Comments on: Minors 2006 (7 of 7) - New Orleans

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:23:44 +0000

With Nats’ AAA consisting of too-old-for-MLB vets and the other farm teams struggling, what is the blueprint for building up the minors so that the majors can be respectable in 4 years? Seems like a long haul. For example, do you sign a slew of veteran free agents and turn the ones that pan out into prospects at mid-season? The draft by itself could take forever.

By: Scot

Scot — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:44:56 +0000

I don’t think there is a quick fix for the Nats system. It is going to take a long time to get the system back to respectability. That said, you can do more than just rely on the draft. Aggressively sign international free agents (as long as they’re not covered by the draft - there was talk of making all players world-wide draft eligible in the last CBA negotiations, but that idea seems to have been dropped). Get aggressive on making waiver claims, and be active in the minor league portion of the rule 5 draft. Go after the best minor league free agents - most of them won’t ever amount to anything, but it doesn’t hurt to sign a bunch of guys to see if any of them will pan out. Scout other systems so that if/when you make a trade, you get good prospects back. And be patient - it’s going to take time. Expecting the current farm system to contribute significantly to a respectable major league team in 4 years is probably over-optimistic, given the current lack of talent at the high levels.

By: Brian J Oliver

Brian J Oliver — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:17:53 +0000

It seems to me that many teams are using their AAA franchise as a place to stockpile bench guys, spot starters, and middle relief pitchers. Until the Nationals can rebuild the system to the point of having an abundance of top level guys (like Arizona did in Tucson this year), I’d imagine Columbus will be rostered in 2007 much the same as New Orleans was in 2006.