K.C. Royals - How's that farm system?

[Slappy]

Wasn't K.C. supposed to be absolutely stacked in the minors and ready to compete by now? I could have swore I read about it on Fangraphs... daily.

How's that working out? They are 3-12, with 10 straight losses.

I guess there is more to baseball than just prospects, after all.

[Jimbo81]

Alex Gordon
Mike Moustakas'
Eric Hosmer
Billy Butler
Alcides Escobar

I'd take those 5 on my team any day of the week.

It's the SP that is killing them and they are loaded with SP talent in the minors. When they start weeding though those guys we should start to see the difference.

Give it time...

[Don Quixote]

As long as that difference doesn't come before May 27, that's fine. I'd like an Orioles win, since I'll actually be at the park.

[Slappy]

Alex Gordon
Mike Moustakas'
Eric Hosmer
Billy Butler
Alcides Escobar

I'd take those 5 on my team any day of the week.

It's the SP that is killing them and they are loaded with SP talent in the minors. When they start weeding though those guys we should start to see the difference.

Give it time...

3-13 now.

I'll give you the SP isn't good. But they are also 13th in the league (out of 14) in runs scored.

[srock]

It took Tampa a few years failing to live up to expectations before they turned the corner. Maybe this is how completely rebuilding from within works?

[ShaneDawg85]

Alex Gordon
Mike Moustakas'
Eric Hosmer
Billy Butler
Alcides Escobar

I'd take those 5 on my team any day of the week.

It's the SP that is killing them and they are loaded with SP talent in the minors. When they start weeding though those guys we should start to see the difference.

Give it time...

My thoughts exactly. If we had that talent on the O's right now people he would be crowing we could sneak into the Wild Card.

[DrungoHazewood]

Alex Gordon
Mike Moustakas'
Eric Hosmer
Billy Butler
Alcides Escobar

I'd take those 5 on my team any day of the week.

It's the SP that is killing them and they are loaded with SP talent in the minors. When they start weeding though those guys we should start to see the difference.

Give it time...

Nah, if you give it time you probably lose the chance to claim the O's aren't 30th in the league in everything. Have to jump when the other contenders are cold.

[glenn__davis]

Glad to see them get a win tonight. Was starting to feel bad for Royals fans. We all still remember how 2010 started - that wasn't much fun.

[sakata_catching]

Glad to see them get a win tonight. Was starting to feel bad for Royals fans. We all still remember how 2010 started - that wasn't much fun.

I agree. It's nice to see them off the schneid.

I'm not sure what the point of the OP is. Gloating over a young team oozing with talent taking some lumps at the beginning of a season where expectations were torqued a notch too high? Sounds eerily familiar. Whatever.

[Slappy]

I agree. It's nice to see them off the schneid.

I'm not sure what the point of the OP is. Gloating over a young team oozing with talent taking some lumps at the beginning of a season where expectations were torqued a notch too high? Sounds eerily familiar. Whatever.

It's not the Royals, I've got nothing against them and actually do feel bad for their fans. It's more a point that nobody gets good through a farm system alone. The Royals pitching will kill them all year.

I think the emotional aspect of the OP was just frustration from constantly reading the know-it-alls at Fangraphs who have been telling us for 3 years that Kansas City is going to be a contender "next year" because of their farm.

But I'll give you that the thread was probably in poor taste, in retrospect.

[Gurgi]

A little Schadenfreud isnt bad. Lord knows we seem to get the national press gloating at every young starter of ours that poops the bed.

[Babypowder]

It's not the Royals, I've got nothing against them and actually do feel bad for their fans. It's more a point that nobody gets good through a farm system alone. The Royals pitching will kill them all year.

I think the emotional aspect of the OP was just frustration from constantly reading the know-it-alls at Fangraphs who have been telling us for 3 years that Kansas City is going to be a contender "next year" because of their farm.

But I'll give you that the thread was probably in poor taste, in retrospect.

Tampa.

[DrungoHazewood]

Tampa.

Of the players who've appeared for the Rays this year:

13 were drafted or signed originally by the Rays
7 were signed as free agents
7 were traded for
1 was acquired on waivers

Nobody gets good through a farm system alone. I've seen some recent research indicating that no team of recent vintage would have been much over .500 relying solely on their farm system. A great farm gives you 30-35 WAR active on the MLB roster at any time. Even the Rays have to supplement 10-15 wins a year via other methods.

[Hallas]

Of the players who've appeared for the Rays this year:

13 were drafted or signed originally by the Rays
7 were signed as free agents
7 were traded for
1 was acquired on waivers

Nobody gets good through a farm system alone. I've seen some recent research indicating that no team of recent vintage would have been much over .500 relying solely on their farm system. A great farm gives you 30-35 WAR active on the MLB roster at any time. Even the Rays have to supplement 10-15 wins a year via other methods.

Just to expand on this:
In 2011, the Rays got 28.7 WAR from home-grown talent. (Fangraphs)
As a comparison, the O's got 15.6 WAR.

To be fair, the Rays haven't been nearly as active in trading for prospects as the O's have, and the O's probably make up some of this difference because of their ability to trade. Even in the best case scenario, though, that still leaves us around 8-10 wins short.

If our pitching comes around this season, though...

[SrMeowMeow]

Of the players who've appeared for the Rays this year:

13 were drafted or signed originally by the Rays
7 were signed as free agents
7 were traded for
1 was acquired on waivers

Nobody gets good through a farm system alone. I've seen some recent research indicating that no team of recent vintage would have been much over .500 relying solely on their farm system. A great farm gives you 30-35 WAR active on the MLB roster at any time. Even the Rays have to supplement 10-15 wins a year via other methods.

But a great farm gives you a ton of surplus value. Getting 30-35 WAR at a huge discount from cost-controlled players is exactly one billion times more important than that last 10-15 WAR at around market value in FA.