Sorry to fall back on the Red Sox as an example to illustrate this, but BP has come out with their top 11 and one of the organization’s two 5-star players is Ryan Westmoreland, who was a 5th round pick bound for college until the team paid him one of their highest bonuses his draft year (2008) (present value – $1.6m – $2m deferred over 5 years). 5 stars translate to top 50 prospects for BP, and 4 stars translate to top 100. Their 4 stars also include Josh Reddick (‘06 17th round, $140K), and Ryan Kalish (‘06 9th round, $600K). Those are three players likely to be in BA’s top 100 who we can say did not have to be drafted high to be top prospects. Probably only Westmoreland has an all-star upside potential, but the point is that you can accelerate your system getting paying for talent that slips and not just out of the #1s, supplementals, and #2s.

Also, it’s nice to see at least one international close to the top 10 (Perez). You’ve made this point before, but internationals are another way to improve a system beyond high draft choices.

So, for all the Lerner/Kasten bluster about the commitment to investing in player development, pretty amazing that the 3 of the top 5 bonuses in organization player development history were paid by Jeffrey Loria 7, 8 and 9 years ago.

So it doesn’t matter that Strasburg alone exceeds the total value of all three of those complete busts?

All that shows is that Loria paid a lot of money for complete garbage.

The Lerner’s have had all of three drafts. If you want to hang the Crow debacle on their heads, fine. Most people with an objective eye see that was Bowden and the Hendricks idiots.

For what it’s worth — I am very excited about the most recent draft class. Storen looks like an ice-in-his-veins closer.

Even with TJ surgery, I’m surprised they don’t consider him at least a potential future impact starter.

1 Zimmermann () 2 Detwiler () 3 Marrero (6) 4 Burgess (9) 5 McGeary (?) 6 Norris (2) 7 Hood (10) 8 Nieto (?) 9 Ramirez (?) 10 former Smiley Gonzales 11 Maxwell (8) 12 Mock () 13 Martis () 14 Espinoza (5) 15 Hicks (?) 16 Davis (?) 17 Rhinehart (?) 18 Bernadina (?) 19 Desmond (4) 20 Stammen (*) 21 Estrada (?) 22 out of organization 23 King (?) 24 Atwood (?) 25 Smoker (?) 26 Willems (?) 27 Atilano (?) 28 Van Allen (?) 29 Montz (?) 30 out of organization

1. Zimmermann (*)
2. Detwiler (*)
3. Marrero (6)
4. Burgess (9)
5. McGeary (?)
6. Norris (2)
7. Hood (10)
8. Nieto (?)
9. Ramirez (?)
10. former Smiley Gonzales
11. Maxwell (8)
12. Mock (*)
13. Martis (*)
14. Espinoza (5)
15. Hicks (?)
16. Davis (?)
17. Rhinehart (?)
18. Bernadina (?)
19. Desmond (4)
20. Stammen (*)
21. Estrada (?)
22. out of organization
23. King (?)
24. Atwood (?)
25. Smoker (?)
26. Willems (?)
27. Atilano (?)
28. Van Allen (?)
29. Montz (?)
30. out of organization

As for the rankings, seems like they mostly got it right, although you can always quibble with a few points. Mine was his offhand comment on JZimm. Pre-injury and with his prospect status intact, he would be the easy #2 prospect. Not sure how to rank him with TJ, but I would still have him quite a ways above Detwiler.

I was hoping that if the Desert Dogs don’t blow it (and right now, it looks like they will blow it…), he’d be able to start the Championship game on TV, but now, I’m not sure if he’s even still in the AFL. Can’t find any info on how he’s doing anywhere.

As BA noted, it’s a start to have a better GM in place and I’d much rather focus on what Rizzo and his crew will do in their first full offseason together to continue the rebuilding of the farm system, versus lamenting what the previous front-offices did or didn’t do. Maybe there was a time for that pity party, but that time has passed.

We have control over Zimmerman, Morgan and Flores for the forseeable future and pieces like Desmond and Marrero are stepping up.

We still have a long ways to go, but we’re getting better.

So, for all the Lerner/Kasten bluster about the commitment to investing in player development, pretty amazing that the 3 of the top 5 bonuses in organization player development history were paid by Jeffrey Loria 7, 8 and 9 years ago.