Manuel Margot, Mauricio Dubon, Anderson Espinoza Michael Kopech, Yoan Moncada—what do all of these names have in common? They all used to be a part of an illustrious pool of Boston Red Sox prospects, that made up baseball’s No.2 farm system in all of baseball back in 2015.
However, Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski has since moved all of those prospects to acquire the likes of Craig Kimbrel, Tyler Thornburg, Drew Pomeranz, and Chris Sale. In the end, it’s safe to say it was a pretty solid return for the Red Sox. Due to these trades, however, what once was the No.2 farm system in all of baseball has recently slipped all the way down to the high-20s.
But, even with the Red Sox enduring their magical 2018 campaign, people still will point to the fact that the Red Sox don’t have that farm system full of highly touted prospects like they used to. In my opinion, when you’re the Boston Red Sox, and you have the payroll to essentially go out and sign whoever you want, you don’t need to pool a ton of young talent.
Besides, if you dissect each of the trades that Dombrowski made since joining the Red Sox, he hasn’t really traded any of the prospects that have an effect on the young core on the Major League roster. Guys like Andrew Benintendi, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, and Rafael Devers all were young players that opposing teams trading star talent were interested in. Dombrowski stuck to his guns and kept all of them, and each of them has positively impacted the Red Sox in some way since their respective call-ups.
Of the players he’s traded, the only player who looks like a potential elite MLB player is Michael Kopech, but he has only just two innings of major league experience.
A common misconception of the Red Sox farm system is that it’s completely depleted and they have no talent whatsoever down there. This is totally false. Just because the Red Sox are the only team without a top-100 prospect in their system, that has a lot to do with injuries.
Here’s a list of prospects the Red Sox have that should be in the top-100 soon.
- Bobby Dalbec – 31 home runs and 101 RBI in 121 MiLB games this season.
- Jason Groome – Ranked No.74 before undergoing season-ending surgery.
- Triston Casas – The 26th pick this past year’s draft, drawing player comparisons to Freddie Freeman.
- Tanner Houck – The First-round pick in 2017, 7-11 with a 4.24 ERA this year, tremendous upside.
Even with these four players, the Red Sox still rank 27th in baseball in terms of farm systems, yet hold the game’s best record to this stage in the season. They also have the highest payroll in baseball. They have the resources to deal younger talent because they can pay to bring in talent until they have enough time to draft and develop more prospects.
Top farm systems are only necessary for teams who aren’t big market ballclubs. Teams like the Red Sox don’t necessarily have to have a stacked farm system.
