ESPN prospect Insider Keith Law has ranked the Cubs as the top farm system in Major League Baseball.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise after the Addison Russell trade.


The July 4 blockbuster deal gave the Cubs two of the surefire Top 10 prospects in the game (Russell and Kris Bryant), with guys like Javier Baez and Arismendy Alcantara graduating off prospect lists upon their respective promotions to the big leagues.

Here is Law's analysis:



Take a moment to recover from your surprise ... The past 12 months have seemed more like a coronation for the Cubs than one for the teams that actually played in the World Series. The hype around their system is justified by the talent in it, with the strongest collection of top-shelf hitting prospects I can remember since I started working in baseball. They have someone coming at just about every position other than catcher and first base, and most of them fare well both in traditional evaluation and in analysis of their performance to date.

The Cubs' draft strategy under the Theo Epstein/Jed Hoyer regime has been to grab a polished hitter in the first round and load up on arms later. That, along with the trade of Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel that netted two more top hitting prospects, has produced a system that's full of hitting prospects but still a bit light on the pitching side. The first wave of bats reached the majors in the middle of 2014, with more coming this year, but there won't be enough at-bats for Javier Baez and Jorge Soler and Arismendy Alcantara and Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber and Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo … and that's not even everyone who might end up pushing for playing time. The Cubs are in prime position to flip a young hitter for a pitcher or even to swing a bigger deal, especially if they want to try to set themselves up to win the NL Central in 2016. There are young starting pitching prospects here to like, led by 20-year-old Duane Underwood, but they're all a few years away.


Law doesn't even mention prospects like Albert Almora, Pierce Johnson or C.J. Edwards (though he does discuss the lack of high-profile pitching prospects in the system), let alone young guys like Gleyber Torres, Eloy Jimenez and Jen-Ho Tseng at the lower levels.

The Minnesota Twins were second, Houston Astros third, New York Mets fourth and Boston Red Sox fifth on Law's rankings.

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Among other NL Central foes, the Pittsburgh Pirates are seventh, St. Louis Cardinals 13th, Cincinnati Reds 17th and Milwaukee Brewers 28th.

The White Sox came in at No. 12.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

how do they know? cubs havent even won a game yet

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Everybody knows.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Pretty impressive job by Rick Hahn to go from the worst organization of all time to 12th!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think that's great for the Sox. Especially considering they didn't go into full tank mode.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I agree.

It's fair to say that both sides of town have very talented people running their baseball teams. Hahn's done a great job.

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Team Cutler.

Yes Dan, that is the message. I love Hahn even as a Cubs fan. Hopefully this will be a better, more competitive year for both sides of town. I would love nothing more than to have both teams in the playoffs, but I still think the Cubs are at least a year away. The Sox are going to be very interesting this season.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

My Judgement card is being reserve for MLB wins or losses.

Being #1 is great, its time to see it translate to impriving W's at the Major league level.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I'll start to get excited next year. I don't expect much this season. At best they will compete for a wild card spot.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Denis.... Sox come to PNC this year.

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Elections have consequences.

Which would be great. They need this type of feeling of playing meaningful MLB games.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Once again stealing my ideas and spreading them as your own don't worry I see how it is

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I guess.

The Cubs (who I would presume you feel went into full tank mode) have won 200 games over the past 3 seasons with 0 playoff appearances.
The Sox (who you state didn't go into full tank mode) have won 221 games over the past 3 seasons with 0 playoff appearances.

I'm guessing most sox fans would gladly trade those 21 total wins in exchange for the the Cubs farm system right now.

Last year was the only season it was clear that the Sox didn't want to win. They finished with the same record as the Cubs. The 2 seasons before you are talking about a 10+ game difference a season. In my baseball world 10 games is a huge difference. The Sox couldn't afford to take like the Cubs because they wouldn't have had 2000 people to show up to watch their games. That being said every team in baseball would love to have the Cubs farm system.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Yeah, but they've had to intentionally tank the next 3 seasons for it to be comparable.

Cubs:
2 years of unintentional bad.
3 years of intentional bad.

Sox:
2 years of unintentional bad.

Not bad to go for from worst farm system to 12th in 2-3 years.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I agree.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Sox fans - "We lose better than the Cubs lose!"

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

It seems like Jeff Samardzija wasn't too thrilled with the losing on purpose philosophy. I bet he will have more to say about that in the future.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

The Cubs can get away with tanking but the Sox couldn't. It's a fact. When the Sox are competing fans still don't show up.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

It was a response to someone saying the situations were both the same. It isn't about who did it better. The Cubs were able to get away with intentionally losing for 3 years and they did well with that. The Sox can't start a 3 year period of intentionally losing right now.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Brewers had a smilar system 10 years ago

"Sux" is just so damn clever!

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and over the next 3 years, who do you think will have the better record?

I would put my money on the Sox.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

You would have also put your money on them to be better in 13 and 14 right?

#12? if beckham were to accept a Triple A assignment would that get us to 11?

You realize that in 2013 the Cubs had a better record than the Sox? You realize that right? The entire difference stems from the 2012 season. In the draft after that season the Cubs selected Kris Bryant, currently the #1 prospect in baseball, the Sox selected something called a Tim Anderson, currently about the 250th best prospect in baseball (estimated by me).

So you are telling me that the 85 win and non-playoff appearance is better than whatever the Cubs get out of Bryant for the next 5-10 years?

So did the Giants...

I don't think anyone here is saying that is bad, in fact it is a great accomplishment. I think what some of us are saying is the following, given the choice between:

1. Winning absolutely nothing and have the #1 farm system; or
2. Winning absolutely nothing and have the #12 farm system.

The choice is pretty clearly 1.

Yeah, but the Sox would have to intentionally lose for the next 3 years to do that with the same exact timeframe of the Cubs.

Of course having the #1 farm system is better than having the 12th one. It just depends on the price that is paid. I would not want the Sox to intentionally lose the next 3 years even if it was guaranteed that at the end they'd have the #1 farm system in baseball.

That is why your whole point is bad. I would much rather the White Sox try and win the World Series the next three years even if they aren't able to accomplish #1 on the prospect rankings because of it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!