Yanks rank tenth in Keith Law’s organizational rankings

February 8, 2012 by Mike Axisa 43 Comments

Keith Law posted his organizational (a.k.a. farm system) rankings today (Insider req’d), with the Yankees coming in at number ten. That’s down one spot from last year, which isn’t surprising given the Jesus Montero trade. His departure obviously took a big bite out of the system, though I’m glad to see them still in the top ten.

“I might be jumping the gun here, but I see a lot of star potential on their bottom few affiliates, including new acquisition Jose Campos from Seattle, to go with the two power arms from their Scranton club (Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances),” said KLaw with his obvious anti-Yankees bias. “The flaw in the system is the lack of near-in talent, especially position players, who could either help the big club soon or provide more fodder for trades.”

The Padres, Rays, and Blue Jays occupy the top three spots while the Marlins, Indians, and White Sox are the bottom three. The Orioles are 17th and the Red Sox are 18th, so five of the top 18 systems in the game (27.8%) are in the AL East. The Mariners, by the way, are right behind the Yankees at eleven following the addition of Montero.

Gonzo

Not bad at all. He was one of the first guys on the Mason Williams bandwagon.
Cy Pettitte

I’m good as long we beat Boston (18). That’s the important thing.

But seriously, it’s nice that we only dropped one spot in his eyes and are still in the top 1/3 after losing a prospect the caliber of Jesus
- Rainbow Connection
  
  Wouldn’t Jesus not be counted anyway? He was in the major leagues and would’ve been in 2012, too.
  - Chip
    
    He’s still a prospect since he hasn’t gotten enough bats to be considered “not a rookie”
  - Steve (different one)
    
    He probably uses rookie status as the qualification. Jesus still has his.
    - Rainbow Connection
      
      Cool. Thanks, guys.
Steve (different one)

10th without Jesus is very solid.
Esteban

Gotta figure out someway to say he’s biased against the Yankees and for the Red Sox. It’s gotta be there somewhere.
crawdaddie

I don’t know, I think he rank Oakland a little high despite the trades in which they acquired talent.
Raza

Silly Red Sox fans are always telling me that they have a better farm system. Sickels is the only one who has them ranked higher. Law and Ben Badler (twitter) have us with the better farm.
Ted Nelson

I don’t know if it’s as much anti-Yankee as pro-Red Sox… which is sort of anti-Yankee by extension. He was a year late jumping off the Red Sox bandwagon. Not to say it’s some fatal flaw… just that last year he seemed to demonstrate a bias of overvaluing Red Sox prospects perhaps based on similar taste to or connections within the Red Sox FO.
- Avi
  
  I don’t think he’s slanted towards any team but I totally agree with you on his last year’s rankings. This was Klaw’s blurb on ranking the Red Sox at #11:
  “The Sox traded away their top two prospects for Adrian Gonzalez, but boosted on the back end with three first-round talents added in the 2010 draft (their actual first-rounder, Kolbrin Vitek, plus Anthony Ranaudo and Bryce Brentz). As usual, their low-minors teams were strong, with the Greenville rotation quietly loaded with intriguing arms”
  This is what I said about it last year (in the thread) “I know a slow start to a pro career doesn’t bury a guy’s future (Bryce Brentz) but a supposed top college hitter should fare well in the New York Penn league. Brentz was godawful. Even Kolbrin Vitek they’re first rounder, was just ok. Ranaudo hasn’t thrown an inning of pro ball yet and has significant injury risk. To place the Red Sox at #11 because of these three (plus guys like Iglesias and Drake Britton) is just silly.”
  - Reggie C.
    
    If Ranaudo is healthy the RS probably have a guy who’ll probably finish the year in AAA. Ranaudo’s got mid-rotation ceiling level talent, or at least that’s always been the write-up on the man. He’s always been more a high probable prospect than projectable one.
    - Steve (different one)
      
      KLaw seems down on Renaudo now. Think he called him a back end guy in a chat.
    - Tom
      
      I think folks have soured a bit on Ranaudo… while he still gets the mid-rotation ceiling tag, I think many will admit that may be a bit optimistic (even for a ceiling).
      
      I think it’s a bit of the Casey Kelly/Jose “I hit like Enrique” Iglesias effect – there is an initial perception formed, since it’s Boston it gets reported and spread pretty widely, and then it takes a while for folks to update it (sometimes after said prospect is traded). This happens to a lesser extent with a lot of prospects and teams, it just seems more widespread in Boston
      
      Mike Newman over at Fangraphs had an interesting writeup of Brentz; he was less bullish than many and had him projected somewhere between average regular and a 4th OF.
      http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/boston-red-sox-bryce-brentz-fangraphs-scouting-repot-video/
  - Ted Nelson
    
    Yeah… I don’t think it was an intentional attempt to hype the Red Sox so much as a bias formed by believing the Red Sox were smarter than other teams and a general overlap in approach to rating players between Law and the Sox. Law likes what the Red Sox FO was doing, so he overrated them.
CMP

This is a great day in Yankeeland as the farm system got a positive report from RABer’s demigod Keith Law.

Hooray!!
Henry

Well… Mike, I must say that I don’t completely agree with you. I don’t think anything he said about the Yanks (in this particular article) that could be considered “Anti-Yankee. If anything, he applauds the potential players we have in the lower levels. All he said was that we lack true prospects in the upper levels, which is a well known fact.
- Guns of Navarone
  
  Sarcasm.
  
  Many here have complained of a perceived anti-Yankee/pro-Red Sox bias from KLaw.
  - Henry
    
    No that’s fine, and I agree, he has said many questionable things about the Yanks, I just don’t think that there was a case here of him being unbiased.
- CG
  
  Pretty sure that was sarcasm. He is poking fun at the all of the yankee fans who cry bias every time Law writes anything.
  - Urban
    
    As far as I can tell, fans of every club think Klaw has a bias against their teams and, yes, that includes Red Sox fans. 18th? They’ll be sending out a hit squad.
    - CG
      
      Haha, so true.
      
      I’m pretty sure every fan base thinks every national announcer/writer has a bias against their team.
    - http://www.twitter.com/JoeRo23 The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      “As far as I can tell, fans of every club think Klaw has a bias against their teams…”
      
      Whether or not he actually does have any bias against any particular organizations, I think people have that reaction in no small part because the guy seems to revel in being obnoxious.
      - http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com ColoYank
        
        Your Honor!
        
        We don’t see your handle much in the comments any more (I should talk!). I hope everything is well with you.
        
        http://twitter.com/JoeRo23 The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        Way late getting back to this, but thanks, all is well. Same to you.
Avi

When Klaw says “I see a lot of star potential on their bottom few affiliates” I’m assuming he’s referring to Mason Williams and Ravel Santana, cuz he’s made it pretty clear he didn’t like Bichette Jr and that he hasn’t changed his opinion on him after his pro debut.
- Gonzo
  
  He likes Campos too.
- crawdaddie
  
  That’s what I’m waiting for when Dante Jr. makes him eat his words. The same with Culver.
  - Avi
    
    I think Bichette might, Culver won’t.
  - Reggie C.
    
    Maybe Culver is a slow burn kind of prospect like Tim Beckham. That’s what i hope for anyway…
  - RetroRob
    
    I think fans get too bent when he doesn’t have glowing things to say about a specific player, but then ignore when he does have positive things to say about others. Overall, he’s liked the Yankees’ drafts, although believing they’re stronger in the middle to later rounds in grabbing talent. He simply thinks they overreached on Culver and Bichette and could have waited.
    
    I just took a spin through the comments under his rankings. Just about everyone’s convinced he’s biased against their teams.
Chip

Actually, I would have put Seattle ahead of us just because they have so much near-term pitching talent and a huge bat in Montero who should start the year in the majors.
- Tom
  
  Their system is very top heavy… after their top 5 (Montero, big 3 pitching prospects and Nick Franklin) the falloff is steep and they also don’t have as many of those high upside low minor league level guys that every organization seems to have.
Butters McGee

Whatever happened to the Royals’ system? Wasn’t it supposed to be the best system of all time not that long ago?
- Steve (different one)
  
  Well, some of the jewels graduated last year.
- RetroRob
  
  The Royals are still ranked in the top 5, and that’s even after the promotions of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Danny Duffy.
Tyrone Sharpton

This mofo Law is biased towards the Yankees. ESPN should fire him and let YES hire him…damn biased ESPN bastards
thenamestsam

This is a fantastic ranking. Obviously there is no real value in being ranked high, but it’s nice to know that people think we still have a lot of talent given the graduations in the last year+ of three guys who look like legit major leaguers or more in Nova, Noesi and Montero, with only Campos coming in outside the draft.
- Plank
  
  They lost Brackman, too. Seems like forever ago, but he was considered up there with Betances at this time last year.
  
  Impressive indeed.
  - thenamestsam
    
    Good point. I was never really a believer in him, but he was another top 10 prospect from last year who is gone.
William

To me, the DBacks have the scariest farm system, in terms of pitching. They have Bauer, Bradley, and Skaggs, even with the departure of former top prospect Jarrod Parker.
http://jukeofurl.wordpress.com Juke Early

Law is a kid from upstate NY who went to Harvard – no doubt he got turned one drunken night cruising the Charles. Just like the commies did to British boys in the 1950’s. He should be on NPR doing restaurant reviews. Regardless, of what any “expert” says — the real deal is always on the field.