Before I open the floor for random banter, I wanted to point something out, because its something I’ve seen a lot here this year. There is no anti-Phillies bias in prospect circles. There simply isn’t. From an objective, outside point of view, the Phillies system hasn’t been very good over the last five years. We’ve always been a top heavy system (one or two very good prospects) and we’ve gotten the occasional ML performer on the cheap (Geary, Madson), but our system doesn’t compare with the type of guys that Boston, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and other teams have produced. The system is getting a lot better, and is as strong now as I can remember over the last 10 years. These publications are going to pick up on this and the Phillies will start to move up the rankings. Or maybe they won’t. But it really doesn’t matter. You have to remember also, Baseball America gets a lot of their info directly from the Phillies, and as we’ve chronicled, the Phillies don’t go out of their way to hype up their own guys to the degree that some teams (Mets, Yankees, Red Sox) do. But think about it from a practical standpoint. These places are trying to get more readers every day, and they are competing with other sites just like themselves. What benefit would they see in alienating an entire fanbase and being biased? Keith Law has no rooting interest in the Phillies or any other team. Why would he go out of his way to downgrade our prospects? He works for Scouts Inc/ESPN, ESPN wants as many new customers as possible. He is very consistent in his analysis, and he’s said “I was wrong on him, he’s gotten better since I last saw him” on more than one occasion.
There is no bias. Sometimes players legitimately fly under the radar. It happens in every organization. Now, onto the games…
Phuture Phillies 