The Mariners' Barren Farm System
MLB.com released its 2006 Top 50 Prospects Poll today. It's based on voting by "23 members of the scouting community," and these are 23 folks who don't think much of the Everett Aquasox, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, San Antonio Missions, or any other Seattle Mariner farm club.
Out of the 50 prospects selected, not a single one is property of our Mariners.
What do you people do all day???
On the bright side, there's one prospect who would surely be ranked #1 if he still had rookie status--stud pitcher Felix Hernandez.
On the other hand, the M's signed Hernandez as a free agent. So not a single player the M's have drafted in the past few years is considered even among the top 50 players in the minors. Which means that, for the foreseeable future, the M's will have to fill their lineup and pitching staff with expensive free agents. You simply can't build a championship team that way. Even the Yankees can't.
