AA tells Sirius he's looking for "impact bat"

[Truthrising]

Gee, I sure wish we had Mike Napoli right about now... hah

If only we had the chance

[flatjacket1]

The farm system, as I mentioned prior to this season, has more depth than it has star power. There isn't an Evan Longoria or David Price or Matt Moore type in the Jays system. Maybe some of the younger players (Sanchez, Syndergaard, Marisnick, etc) will develop into that type of prospect, but as of now it is simply not there. It is a system of very good talent and the upper minors has less of that talent. So the Jays relying on their farm system to help out the MLB team, at least over the next year or two, doesn't provide confidence for future contending either, unless they consolidate their prospects for stars (which I sincerely hope they start doing).

But still we have some great prospects. Our farm is ranked 7 spots higher than Tampa's this year by John Sickels, and we also rank above TB's again on Fangraphs as well.

Prospects for stars is great, but the best prospect in high A gets you squat on the market. Until they move up to at LEAST AA, they will get us squat. Noah was a "throw in" by Oakland that they wanted on top of the prospect package we were sending time. A throw in. He's arguable our best arm in A ball.

[Michael Bradley]

The farm system, as I mentioned prior to this season, has more depth than it has star power. There isn't an Evan Longoria or David Price or Matt Moore type in the Jays system. Maybe some of the younger players (Sanchez, Syndergaard, Marisnick, etc) will develop into that type of prospect, but as of now it is simply not there. It is a system of very good talent and the upper minors has less of that talent. So the Jays relying on their farm system to help out the MLB team, at least over the next year or two, doesn't provide confidence for future contending either, unless they consolidate their prospects for stars (which I sincerely hope they start doing).

But still we have some great prospects. Our farm is ranked 7 spots higher than Tampa's this year by John Sickels, and we also rank above TB's again on Fangraphs as well.

Prospects for stars is great, but the best prospect in high A gets you squat on the market. Until they move up to at LEAST AA, they will get us squat. Noah was a "throw in" by Oakland that they wanted on top of the prospect package we were sending time. A throw in. He's arguable our best arm in A ball.

The prospects with potential to be great are in the lower minors. That's the problem. The upper minors lack star upside, which is why I don't really take the high farm system ranking too seriously. Pitching prospects in general are high unpredictable, but pitching prospects in A- that are teenagers or barely 20? We have to wait a year or two before we see that jump to elite level prospect.

That is what I mean by AA being so far behind Tampa. To duplicate that, the team has to develop stars, and develop them to the point where they can trade Matt Garza types and not even feel a difference. The Jays traded Marcum last year and the rotation imploded badly (not that Marcum alone would have saved it but he would have helped). The Jays have to get big time internal development to reach Tampa's status and they simply don't have the elite talent that Tampa does (outside of Bautista and possibly Romero depending on how you view him) to compensate for young players not panning out.

I have said before, the Jays should be a hybrid of Tampa and New York/Boston. They won't be as good at player development as Tampa and won't spend as much as NYY/BOS, but if they do both sides very well, they should have a chance. Unfortunately they refuse to spend (unless it involves relievers) so they are banking on the farm system, which is risky.

[flatjacket1]

That is what I mean by AA being so far behind Tampa. To duplicate that, the team has to develop stars, and develop them to the point where they can trade Matt Garza types and not even feel a difference. The Jays traded Marcum last year and the rotation imploded badly (not that Marcum alone would have saved it but he would have helped). The Jays have to get big time internal development to reach Tampa's status and they simply don't have the elite talent that Tampa does (outside of Bautista and possibly Romero depending on how you view him) to compensate for young players not panning out.

I have said before, the Jays should be a hybrid of Tampa and New York/Boston. They won't be as good at player development as Tampa and won't spend as much as NYY/BOS, but if they do both sides very well, they should have a chance. Unfortunately they refuse to spend (unless it involves relievers) so they are banking on the farm system, which is risky.

Some people argue we are almost a better team than Tampa at the moment. Without their hot streak last season, they were a 88ish win team. That's what we can be according to some folk.

Tampa isn't that great of a farm system. They draft players who sign under slot, so their cheapness expands well beyond the boundaries of FA. Our 2011 and 2010 draft haul was better than theirs, despite them having more picks (if I remember correctly).

Jays are going a hybrid of Tampa Bay/Texas. We will spend once we get there. (Texas didn't sign a big FA until AFTER making WS).

The main thing to remember is we won't outspend Boston or NYY. NYY makes more money on Yankee hats then we do in a decade from ticket sales. It's a joke. People say Rogers is rolling in the dough, but don't look up at NY who is making money hand over fist. This is why they can afford to be great. They have 8M per 25 man roster spot to spend (so for every player making the minimum they have 16M) to spend and it's sustainable.

Toronto cannot sustain that. I'm sorry if you believe we can. Our payroll is slowly rising due to extensions and such, and we need to extend our DH and 2B. If you went by true talent, we are paying 83M for a team worth about 120M. We likely won't breach 140M unless we are a playoff team.