The BP 101 just dropped. For some reason, WordPress isn’t allowing me to link that, so go here to see it.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=25538
It’s free, so there are no worries about proprietary business.
I made a simple ranking system for the prospects and organized each team by how many points they had. My system is as follows:
6 points for 1-10
3 points for 10-30
2 points for 30-60
1 point for 60-101
My reasoning is that I think most people would consider two guys around 20 a fair trade for a guy around 5 (Kris Bryant for Hunter Harvey/Tyler Glasnow). Most people would consider 2 guys around 20 a fair trade for 3 guys around 45 (Hunter Harvey/Tyler Glasnow for Jesse Winker/Raimel Tapia/Henry Owens). Most people consider a 45 guy fair for two 80 guys (Raimel Tapia for Kevin Plawecki/Billy McKinney). To make that Cubs measuring sticks, a middle Top 10 guy is either Russell or Bryant, a 20 guy is Jorge Soler, a 45 guy is a little worse than Almora (who BP is sky-high on, still), and an 80 guy is McKinney or Schwarber.
Top 3 systems
Minnesota and the Cubs tie for 1st, with 20 points each. The Twins have 9 players on the list instead of the 8 the Cubs have. They also have the single best prospect in baseball in Byron Buxton. However, the Cubs put 2 players in the top 10, one of only 2 teams to do so. The Dodgers are in 3rd place (and are the other team with 2 Top 10 guys). The have 16 points. After the top 3 systems, there is a clear line tier line to the muddled middle.
NL Central outlook
The Cubs, as said, have 20 points and pace the field. The next best team is the Pirates with 11 points. They have a trio of solid pitching prospects (Kingham, Glasnow, and Taillon), an outfielder (Josh Bell), and a catcher (Reese McGuire). It’s the 8th best system in baseball, and it is very close to graduating their trio of pitchers (all of whom are projected to play at least some in Pittsburgh at 2015). This year, Pittsburgh is vulnerable. In 2016, they should be great. St. Louis and Cincinnati tie with 6 points, or two Kris Bryants and an Albert Almora away from the Cubs. That’s great to hear (and outright depressing for the Reds, who are just about to start their 4-year rebuild), but St. Louis makes up for it with a dynamite ML team. Milwaukee brings up the rear with a single point, and the major league team is miserable.
Complete List
| CHC | 20 |
| MIN | 20 |
| LAD | 16 |
| TEX | 13 |
| WAS | 12 |
| NYM | 12 |
| COL | 11 |
| PIT | 11 |
| BAL | 10 |
| HOU | 9 |
| CLE | 8 |
| TOR | 8 |
| KC | 8 |
| ARI | 8 |
| BOS | 8 |
| SD | 7 |
| STL | 6 |
| CIN | 6 |
| PHI | 5 |
| NYY | 4 |
| CHW | 4 |
| ATL | 3 |
| LAA | 2 |
| TBR | 2 |
| SFG | 2 |
| SEA | 2 |
| OAK | 1 |
| MIL | 1 |
| DET | 1 |
| MIA | 0 |