Trading for prospects is a common thing in sports, especially in baseball. Teams like the Astros and Cubs just successfully rebuilt by focusing on young talent and each franchise rode the wave of prospects to World Series Championships. Teams like the White Sox and Braves hope to follow in their footsteps soon.
But then, I stumbled upon this tweet that is blowing up on Reddit:
In 2012 Rangers ranked as @BaseballAmerica 2nd best farm system with top 5 org prospects Jurickson Profar, Martin Perez, Mike Olt, Leonys Martin, Neil Ramirez. The Marlins ranked 28th with top 5 of Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, Jose Fernandez, Matt Dominguez, JT Realmuto #tbt https://t.co/EzhY0OtfM3
— Cream City Prospects (@CreamCityPro) December 28, 2017
That is bananas. When an organization is considered to have the 2nd best farm system in the league, somebody in their top 5 has to be a star. Right? And the fact that those players were considered to be duds in the Marlins Pipeline is crazy.
Fast forward 5 years and the “28th best farm system” produced All-Star after All-Star while one of the best produced trash. This just makes what the Cubs and Astros just did even more incredible. Fans value minor league players so high that they don’t realize that when an expert says “he could be a 5-tool player”, that doesn’t mean they could even make a roster.
Yes, stack all the young talent you can when you are in a position similar to what the White Sox are at now. But if you are in a spot where your big league roster is set and good enough for a run, then make that run. Trade prospects for experienced bats and arms. Windows close so fast nowadays that you don’t stop and look around, you will miss it. (Ferris Bueller reference) Just look at the Kansas City Royals. Two years of World Series runs and now they are going to lose their core and won’t be anywhere near the same team that made the run.
Trade for a Manny Machado-type player if you think he will help you win a World Series right now. Win while you can because if you play it safe and it doesn’t work out, you (and all of your fans) will live the rest of your life thinking, “What if we just traded (insert prospect here) for the player formerly known as Mike Stanton?”
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