigers and the Diamondbacks.

The worst are the Giants (who was the last regular position player they produced?), Orioles, Padres, Royals and Nationals.

Teams of Note:
The Cardinals have been getting a free pass for awhile because of Pujols but otherwise they haven't produced much and are really old.
The Brewers have produced some great position players lately with Fielder, Hall, Hardy, Weeks, Gwynn and Gross, if they can add another pitcher along with Sheets, Capuano and Suppan they will be one of the best.
The Devil Rays are similar with good young bats (Crawford, Baldelli, Cantu, Young, Upton) and no pitching.
The Mets are a good top ten organization, like someone mentioned earlier, with Wright, Reyes and Beltran they are set at three key positions for quite a while.

Before I finish, as seems to be the custom now, let me defend my decision to put the Yankees in the best organizations. While everyone talks of the dead fram system before this year, people forget about Cano, Wang, Cabrera and the since departed Willy Mo Pena, Dioneer Navarro and Ramon Ramierz. The few bad signings they have made were rectifed in trades. Johnson, Womack, Lofton, Felix Heredia were all mistakes that were fixed in deals for either prospects or good usable players.

[EvanAparra]

They're still a top fifteen organization.

Top 15? Dont do us any favors now..

[W_Marone]

Top 15? Dont do us any favors now..

I dont know what's goin on here, are we judging by top farm system, top MLB team, or top MLB team combined with the farm system? If that's the case I think redsox are higher than top ten. They have some good young guys down on the farm, and last time I checked they were fielding a good team aswell.

[ChrisLDuncan]

Top 15? Dont do us any favors now..


Well I didn't think out the top ten (which they are probably at)...I was just making sure I didn't assume anything ;)

[ChrisLDuncan]

As of now I think the top ten Organizations are (in no particular order)

The New York Yankees
The Oakland As
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Dodgers
The New York Mets (new ball park helps alot)
The Minnesota Twins
The Boston Red Sox
The Chicago White Sox
The Detroit Tigers
The St. Louis Cardinals

I would put the Indians on this list over the Red Sox, but their playoff drought gives Boston the edge.

[hubkittel]

The Padres have about nothing left in the farm

i keep hearing that about the padres. it seems to be the conventional wisdom but i disagree. i took a pretty close look at the padre farm system a couple of months ago and was impressed with what they had. expecting to find the cupboard bare, i was surprised to find several good arms, a couple of decent catching prospects, and two good prospects at short. add that to the youth they've already brought up and i'd argue that the padres are a good organization doing things the right way. i expect to see continued success from the pads for the foreseeable future.

[hubkittel]

The Cardinals have been getting a free pass for awhile because of Pujols but otherwise they haven't produced much and are really old.


the cards have been riding their core of pujols, edmonds, rolen, and carpenter. that's true and it's been working for them. but they've added youth in molina, reyes, wainwright, duncan, and some arms in the pen. they also have a replacement for edmonds in colby rasmus who's ready right now to contribute as a fourth outfielder but will stay on the farm for seasoning. they have another outfielder in john jay who's also just about ready. as far as pitching is concerned, they have jaime garcia, adam ottavino, and blake hawksworth who are all decent sp prospects. the cards have done an outstanding job the last two years drafting players and you'll be seeing the results as early as next year and by 09 for sure.

if you're interested in checking out what the cards have down on the farm, check out this site (https://futureredbirds.wordpress.com/). it's called 'future redbirds' and it's done by one of the guys over at viva el birdos (http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/). it's an outstanding blog.

any way you slice it, the cards have been a successful organization recently. perenial playoff appearences, profitable, strong fan base, a new stadium (that wasn't a total govt project), a rebuilt farm system, a 'reasonable' payroll, a strong management team. the cardinals are a model organization.