Is this the best Red Sox farm ever?

I like how the prospects are looking so far, but that looks like 5 top 100 prospects to me. Good, but not great.

Bogaerts
Bradley
Webster
De La Rosa (not an actual prospect - similar to Kalish)
Cecchini
Owens (border top 100)
Brentz (good)
Iglesias (power is a up slightly but still waiting for the plate discipline)
Swihart (talent is there but can't count on him yet)
Ranaudo (good bounce back but has more to prove)
Workman (future setup man)
Marrero (about as good as epxected so far - shown little power)
Coyle (still figuring out strike zone in second year of high A)

Sorry about being a buzzkill, but I think we have to wait for the draft (as you mentioned) before this group gets into 'best sox prospects ever' territory.

I like the upside of this group. Agreed on De La Rosa but he is young and not in the majors. Technically not a prospect but effectively a member of the farm. The tools and actual performances of these guys appear to me to be better than any Redsox farm I've seen. Bogaerts looks every bit as good as Hanley looked in the minors. The starting pitching talent is higher than at any point i've seen.

Everyone has an opinion. I have no problem with differing positions. I think we have quite a few guys who are potential stars in the majors. And lots of them are pitchers, which are so much in demand right now. You can't trade for top young pitching talent without giving up loads of other talent to get them. Look at some of the recent trades made for young starting pitching, for example the Latos trade. I like where we are on the farm a lot.

Good thought piece. For what it is worth, I would wait a month or so before judging what we have down on the farm. Most of the players on the list have some warts. some more than others. Can Julio hit more than 230 at AAA? Bradley was totally over matched at the majors and is even adjusting to AAA. Webster is still questionable, and De La Rosa was hiving mechanical issues and has less than a fluid delivery ( maybe this is changing). Brentz really is not showing much other than he has a few streaks. X-Man is not exactly tearing it up. Aren't Ranaudo, Workmam, and Barnes a tad old for AA. Let's see what Lavarnway can show? Did he lose his power? 

I will not even bother about those below AA, other than Cecchini who may just be real

So who is there to replace Middlebrooks this year or even next? Who are outfielders that can help now or next year? Is Lavernway the catcher of the future? Any help on the horizon for the pen, and we  know the bumpy learning curve for starters. 


Now in a month or so they may answer some questions but for now just watching. 

I should have noted this as in the post draft era. Back in 1912 we have pretty good talent as well!

I'm just saying at this point in time and probably even more so in another month after the high draft position, this farm looks as strong as any Redsox farm i've seen. Who knows what happens going forward but there is a chance this farm ends up as epic!

If you're talking post-draft then I'd say the Sox had that big influx of talent during the early-to-mid 1970s, and of course, even though they weren't in the farm system quite at the same time the Sox developed Wade Boggs who broke thru in 1982 and drafted Clemens in 1983, in which he shot thru the system - and I remember watching him pitch at Beehive Field in 1983 absolutely dominating the opposing team. My point is that in short order the Sox developed two massive talents although Boggs wasn't really considered that big a talent at the time, although now adays we'd pay more attention to guys with ridiculously big OBPs.

The Sox would be very fortunate to get one guy even close to that talent level. I do like the overall depth and am heartened by the performances of Barnes, Workman, and Ranaudo in AA.

And when all is said and done, I cannot wait to see what Bogaerts becomes. I used to think of him as Hanley Ramirez without the lousy attitude, but Bogaerts can be so much more. I think he Cecchini are the guys who will eventually bat 3-4 in the Sox lineup, although I have no idea at what positions.

The Sox don't really have any can't miss guys on the mound, but there sure are alot of intriguing options, and despite the high ERA and HR/9, I like the K/BB figures that the hard throwing kid (Montas?) in A ball is putting up.

I expect that Webster, De La Rosa, Barnes, and Ranaudo will be pushing for spots in the rotation by 2014/2015 and then eventually Owens.


I'm intrigued by Swihart and think that he and Vazquez can be quite a catching combo down the road. I'd like to see another impact power bat and impact arm (Stewart?) come into the system. I'd like to see another Anthony Rizzo type guy at 1b, but that's not there. If Coyle keeps doing what he's doing, it'll be interesting to see if he can eventually challenge an aging Pedroia down the road.

Bradley should be a solid leadoff man/sparkplug with a knowledge of the strike zone I doubt Ellsbury will ever have, and I have some hope that Brentz won't be WMB/Reddick in terms of plate discipline.

I do hope the Sox come up with a potential closer at some point down there and I don't mean De La Rosa. I hate seeing the Sox throw money/players at closers.

This list has one MVP, two MVP runners up, three no-hitters, two top-6 CY Young, 2 ROYs, a ROY runnerup.  It's possible that we have sleeper stars in our top 20 now, but it's also possible that we have big talents that will flop like Lars.

The fact of the matter is, you can never answer this question. Hindsight is 20/20 and we're at least 5 years away from knowing how this snap shot in time starts to compare to other snap shots.

As rjp points out, we're years from where we could even begin evaluating, let alone rating, the current crop.

For me it's a matter of trends. There have been real swings in the system, times when there were 3-4 year droughts in player production. That's counterbalanced by periods like this one, and those in the past which others have listed, when the system looks set to produce a few good ML players, maybe quite a few. The minor league system is well-stocked again. I'd like it to stay that way for a while, but it may be harder going forward. The rules have really changed, including those for international sign-ups.

We don't know how the current prospects will advance or how many will become average MLB players or better, but one could've theoretically traded any three to four from the list above for an elite MLB player and still have two or more who very good or better MLB performers. Personally I can't say the same for our current list of prospects. The system is good, but it's not Sept 2005 good. Well played, jmei.

Was Hanley regarded more highly as a prospect back in AA and AAA ball than Bogaerts? I know Hanley was probably considered stronger defensively at SS but Bogaerts appears to have a better hit tool, at least he has at a comparable time in the minors. Considering the perception at the time, I think all the periods noted above are certainly in the discussion and the 05 period hit rate was clearly outstanding. I would think we should be able to crack the top 5 this year in terms of mlb farms. We have the strongest position right now that we have had for a while and at least some of these guys are in the potential superstar discussion, if Hanley was.

Maybe this title should change to 'Could This Be The Best Red Sox Farm System Ever?'

Just quickly going back to what is here already and other times I remember being productive in the early and late 80's, this class would need at least 12 major league contributors with most of them being quite productive, plus it will need to boast multiple MVP/Cy Young candidates just to keep up with these three groups:

Mid-2000's
All-Star
Jonathan Papelbon
Jon Lester
Anibal Sanchez
Hanley Ramirez
Dustin Pedroia
Jacoby Ellsbury

Key Major Leaguer
Manny Delcarmen
Kelly Shoppach
Daniel Murphy
Jed Lowrie
Clay Buchholz

Major League Regular - not productive
Craig Hansen
Brandon Moss
David Pauley


Late 1980's
All-Star
Mike Greenwell
Ellis Burks
Jeff Bagwell
Brady Anderson
Curt Schilling

Key Major Leaguer
Scott Cooper
Tom Bolton
Tim Naehring
Carlos Quintana
Jody Reed

Major League Regular - not productive
Phil Plantier
Sam Horn


Early 1980's
All-Star
Roger Clemens
Wade Boggs
John Tudor

Key Major Leaguer
Bruce Hurst
Bob Ojeda
Oil Can Boyd
Rich Gedman
Marty Barrett
Steve Crawford
Al Nipper
Dave Stapleton
Steve Lyons


So who can you dream of reaching that level?


Potential All-Star
Bogaerts
Bradley
Webster
De La Rosa
Cecchini


Key Major Leaguer
Owens
Brentz
Iglesias
Swihart
Ranaudo
Workman
Marrero
Coyle


So in a perfect world this class would need to hit on either all the above, or many plus a couple other key contributors to be on par with earlier crops dating back just to the 80's. This group has a ton of potential, but would need to really achieve a lot to be the best ever.

By the way lots to pick apart there from an omission and category standpoint, just wanted to set a baseline.

Comparison of where Xander and Hanley were at similar stages, concluding that Xander showed power much earlier and had the better makeup, whereas Hanley had the speed and was much much more likely to stay at SS.

firebrandal.com/2013/01/07/xander-bogaerts-vs-hanley-ramirez/

Though it's also easy to find myriad references to Hanley's "five-tool" talent and raw power in googling 2001-2004.