On the farm

I’m the last guy to defend Ned Colletti, given his horrendous record of free agent signings. But before we start dumping all over him for destroying the farm system, let’s have a closer look.

Here are Baseball Prospectus’s top dodger prospects from 2006

Excellent Prospects
1. Clayton Kershaw, LHP
2. Andy LaRoche, 3B
3. Scott Elbert, LHP
Very Good Prospects
4. James Loney, 1B
Good Prospects
5. Jonathan Meloan, RHP
6. Josh Bell, 3B
7. Preston Mattingly, 1B
Average Prospects
8. Blake DeWitt, 2B/3B
9. Bryan Morris, RHP
10. Chin-Lung Hu, SS

Well, Kershaw, Loney, and perhaps DeWitt are on the big league roster, with Elbert and Hu probably in AAA. LaRoche has yet to show that he was worth waiting for. Meloan was overhyped. Bell, Morris, and Mattingly are not making anyone forget Buddy, Jack, or Don.

Going back even further, here’s John Sickels’ analysis of the Dodgers' farm system from 2004

Top pitchers
Edwin Jackson, RHP
Greg Miller, LHP
Joel Hanrahan, RHP
Chad Billingsley, RHP
Top hitters
James Loney, 1B
Franklin Gutierrez, OF
Delwyn Young, 2B
Xavier Paul, OF
Koyie Hill, C
Reggie Abercrombie, OF
Sleepers
Jon Broxton, RHP
Andy LaRoche, 2B
Mike Megrew, LHP
Brian Pilkington, RHP
Disappointments
Willy Aybar, 3B
Joel Guzman, SS
Joe Thurston, 2B

Jackson has been an average major league pitcher, certainly not the all-star everybody expected when he was traded. Hanrahan was DFA’d. Gutierrez is a career .258 hitter. Koyie Hill has played 96 games. Abercrombie is 27, and less promising than Kemp, Ethier, or Delwyn Young, or even Xavier Paul. Megrew and Pilkington have yet to see major league action. Aybar cost the Dominican team a crucial game against the Netherlands. Joel Guzman can’t hit the curveball. Joe Thurston is 30 and has 59 major league games under his belt.

So I ask amid all the hand-wringing, where is the Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez moment? The Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi? The Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen. John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander?

The answer: nowhere. The Dodgers have done a rather excellent job of holding onto their best prospects while trading off players who have not exactly become all stars. I’m willing to concede the possibility that we may some day be talking about the guitarist as “the other Carlos Santana,” but for the moment, the Cleveland catching prospect is still just a prospect.

The Dodgers farm system is weak right now because so many of its jewels are studding the major league roster, competing for playoff spots even as they garner major league experience. Kemp, Martin, Loney, Dewitt, Young, Broxton, and Billz, are all proven major leaguers at a very young age. Kershaw is clearly on his way to joining them, and Ethier, though he did not come from the Dodger system, was an outright steal for Milton Bradley.

There are still plentyof things that stand between this team and a world championship (mostly starting and relief pitching). But let’s quit griping about the farm system. There are no tomatoes coming up from the ground at harvest time. They’re already on the plate.