Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles: Keith Law ranks Orioles farm system 25th in MLB
Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore Orioles: Keith Law ranks Orioles farm system 25th in MLB

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:35 a.m. ET

In recent years, the Baltimore Orioles traded away their prospects to add Major League talent. Unfortunately, it has cost them since their farm system is now ranked at the bottom of ESPN’s list.

You can try to sugar coat it all you want, but the fact of the matter is the Baltimore Orioles farm system is not very good. If you’re someone that is not paid by the Orioles, you would wholeheartedly agree.

Sure, the Orioles farm system produced talent such as Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop and Zach Britton. But currently the farm system has produced next to no one.

The farm system is in such rough shape, ESPN’s Keith Law ranked the Orioles farm system 25th in the Major Leagues. That means there are only four teams underneath them, and I don’t have to tell you twice that’s not good.

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    The Orioles only have one, maybe two prospects that are ready for the Major Leagues in the near future, the main one being Chance Sisco. The rest of the farm system might not be ready for another year or two. The only way Sisco would help the Orioles the most is if they were willing to make a trade, but even then the Orioles wouldn’t have enough pieces to get anything done.

    Here’s an excerpt from Law’s article regarding the Orioles ranking:

    The Orioles’ system has been down for a while now, hurt largely by the lack of progress and health issues affecting their best pitching prospects. But their 2016 draft class might finally give the organization the starting pitching hope they’ve needed for a while.

    The long-term outlook here is much better than the short term, but the short term is where the probability and trade value lies – and that’s where Baltimore is lacking, with only catcher Chance Sisco and lefty Chris Lee both closer to the majors and bringing high enough floors that they could return a significant big-league piece in a deal. What’s still lacking is up-the-middle talent, with Sisco their only top 15 prospect who is going to stay at any of those four positions.

    Bad moves by the Orioles have played a part in depleting their farm system: they sacrificed first round picks to sign players like Yovani Gallardo and Ubaldo Jimenez. They got rid of second round picks for players like Brian Matusz. They traded prospect Zach Davies for Gerardo Parra. And they traded away pitching prospects Steven Brault and Stephen Tarpley for Travis Snider.

    The moves played a part in why the Orioles farm system has struggled. And if there’s one thing the Orioles need to do for the future, it’s replenish their farm system.

    Want your voice heard? Join the Birds Watcher team!

    Right now, it’s hard to imagine the next Manny Machado is in the Orioles farm system.

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