Add new comment

Great read, Doc.  Lots of truth there.  But, also some risk in oversimplification.
Every team has 100+ prospects, divided into nice 25-man chunks.  Four or five different sets of 25 guys.  And while the question posed to James deserved a pithy response, it is certainly the truth that every club does NOT have the same QUALITY of talent and potential on their farms. 
You are quite right that the common fan is typically ignorant, (not necessarily dumb), about prospects for any team but their own.  Hence the problem.  Fans spend hours looking at THEIR prospects - learning their names, memorizing their stats.  In doing so, they never get a sense of what everyone else is doing. 
Perhaps the Seattle Farm watcher sees 8 guys he believes are legit major league potentials.  Well, that same guy "might" peg 23 guys if he were to use the same methods and reasoning if he scoured the Cleveland farm -- or the Arizona minors -- or even Pittsburgh.  But, you CANNOT know if you never look.
But, there are people who look at every club - and assess ALL farms.  So, if a club is pegged to have the #1 farm system, and another is 25th -- it is highly likely that this assessment is drastically more accurate than that of the common fan. 
I don't know where Seattle ranks on the development power rankings these days.  But, I do know the Bedard trade did some serious damage to the depth -- and the failures of Wlad and Clement to generate major league success hasn't helped either. 
While what you say has some truth -- taken to the extreme, it means that the Bedard trade didn't cause ANY damage, because, you know - we've had another draft - and the Putz trade.  If the Bedard trade didn't hurt the farm, then I would say that NO TRADE could possibly hurt the farm.  But, I don't think you, (or anyone who follows Seattle), really believes that.
The good GM has to begin by asking - "How good is our farm, REALLY?"
My feeling - based on experience with the Braves and Mariners is that Seattle's farm is shallow and weak.  The fact that so many players gathered from the Putz trade jumped OVER the existing talent supports this position, (and a large chunk of them are already in the majors, and no longer toiling in AAA).  So, *THEY* have to be replaced *ALREADY*.
Constantly churning your minors is only guaranteed to do two things -- keep your payroll high, and prevent you from actually developing talent.