Callis Says BAL 8th Best System in Baseball

[Stotle]

Not the official Baseball America rankings (which are released with the book), but Callis said he personally put BAL at 8th best farm system heading into 2010:

From his chat (link):

Mike (DC)

How does the Orioles farm system rank in the MLB?

Jim Callis (2:06 PM)

I won't give away the official BA rankings in the Prospect Handbook (which will be updated at the end of spring training to reflect trades and other developments). When I did my personal list, I rated the Orioles as the eighth-best farm system, which is quite impressive considering that Wieters, Tillman and Reimold graduated to the majors in 2009.

[Frobby]

I recall the O's ranked 9th last year on BA's rankings. Even if Callis is more bullish than the others who have input, it's good to know the system didn't slip much, if at all, despite all the graduations.

[Stotle]

Two more AL East ranking Q/As:

Mark (Boston)

Red Sox farm system still middle of the pack or are they back in the top 10?

Jim Callis (3:04 PM)

I ranked them No. 7. They have as much high-ceiling talent (albeit mostly concentrated in the lower levels to this point) as anyone.

joseph (sf)

your top 5 farm systems?

Jim Callis (3:04 PM)

Rangers, Rays, Indians, Giants, Marlins (in that order).

TOR could make a big jump in the rankings next year with Drabek/Taylor likely not losing eligibility this year and seven picks in the Top 100 of this year's draft. Going to be a tough, tough division for a long time.

[amateurfan]

The Orioles need to have the best system in baseball if they are going to compete. This is not good. It's better than it was, but I hope people don't justify it as they're doing as well as can be expected. For the Orioles to compete with the amount of money they spend, they need to have the best system in baseball every single year. This is bad news.

[Lucky Jim]

The Orioles need to have the best system in baseball if they are going to compete. This is not good. It's better than it was, but I hope people don't justify it as they're doing as well as can be expected. For the Orioles to compete with the amount of money they spend, they need to have the best system in baseball every single year. This is bad news.

Too funny.

[btdart20]

Good news! Great job drafting and signing overslot players. Stinks that the Rays, BoSox, and BJs are so high though.

[amateurfan]

Too funny.

Why do you do this? I thought you were a lawyer, not a HS student.

[hoosiers]

Why do you do this? I thought you were a lawyer, not a HS student.

I think it is appropriate recognition for your comment. There's really no need to bicker with a top poster like LJ (the comment is more sophomorish than anything LJ did).

We just graduated the BA #1 prospect in all of baseball in 2009, a second top 35 prospect who was considered top 10 in mid-season 2009, plus our organizational 5 - that's three of our top five, 16, 17 and 18 prospects.

As RZ notes, we can always hope for the proverbial better farm system, but, taken in context, our system made remarkable progress last year. Look at the players Boston graduated, not much relatively speaking, and we are right on their tail.

[billwine76]

I think with the guys that were promoted to the bigs last season, remaining that high is a very good thing. I think it says alot for what we still have left on the farm.

[mcgraw238]

Our farm system has come a long way over the past few seasons. We spent the better part of 20 years with one of the worst farm systems in MLB. The next couple years is when the benefit of a deep farm system should start to pay dividends.

[Frobby]

The Orioles need to have the best system in baseball if they are going to compete. This is not good. It's better than it was, but I hope people don't justify it as they're doing as well as can be expected. For the Orioles to compete with the amount of money they spend, they need to have the best system in baseball every single year. This is bad news.

We graduated a boatload of top prospects including Wieters, Reimold, Tillman, Bergesen, and Hernandez and yet we didn't lose any ground in the rankings. That is good. Could things be better? Of course, but it's certainly not bad news.

We just graduated the BA #1 prospect in all of baseball in 2009, a second top 35 prospect who was considered top 10 in mid-season 2009, plus our organizational 5 - that's three of our top five, 16, 17 and 18 prospects.

As RZ notes, we can always hope for the proverbial better farm system, but, taken in context, our system made remarkable progress last year. Look at the players Boston graduated, not much relatively speaking, and we are right on their tail.

I think amateurfan probably overstates the case by saying we have to have the best farm system year after year, which really isn't possible in this day and age. What's true, however, is that if we are going to compete with teams that can outspend us in the free agent market and can make favorable trades by eating expensive contracts, then our farm system needs to be better than theirs. The O's have made great strides in building a farm system that can produce at an above average level, but it probably needs to be even better if we are going to compete with NY and Boston on a regular basis. No doubt we have major work to do in the international arena, and we probably can't have a truly top farm system until that issue is fully addressed, which may take a few years to do. In the meantime, we need to keep spending on the draft. Hopefully 2010 is the last time we're making a top 5 draft pick for a while, and it gets harder to excel when the Wieterses and Matuszes of the world aren't available when you are making your selection.

[hoosiers]

I think amateurfan probably overstates the case by saying we have to have the best farm system year after year, which really isn't possible in this day and age. What's true, however, is that if we are going to compete with teams that can outspend us in the free agent market and can make favorable trades by eating expensive contracts, then our farm system needs to be better than theirs. The O's have made great strides in building a farm system that can produce at an above average level, but it probably needs to be even better if we are going to compete with NY and Boston on a regular basis. No doubt we have major work to do in the international arena, and we probably can't have a truly top farm system until that issue is fully addressed, which may take a few years to do. In the meantime, we need to keep spending on the draft. Hopefully 2010 is the last time we're making a top 5 draft pick for a while, and it gets harder to excel when the Wieterses and Matuszes of the world aren't available when you are making your selection.

We all want a better farm system. I would want more talent in our system if we were rated number one.

Our system was rated very, very poorly between most of 2000 and 2005 or so on the back of a tremendous number of wasted first round picks. It took several years of solid drafts to be recognized as a top 10 system and I think it is a tribute to the prospects who stepped up in 2009 - Matusz, Snyder, Britton, etc, the trade for Bell and the $ spent in the 09 draft for us to maintain a top 10 rating after graduating one-third of our top 18 prospects including Wieters and Tillman. How many other organizations graduated such talent and maintained such a high rating? This stuff does not happen in a vacuum, yet people post as if it does - not Frobby, but amateurfan.

Finally, people post frequently about what it takes to compete with the BoSox and NYY as if we are a poor franchise. Our payroll can probably ratchet up to the $100M-$125M range. When we reach our capabilities as a franchise on all cylinders, the difference between us and the Red Sox is probably much smaller than many people hint at here. If teams start taking away playoff appearances from the BoSox, the gap will shrink even more.

[amateurfan]

We all want a better farm system. I would want more talent in our system if we were rated number one.

Our system was rated very, very poorly between most of 2000 and 2005 or so on the back of a tremendous number of wasted first round picks. It took several years of solid drafts to be recognized as a top 10 system and I think it is a tribute to the prospects who stepped up in 2009 - Matusz, Snyder, Britton, etc, the trade for Bell and the $ spent in the 09 draft for us to maintain a top 10 rating after graduating one-third of our top 18 prospects including Wieters and Tillman. How many other organizations graduated such talent and maintained such a high rating? This stuff does not happen in a vacuum, yet people post as if it does - not Frobby, but amateurfan.

Finally, people post frequently about what it takes to compete with the BoSox and NYY as if we are a poor franchise. Our payroll can probably ratchet up to the $100M-$125M range. When we reach our capabilities as a franchise on all cylinders, the difference between us and the Red Sox is probably much smaller than many people hint at here. If teams start taking away playoff appearances from the BoSox, the gap will shrink even more.

You don't have an understanding of my point of view, which is fine except that you make assessments of it. My point of view is that the Orioles do not have a consistent approach in how they utilize their resources. Realistically, the Orioles do need to have a top 5 system every single year regardless of their payroll capabilities.

[hoosiers]

You don't have an understanding of my point of view, which is fine except that you make assessments of it. My point of view is that the Orioles do not have a consistent approach in how they utilize their resources. Realistically, the Orioles do need to have a top 5 system every single year regardless of their payroll capabilities.

If I've misinterpreted your opinion or misrepresented it here, I am sorry.

I have two issues with your post above. First, while I disagree 100% that the Os do not have a consistent approach to utilizing their resources, I'll pretend to defer to your opinion here and ask - what organization DOES have a farm system that does this?

Second, your belief that ANY TEAM IN BASEBALL could have a top five system every year is entirely unreasonable and unrealistic and, I'm pretty sure, without precedent.

[OrioleFanatic2008]

I recall the O's ranked 9th last year on BA's rankings. Even if Callis is more bullish than the others who have input, it's good to know the system didn't slip much, if at all, despite all the graduations.

I think last year our system was very top heavy. Since the graduations, the organization has done a tremendous job of adding a lot of high ceiling talent in the lower echelons of the system. It's nice to see that it's being recognized.