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I saw Bowden during the Futures at Fenway start and I think he is very overrated, 4 or 5 material. His Lancaster stats are overrating him, that was only 46 innings (and only half of them at home, the best hitters park in the country). Anything can happen in 46 innings. It was a small sample size too. His SAL and Eastern League stats are a much bigger sample size and they paint a better picture of what he truly is.

Perhaps he is around a #90-100 prospect but he belongs nowhere higher than there.

P.S. I also think that the age of a pitcher is used as a cop-out more times than not. Hitters' ages as compared to the level they are at are far more useful as indicators than pitcher's ages.

Masterson I have personally never seen, but what his this guy ever done? He profiles as a setup man and a reliever but other than the 32 innings at Lowell he hasn't done much at all. Yeah, he had a hot start at Portland but he wasn't going to keep that up and right now he has been fairly average for the entire year. He isn't particularly young either.

Theo has done an incredible job though with the farm system... the Red Sox are getting so many contributions from homegrown players this year.

I saw Bowden during the Futures at Fenway start and I think he is very overrated, 4 or 5 material. His Lancaster stats are overrating him, that was only 46 innings (and only half of them at home, the best hitters park in the country). Anything can happen in 46 innings. It was a small sample size too. His SAL and Eastern League stats are a much bigger sample size and they paint a better picture of what he truly is.

Perhaps he is around a #90-100 prospect but he belongs nowhere higher than there.

Eh, before the season BA even rated him #83, and I don't think theres anyway he's taken a step back. Keep in mind I don't go by BA totally, it's just used as the default system as of now. I personally think he can be a 3, but he does need to work on his secondary pitches a lot more. And I think a ton of the top 100 prospects would love to end up being a #3. I also don't think you can truly judge him off his one performance, but at least you have seen him.

P.S. I also think that the age of a pitcher is used as a cop-out more times than not. Hitters' ages as compared to the level they are at are far more useful as indicators than pitcher's ages.

Cop-out? All it was was a simple fact. I also think pitcher ages aren't as important as hitter's ages but it still is important.

Masterson I have personally never seen, but what his this guy ever done? He profiles as a setup man and a reliever but other than the 32 innings at Lowell he hasn't done much at all. Yeah, he had a hot start at Portland but he wasn't going to keep that up and right now he has been fairly average for the entire year. He isn't particularly young either.

I personally like Masterson because he is a groundball pitcher and I really like groundball pitchers, although I do like Bowden more than Masterson. What has Masterson done? Well he has pitched equally as good in AA than Alan Horne who is 2 years older, but I don't know why your bringing up age since you don't use it.

The Red Sox system isn't close to the best in baseball. It was barely top 10 (8-10) before this season, and did nothing to move up with an incredibly weak IFA signing period and a relatively weak draft where they seemed pretty reluctant to spend a dime.

Buchholz or Elsbury playing well in the majors doesn't make their system any better, everybody knew those guys were good, they were the REASON the Sox system was ranked top 10 by most to begin with.

Heck, the Red Sox have the THIRD best farm system just in their own division.

couple questions, who were the top teams in IFA this year and is there article to go read about that stuff.

also have the rangers made the biggest jump in farm systems this year or is that the homer in me talking since its pretty much the only system i follow. not saying im unaware of when a top prospect gets called up though.

I believe the Red Sox signed the biggest name thus far in Michael Almanzar to a reported $3 million bonus ($1.5 up front and another $1.5 later is the latest news I've heard). They also signed Che-Hsuan Lin out of Taiwan who profiles right now as an Ichiro type player (and not just because he's Asian). He's also an 18 year old in the NYP league so there is an outside chance he starts the year at Greenville (although the OF logjam will likely keep that from happening).

The Sox have also had a number of prospects step up from last season's performances. I disagree about Masterson being destined for the pen. He has developed his change enough where he throws it with semi-regularity and even Goldstein said he might force his way into the rotation. Jed Lowrie also went from being a potential bust to possibly pushing Lugo out of town. Buchholz went from being a nice middle of the pack prospect to being the best starting pitching prospect in baseball. And the Sox did spent money in the draft, they just elected to not overspend on some key guys they didn't feel they got value for in later rounds. Rizzo, Mailman, Pressly, Bailey, and Middlebrook were overslot signees who they lured away from college and prolife and decent to good prospects and there is an ongoing saga with Jared Matthews so that could improve the draft if that goes in the Sox favor. The Sox are in the top 10 and closer to top 5 than 10 I feel. So are the Yankees but the Yankees system is also losing Hughes and replacing him with Brackman, who is starting off his career with TJ surgery. Both systems are deep but while the Yankees might have the edge in starting pitching, the Sox are now STOCKED with impact position players. mahalo
~Chach~

The Brewers have the best farm system.
If the category is prospects violating baseball's substance abuse policy.

bigboy1234 wrote:I personally like Masterson because he is a groundball pitcher and I really like groundball pitchers, although I do like Bowden more than Masterson. What has Masterson done? Well he has pitched equally as good in AA than Alan Horne who is 2 years older, but I don't know why your bringing up age since you don't use it.

I don't like Horne and I think he's fairly overrated by Yankee fans.

And Masterson has not pitched as well as Horne has in the Eastern League. Next time you might want to check the updated stats.

7.5 BB% 24.7 K% 66 GB% 3.16 FIP
8.6 BB% 24.9 K% 50 GB% 3.29 FIP

Which line do you like better?

bigboy1234 wrote:7.5 BB% 24.7 K% 66 GB% 3.16 FIP
8.6 BB% 24.9 K% 50 GB% 3.29 FIP

Which line do you like better?

That one.

By the way, where did you find those stats? Fangraphs.com hasn't updated minor league stats in a while.

edit: thanks.

firstinning.com

Feel like the Oakland A's farm system deserves mention. AAA Rivercats have dominated the PCL for most of this decade while consistently providing the A's with starting and bullpen pitching as well as some very good position players over the years. T

They won the PCL even with being absolutely stripped of their best talent this year by the A's due to numerous injuries, had over 180 transactions, and are currently leading the minor league championship game 5-0 on ESPN2 right now. Look out for Daric Barton at 1st base next year for the A's, as well as Kurt Suzuki, Donnie Murphy, JJ Furmaniak are good position prospects.

AAA record has nothing to do with how good a system is, AAA is usually filled with journey players. Suzuki and Murphey aren't prospects anymore either and JJ is a 28 year old in AAA.

The A's top guys are Barton, Cahill, and Simmons, far from a great farm.

Well with all the latest trades,Id like to say my Athletics are atleast a top 5 system in the minors.

10 Hunstville Stars (Brewers - AA) made the All-Star game. That team is just loaded with talent.

I can finally post something positive about the Rangers. They probably have the best farm system, and if not, easily number two. Considering when this thread was made they had one of the worst systems in the league, thats a huge accomplishment.

martin perez got promoted to double a today, the guy will be 20 in april of 2011, suck on that bitches

now in 2010 i would have to say the rangers and rays still

would have to say the rangers and rays still

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