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FROM
THE DESK OF THE COMMISH |
February 12, 2003
A Completely Unbiased BDBL
Farm Analysis
Throughout
the years, no facet of the game we play has elicited more heated message board debate than
the farm system. In a few short weeks, I'll be posting my annual study on which team
currently owns the best farm system in the BDBL, based upon the ratings of independent
minor league analysts. While we all wait for Baseball America to post their top-100
list, I thought it might be fun to answer the question: which franchise has owned the most
successful farm team in the BDBL to date?
The BDBL is now five years old, so it's safe to say that
enough time has passed that we can now make a fair assessment of our farm teams throughout
league history. The question is how we go about doing so. Rather than spend
hours upon hours collecting win shares or VORP numbers, I decided to do a more subjective
study instead. Now, I know that opens me up for more unsubstantiated
"propaGlander" name-calling, so I will try to be as objective as possible.
To help me with my rankings, I created what I call the
"Glander Farm Rating System" (or GoFeRS). Okay, I made that name up just
now. Really, all I did was create a big spreadsheet containing every player to ever
grace a BDBL farm team throughout the past four seasons. I then assigned a rating to
each player in the following manner:
5 points - "Impact" players for
at least one BDBL season.
3 points - "Useful" players for at least one BDBL season.
2 points - "Potentially useful" players over the next two BDBL
seasons.
-1 point - "WORS", or Waste of Roster Space.
There were many players who fell into none of the above
categories. For those players, I simply assigned them zero points. Of course,
my definition of "useful" or "impact" may not coincide with your
definition, but that's what makes this exercise so much fun! I realize this isn't
the most scientific system in the world, but what do you expect from me on short notice?
I included only players that appeared on a team's farm, and
only those players that were acquired prior to this year. If a player was acquired
during the 2002 season, I considered him eligible for the "Potentially useful"
category, but not the "WORS" category. My reasoning for doing so was that
it's easier to identify potentially useful players after only one year's worth of time
than it is to identify minor league flops. Below is a summary of my analysis for
each franchise, ranked by total number of points. I've started with the lowest
ranking first.
Franchise: Gillette Swamp Rats
Total GoFeRS points: -3
Impact players: none
Useful players: Rafael Furcal, Chris Reitsma
Potentially useful players: Brandon Larson, Hideki Matsui
WORS: Nate Bump, Michael Coleman, Jose Fernandez, Nelson Figueroa, Adrian
Hernandez, Brandon Kolb, Chad Meyers, Toe Nash, Ben Norris, Luke Prokopec, Steve Rain,
Brian Reith, Jake Westbrook
Summary: If the Swamp Rats farm club were a real farm, it would have been
foreclosed a long time ago. Only six players in four years have come through the
Gillette system to become useful or potentially useful players. That's not good.
On the bright side, the Swamp Rats should see their first-ever impact player
cultivated on their farm when Godzilla rampages New York City this summer.
Franchise: Manchester Irish Rebels
Total GoFeRS points: -2
Impact players: none
Useful players: Olmedo Saenz
Potentially useful players: Hank Blalock, Joe Borchard, Aaron Heilman,
Corey Patterson
WORS: Chris Bootcheck, Roosevelt Brown, Tyrell Godwin, Dicky Gonzalez,
Daylon Holt, M.Kida, Darnell McDonald, John McDonald, Mike Nannini, Ruben Quevedo, Dernell
Stenson, Brett Stentz
Summary: The Irish Rebels look even worse than the Swamp Rats, don't
they? Hey, I never said the GoFeR system was perfect! Manchester has
successfully harvested just one useful player on their farm in four years - and that
player is useful only in a platoon role. The four potentially useful players could
all very well join Saenz within the next year, though only one of them is still with the
Manchester organization. (If you're wondering, Blalock was released by Manchester
during the 2000 season in order to pick up all-glove-no-hit shortstop John
McDonald.) On the positive side, the Irish Rebels do have some hope at the lower
levels of their farm club with Miguel Cabrera, Jeff Francis, Scott Kazmir, Adam Loewen and
Jason Neighborgall.
Franchise: Cleveland Rocks
Total GoFeRS points: 2
Impact players: Ramon Ortiz
Useful players: Brendon Donnelly
Potentially useful players: Joe Crede
WORS: Morgan Burkhart, Brent Butler, Pat Flury, Josh Girdley, Nathan
Haynes, Jim Morris, Mario Valdez, Matt White
Summary: The Cleveland farm philosophy seems to be to target older,
established prospects. Yet very few of those older prospects have helped the Rocks
franchise as of yet. I'm sure that Mike Stein would argue for the inclusion of Andy
VanHekkan on the "Potentially useful" list, so if you agree, give the Rocks
another two points. Either way, they're still ranked 22nd in the BDBL.
Franchise: Nashville Funkadelic
Total GoFeRS points: 8
Impact players: none
Useful players: Kaz Ishii, Doug Mientkiewicz, C.C. Sabathia
Potentially useful players: Wilson Betemit, Marlon Byrd, Toby Hall, Tim
Redding, Juan Rivera
WORS: Casey Blake, Jamie Brown, Brent Butler, Calvin Chipperfield, Brian
Cole, Brian Fuentes, Curtis Goodwin, Jason Hart, Corey Lee, Corey Myers, Rob Ramsey
Summary: The condition of this franchise's farm system can hardly be
blamed on current owner Steve Osborne. Years before Osborne took over, this
franchise was run by an ownership that was so apathetic to their farm club, they carried a
deceased player (Cole) on their farm roster for over a year. There's a good chance
that the five players listed as "potentially useful" will all be listed among
the first two categories within the next two years. Newly-acquired pickup Arnaldo
Munoz could join them as well.
Franchise: Kansas Law Dogs
Total GoFeRS points: 8
Impact players: none
Useful players: Corey Bailey, Shea Hillenbrand, Doug Mientkiewicz
Potentially useful players: Ryan Bukvich, Carl Crawford, Bobby Crosby,
Mike MacDougal
WORS: Rob Bell, Seth Greisinger, Junior Guerrero, Chad Hermanson, Jackson
Melian, Brian Sanches, Ramon Santiago, Kyle Snyder, Kevin Witt
Summary: Kansas GM Chris Luhning's farm strategy has been to load up on
Kansas City Royals prospects. Sometimes this has worked (Bukvich, MacDougal),
sometimes it hasn't (Guerrero, Sanches, Snyder), and the jury is still out on guys like
Angel Berroa, Jeromy Affeldt and Colt Griffin. When Luhning steers away from Royals,
he's nabbed some quality prospects. In the lower levels of the Kansas farm, the Law
Dogs have guys like Scott Hairston, David Wright and John Ford-Griffin (who's no longer
with the club.) Add to that the newly-acquired Dallas McPherson and Jose Lopez, and the
'Dogs farm could be on the rise over the next couple of years.
Franchise: Allentown Ridgebacks
Total GoFeRS points: 9
Impact players: Roy Oswalt
Useful players: Kaz Ishii, Kip Wells, Brad Wilkerson
Potentially useful players: Jesse Foppert, Colby Lewis, Jacob Peavy,
Seung Song, Jerome Williams
WORS: Wily Aybar, Kevin Bierne, Gino Chiramonte, Jin-Ho Cho, Jesus
Colome, Jesus Delgado, Jason Grilli, Brandon Inge, Scott Kirby, Carlos Mendez, Andy
Morales, Orber Moreno, Carlos Paredes, Corey Thurman, Buddy Yen
Summary: Like the Law Dogs, this franchise also once owned more Kansas
City Royals prospects than the Royals themselves. The Ridgebacks franchise received
15 negative points thanks to ex-Royals like Delgado, Mendez, Moreno, Paredes, Thurman and
Yen. Once Tom DiStefano took the reigns of this franchise, he immediately gave them
their first impact player by trading for Jim Doyle's #3 overall farm pick and selecting
Oswalt with that pick in the 2001 draft. Two other DiStefano discoveries, Wilkerson
and Foppert, should join Oswalt in the near future. Then, of course, there's Rocco
Baldelli and Felix Diaz. I originally wanted to classify both as WORS, but I figured
Tom would rate them as "Potentially useful." I split the difference and
gave them each zero points.
Franchise: Great Lakes Sphinx
Total GoFeRS points: 9
Impact players: Pat Burrell, Alfonso Soriano
Useful players: Chris Michalek
Potentially useful players: Justin Morneau, Mark Teixeira, Adam
Wainwright
WORS: Wes Anderson, Ross Gload, Chad Harville, Joe Lawrence, Shane Loux,
Lance Niekro, Luis Rivera, Ed Rogers, Wilton Veras
Summary: This franchise's history is littered with bad trades involving
prospects. Burrell was dealt for Derrek Lee, Jay Canizaro and a couple of farm
picks. Soriano was traded for Kenny Rogers. Teixeira was traded for Wes
Anderson. And Wainwright was traded for Armando Benitez (which wouldn't have been a
bad trade if the Sphinx were a contending team.) If the franchise had held onto all
four players, they could very well have generated five impact players from their farm
system - a very impressive feat.
Franchise: New Milford Blazers
Total GoFeRS points: 12
Impact players: Brad Penny
Useful players: David Eckstein, Austin Kearns, C.C. Sabathia
Potentially useful players: Sean Burroughs, Mike Cuddyer, Corey Patterson
WORS: Brad Cresse, Alex Fernandez (the outfielder), Esteban German, Chris
Jones, Ryan Owens, Gary Thomas, Peanut Williams, Ed Yarnall
Summary: The one and only benefit to losing more than 400 games in four
years is that you have the highest - or one of the highest - picks in every single free
agent pick-up period and farm draft. Yet despite that advantage, every player listed
above as useful or potentially useful was acquired via trade, with the exception of Penny.
Throughout the past five seasons, the New Milford farm drafts have been an exercise
in futility. I'm not sure where Billy gets his minor league information, but
whatever book or magazine gave him the name "Peanut Williams" should be banned
from all bookstores immediately. Perhaps with an assistant GM in place, the Blazers
can finally turn around their farm and discover some future impact players without having
to trade away the team to get them.
Franchise: Marlboro Hammerheads
Total GoFeRS points: 13
Impact players: Ichiro Suzuki
Useful players: Orlando Hudson
Potentially useful players: Marlon Byrd, Joe Crede, Adam Eaton, Jimmy
Journell, Matt LeCroy, Brad Lidge, Miguel Olivo, Carlos Zambrano
WORS: Lou Frazier, Jeff Goldbach, Jason Grilli, Kenny Kelly, Corwin
Malone, Pat Manning, Donzell McDonald, Bill Ortega, Val Pascucci, Julio Ramirez, Jason
Romano
Summary: You'll all be proud to see that I did not list Drew Henson or
Hensley Ramirez as WORS. As I said at the beginning, I'm making a legitimate effort
to be as unbiased as possible in this analysis. Ichiro was a gimme, and a gift from
the Salem Cowtippers organization, who elected to pick Adam Johnson with the #1 pick of
the 2001 farm draft despite announcing their intention to sign Ichiro weeks before.
On the horizon, Bobby Brownlie, Jeff Mathis and McKay McBride could all join the list of
potentially-usefuls within the next year or two.
Franchise: Villanova Mustangs
Total GoFeRS points: 16
Impact players: Alfonso Soriano
Useful players: Tony Armas, Mickey Callaway, Jayson Durocher, David
Eckstein, Tony Fiore, Rob Mackowiak, Craig Wilson
Potentially useful players: Carl Crawford, Josh Phelps
WORS: Rod Barajas, Wilson Delgado, Kelly Dransfelt, Robert Ellis, Hector
Estrada, J.M. Gold, Kevin Hodges, Chad Hutchinson, Ryan Mills, David Parrish, Matt Riley,
Kerry Robinson, Ryan Rupe, Everett Stull
Summary: We all have different strategies when it comes to our farm
clubs. Some teams draft high-ceiling, high-risk players, hoping to find the next
$100,000 Mark Prior or Lance Berkman. Others, like the Mustangs, use their farm to
collect useful, minimum-wage players that aren't flashy, but provide instant contributions
to the big club. The Mustangs have been very successful drafting low-risk,
low-ceiling role players throughout the years, as evidenced by their seven useful players
above. Their one impact player, Soriano, was traded for Felipe Lopez in 2000 from
one Zigmund brother to the other. Both potentially useful players are potential
impact players, though both are no longer with the club. Crawford was traded for
Moises Alou during the Mustangs' run at the playoffs last year, and Phelps was released
soon after he was acquired in 2000.
Franchise: South Carolina Sea Cats
Total GoFeRS points: 17
Impact players: Freddy Garcia, Billy Koch
Useful players: Brandon Duckworth, Brian Lawrence, Chris Michalek
Potentially useful players: Hank Blalock, Kevin Mench, Josh Phelps, Jose
Reyes, Rafael Soriano
WORS: Lorenzo Barcelo, Jovanny Cedeno, Brady Clark, Josue Espada, B.J.
Garbe, Mike Meyers, Scott Morgan, Warren Morris, Jarrod Patterson, Wilfredo Rodriguez,
Corey Thurman, Andy Tracy
Summary: The Sea Cats have had great success scouting minor league
pitchers, but have also had more than their share of failure with young pitchers. On
the offensive side, Blalock, Mench, Phelps and Reyes are all solid bets to be impact
players in the very near future. A little further into the future, South Carolina
fans can look forward to Justin Huber, Jason Stokes and Andy Sisco joining this list.
Franchise: Litchfield Lightning
Total GoFeRS points: 18
Impact players: Lance Berkman
Useful players: Doug Davis, Erubiel Durazo, Gary Matthews, Adam Piatt,
T.J. Tucker
Potentially useful players: Kurt Ainsworth, Jerome Williams
WORS: Jesus Colome, Jody Gerut, Tim Raines, Jr., Saul Rivera, Jay
Tessmer, Luke Wilcox
Summary: Litchfield GM Phil Geisel did such a good job at the Inaugural
Draft, he was able to coast through the next three wild-card-winning seasons without
hardly making a trade or free agent pick-up. That 1999 draft was capped off by the
shocking selection of Berkman in the first round of the farm draft. Suffice it to
say, no other Lightning farm pick has ever come close to that level of greatness.
Franchise: Atlanta Fire Ants
Total GoFeRS points: 18
Impact players: Matt Clement
Useful players: Casey Fossum, Adam Kennedy, Ted Lilly
Potentially useful players: Jason Arnold, Bryan Bullington, Xavier Nady,
Nick Neugebauer, Ben Petrick
WORS: Mike Darr, Ben Diggins, Alex Gonzalez (the lesser), Scott Kirby,
Matt Luke, Alan Webb
Summary: The Fire Ants have had good success with pitching prospects
through the years, but have yet to discover an impact position player.
High-ceiling/high-risk player Jeff Franceour or Wes Bankston could be that player, but
only time will tell. It's also too early to tell whether any of their potentially
useful players are potential impact players.
Franchise: Chicago Black Sox
Total GoFeRS points: 18
Impact players: Josh Beckett, Mark Prior
Useful players: Aubrey Huff, Jason Marquis
Potentially useful players: Hee Seop Choi, Victor Martinez, Bobby Hill,
Francisco Rodriguez
WORS: Kevin Brown (the catcher), Kevin McGlinchy, Jackson Melian, Hector
Mercado, Jason Repko, Donnie Sadler
Summary: I could have easily included Chris Burke, Josh Hamilton and Adam
Johnson on the "potentially useful" list, but was afraid I'd be accused of
"propaGlander" again. Long before it was fashionable to load up the farm
with high schoolers, Chicago GM John Gill snatched up Josh Beckett in the middle of the
1999 season. I believe it was the first time a high school player was ever chosen in
the BDBL. Last pre-season, Gill added Prior by trading Scott Rolen to Akron in a
straight swap. With Choi, Martinez, Hill and K-Rod all poised to have all-star
careers, the Black Sox could have the most successful farm system in BDBL history within
the next five years.
Franchise: Bear Country Jamboree
Total GoFeRS points: 19
Impact players: Kris Benson, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie, Carlos Lee
Useful players: Mike Crudale, Kane Davis, Bob File, Kevin Grybowski
Potentially useful players: Hideki Matsui
WORS: Andy Beal, Nick Bierbrodt, Ben Christensen, Mario Encarnacion, Seth
Etherton, Ryan Freel, Jason Hart, Danny Klassen, Aaron McNeal, Pablo Ozuna, Matt Smith,
John Sneed, Scott Sobkowiak, Mike Tonis, Chris Wakeland
Summary: As it turns out, the infamous Bryan Sakolsky was as good at
picking farm players as he was at getting under my skin. Sakolsky had one of the
best - if not the best - farm drafts ever in BDBL history in 1999. Of the five
players he selected in the inaugural farm draft, three of them turned out to be impact
players within the next four years. In a word, that is incredible.
Unfortunately, after that first farm draft, this franchise's farm team suffered through
more WORS than almost any other team in league history. Matsui could very well be
this franchise's next farm-developed impact player, though it will be with another team.
Franchise: Wapakoneta Hippos
Total GoFeRS points: 20
Impact players: Adam Dunn, Tim Hudson, Albert Pujols
Useful players: Christian Guzman, John Lackey, Ricky Ledee, Bud Smith
Potentially useful players: Carl Crawford
WORS: Izzy Alcantara, Joaquin Benoit, Eric Ireland, Danny Klassen, Andy
Pratt, Rob Ryan, Ben Sampson, Brian Schneider, Mike Zywica
Summary: You could make an argument - and a damn good one, too - that the
Hippos franchise (and their farm director Papa Sylvester) has had the best farm system in
the BDBL to date. No other team has produced three players who have made as much of
an impact on their BDBL team as Dunn, Hudson and Pujols. The GoFeR system only
awards five points to impact players, but in a perfect system, those three would be
awarded 10, 15 or 20 points each. You simply cannot overestimate the value of
having three all-stars playing for minimum wage in a system that employs a salary cap.
Franchise: Houston Heatwave
Total GoFeRS points: 22
Impact players: Freddy Garcia, Eric Hinske, Barry Zito
Useful players: Russ Branyan, Brian Daubach, Adam Kennedy, Chris
Singleton
Potentially useful players: Chris George, Marcus Giles, Khalil Greene
WORS: Rob Bell, Tony Blanco, Javier Cardona, Ben Christensen, John
Curtice, Ryan Gripp, Chad Hutchinson, Cole Liniak, Juan Pena, Mike Stodolka, Chris
Wakeland
Summary: There aren't many cheap, young, lefty/righty combos like Garcia
and Zito in the BDBL, and that is a tremendous asset to carry over from year to year.
On the horizon, Jack Cust, John Ford-Griffin and Chin-Hui Tsao could all very
easily join this list in the near future.
Franchise: Oakland Homicide
Total GoFeRS points: 24
Impact players: Eric Gagne
Useful players: John Garland, Jay Gibbons, Shea Hillenbrand, Jason
Jennings, Joe Kennedy, Damian Moss, Willis Roberts
Potentially useful players: Dewon Brazelton, Mike Restovich, Chin-Hui
Tsao
WORS: Clayton Andrews, Jeff Austin, Alex Cabrera, Scott Downs, Ryan
Mills, Chistian Parra, Ben Purcell, John Sneed
Summary: This franchise has always concentrated on pitching, and that
philosophy certainly extends to their farm system as well as their big club. Eight
of the eleven players listed above as useful or potentially useful are pitchers.
Gibbons and Hillenbrand have little chance to become an impact hitter, and it's too soon
to tell whether Restovich has that ability. Unfortunately, the one impact pitcher
this franchise has developed was traded away to the evil Ridgebacks in exchange for Mike
Leuck's soul.
Franchise: Stamford Zoots
Total GoFeRS points: 25
Impact players: Mark Buehrle, Bung-Hole Kim, Wade Miller
Useful players: Gil Meche, Juan Pierre, Kip Wells
Potentially useful players: Juan Cruz, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Johnson,
Brandon Phillips
WORS: Chip Ambres, Rick Asadoorian, Robert Averette, Patrick Boyd, Rick
Elder, Vinny Faison, Wascar Serrano
Summary: Due to my rule on 2002 acquisitions, I couldn't include Kenny
Baugh, Julian Benavidez or Jesus Cota in my WORS list. Though I will be able to add
them next year, they will most likely be cancelled out when Shin-Soo Choo, Clint
Nageoeoottaa and Jason Stokes join the "potentially useful" list.
Gonzalez, Johnson and Phillips all have a good chance to join the three players on the
"impact" list within the next few years. (See? I told you I could be
unbiased.)
Franchise: Akron Ryche
Total GoFeRS points: 26
Impact players: Adam Dunn, Mark Mulder, Mark Prior
Useful players: Ramon Hernandez, Jason Marquis, Jay Payton, Jeff Weaver
Potentially useful players: Ben Broussard, Rich Harden, Colby Lewis
WORS: Ricardo Aramboles, David Espinosa, Hong-Chi Kuo, Matt McClendon,
Tony McKnight, Jamie Van Buren
Summary: Those three impact players rival Wapakoneta's three. The
only problem is that two of those three Akron impact players are already playing on some
other team's roster. Of the useful and potentially-useful players, there don't
appear to be any locks for future impact player status, but on the horizon lurks Stephen
Drew, who was acquired when the Cowtippers foolishly released him last summer.
Franchise: Southern Cal Slyme
Total GoFeRS points: 28
Impact players: Octavio Dotel, Randy Wolf
Useful players: Kaz Ishii, Jimmy Rollins, Jason Simontacchi, Chuck Smith,
Michael Young
Potentially useful players: D'Angelo Jiminez, Jacob Peavy, John Stephens,
Dennis Tankersley, Joe Thurston
WORS: Ricardo Aramboles, Hiram Bocachica, Chris Cervantes, Choo Freeman,
Christian Guerrero, Junior Herndon, Keith Luuola, Calvin Pickering, Damian Rolls
Summary: If you count the picks he has made as farm director of the
Hippos, Bob Sylvester has probably been the premier minor league talent evaluator in the
BDBL. Unfortunately for the Slyme franchise, neither Dotel nor Wolf was kept around
long enough for the team to benefit from them. As I stated in the Season Preview,
the future of the Slyme franchise now rests upon such high-risk/high-reward players as
Drew Henson and Hensley Ramirez. Newly- acquired #1 overall pick Jose Contreras is a
virtual lock for the "impact" list next year.
Franchise: Los Altos Undertakers
Total GoFeRS points: 30
Impact players: Juan Moreno, Scott Williamson
Useful players: Ryan Franklin, Austin Kearns, Oliver Perez, Ben Sheets,
Juan Uribe
Potentially useful players: John Buck, Mike Cuddyer, Jack Cust, Gabe
Gross, Brett Myers, Lyle Overbay, Carlos Pena, Jon Rauch
WORS: Winston Abreu, Brad Baisley, Donnie Bridges, Tom Evans, Chad
Hermanson, Ben Johnson, Josh Regan, Jackie Rexrode, Juan Silvestra, Shawn Sonnier, Richarl
Stahl
Summary: The listing of Moreno as an "impact player" is sure to
raise some eyebrows, but my definition of "impact player" in this study is a
player that has had a great impact on his BDBL team in at least one BDBL season.
That definition surely fits Moreno, who received four third-place votes for the OL Cy
Young award last season. Since this is the Undertakers, it's no surprise that both
of their "impact" players and two of their "useful" players are relief
pitchers. Kearns will undoutedly join Moreno and Williamson as an impact player next
year, and Kyle Sleeth, Brad Sullivan and Rickie Weeks all have impact potential as well
(though all three are probably more than two years away from being useful in the BDBL,
hence their exclusion from that list.)
Franchise: Salem Cowtippers
Total GoFeRS points: 34
Impact players: Alfonso Soriano
Useful players: Bobby Kielty, Jeff Zimmerman
Potentially useful players: Dewon Brazelton, Sean Burroughs, Hee-Seop
Choi, Ken Harvey, Aaron Heilman, Bobby Hill, Matt LeCroy, Todd Linden, Kazuo Matsui,
Xavier Nady, Mike Restovich, Chris Snelling, Rafael Soriano, Mark Teixeira
WORS: Wes Anderson, Jeff Austin, Brad Cresse, B.J. Garbe, Jerry Gil
Summary: Surprise, surprise - I didn't rate my team #1! As you can
see, Salem's rating is heavily-weighted toward the "potentially useful"
category. For that reason, this rating is more subjective than any other team's
rating, and therefore more open to criticism. Of course, criticism is nothing new to
the Cowtippers. Unless a meteor collides with the earth and all life on the planet
is destroyed, Salem should add four more impact players - Burroughs, Choi, Matsui and
Teixeira - within the next two years. By that time, Casey Kotchman should have moved
into the "potentially useful" category, if not higher. Though the
Cowtippers have only produced three useful players over the past four years, the best is
yet to come.
Franchise: Madison Fighting Mimes
Total GoFeRS points: 35
Impact players: A.J. Burnett, Rodrigo Lopez, Joe Mays, Kaz Sasaki
Useful players: Mark Ellis, Jay Gibbons, Matt Herges, Garrett Stephenson,
Vernon Wells
Potentially useful players: Dannys Baez, Dewon Brazelton, John Buck,
Hee-Seop Choi, Francisco Rodriguez, Jerome Williams
WORS: Ryan Bradley, Cesar Crespo, Adam Everett, Ben Johnson, Andy
Morales, Abraham Nunez, Frankie Rodriguez, Jason Romano, Steve Schrenk, Ramon Soler,
Dernell Stenson, Rico Washington
Summary: Ladies and gentlemen: the #1 farm system in BDBL history (so
far) is the Madison Fighting Mimes. The Fighting Mimes are tied for the league lead
in number of impact players developed through the farm, with four. Oddly enough, all
four just happen to be pitchers - something the Madison franchise is not really known
for. Next year, K-Rod is a virtual lock to become the fifth impact pitcher from this
franchise's farm. Not bad for a team known for its offense! Brazelton, Wells
and Choi all have impact potential as well. All in all, the Mimes have gotten more
out of their farm system than any other franchise in the BDBL...except maybe the Hippos.
As you can see, the GoFeR system needs a little fine-tuning
before it will be ready for mass publication. But I hope this little study was
helpful in providing a rough estimate of the success each franchise has had in cultivating
the farm system throughout the first four years of the BDBL's existence. In my next
"From the Desk" update, we'll find out what all the "experts" think of
our current farm systems. Until then, happy scouting! |