I’m not telling you not to fall in love with a prospect, because at this stage in my emotional attachment to Dom Brown, that would be like the guy who just got dumped cornering you at the bar after seven glasses of bourbon and delivering a soliloquy on how all women are evil and not to be trusted. That doesn’t help anyone.

Just keep this in mind when you’re geeking out over Mike Zunino, or Corey Seager, or whoever, when you start projecting them in a lineup five years down the road. Yes, they could turn into a franchise-defining star like Brett Lawrie. But they could languish in the high minors without ever really getting a chance, like Brown, or be traded for more immediate help, like Drabek. And the Drabeks and Browns outnumber the Lawries.

I fell in love with potential once, and got burned. Be more cautious than I was and don’t jump in all at once, or you’ll be left with nothing but disappointment and regret.

And the memory of a wonderful swing.

When I write my book about failed baseball prospects, I’m calling it Freedom Brown.

td11 wrote:that's kinda good actually

td11 wrote:nope, it's way over my head

Guys, my biggest fear for the Phillies this offseason is that they'll spend big on any free agent.

I've been spending a lot of time today thinking about how bad I feel for Adam Morgan.

Because people are going to think he's the next big thing.

smitty wrote:Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Manny Machado, Adam Morgan.

I feel real bad for all these guys.

Also Ethan Martin, but mostly Adam Morgan.

phdave wrote:

I've been spending a lot of time today thinking about how bad I feel for Adam Morgan.

Because people are going to think he's the next big thing.

So because Tyler Cloyd is one of the better minor league prospects the Phillies have does not, by extension, make him a good minor league prospect in absolute terms. This is a dreadful minor league system. There were grumblings after the Hunter Pence trade that the Phillies had loaded up too heavily on catching prospects. With Sebastian Valle, Tommy Joseph and Gabriel Lino, three of the Phillies’ better position player prospects are now catchers. Of course, three of the Phillies’ better position player prospects are a guy with 25 walks since the start of the 2011 season, a catcher who might have to move to first base (in which case, whatever value he might provide offensively would be reduced to minuscule proportions) and a child in short-season A-ball. If you gave me even odds, over/under 0.5 career All-Star appearances for those three players combined, I would take the under in a heartbeat. In fact, if you gave me even odds on over/under 0.5 career All-Star appearances for all of the players currently in full-season ball in the Phillies’ minor-league system, I’d think long and hard about taking the under.

These men are not Jurickson Profar and Mike Olt. And just because someone else has prospects of that magnitude does not mean that the Phillies do. This is a fundamental truth that baseball fans seem not to understand.

So, to answer your question: No. The Phillies’ minor league system is bad. And so too, in all likelihood, will Tyler Cloyd be.

I like Headley’s game, but is it really worth it for the Phillies to gut a weak farm system for, essentially, a good regular? I’ve seen this movie. It doesn’t end well. Someone will pay an insane price for Headley, and I would just as soon it not be the Phillies.

mcare89 wrote:I don't read his work other than here, but exactly what is the team supposed to do? He doesn't want to sign free agents, he doesn't want to trade for anybody, and he thinks our farm system is horrendous. I'm confused as to what he's campaigning for.

mcare89 wrote:I don't read his work other than here, but exactly what is the team supposed to do? He doesn't want to sign free agents, he doesn't want to trade for anybody, and he thinks our farm system is horrendous. I'm confused as to what he's campaigning for.