Chris Sale, Dayan Viciedo, and literally right now, our entire bullpen. All the results of our "depleted" minor league system. I can't think of any other team in memory that the preseason thoughts were so off base. Some people had this team losing as many as 95 games because the White Sox were stuck with a bunch of bad contracts on washed up players, (Dunn, Rios, and Peavy), and that depleted farm system. So far the exact opposite has occurred. Bounce back years by each of these three, and the development of Sale and their infant bullpen has this team looking like a perfect blend of youth and experience.

Now I don't want to get ahead of myself here. It's early, and personally I do feel Detroit will still win the division. But let's enjoy this and see what happens. And as to you Baseball America and your ranking of the farm systems, I'll just politely say you were wrong.

Underrated, but not by much. Please don't start this argument again.

I agree about the farm but not the Tigers. They had some career years last year and lost as much as they added. Verlander is solid but like Kershaw with the Dodgers, he is the exception on the staff.

If I'm ANY of these kids in Sox system. Such talk makes me say "I'll prove the naysayers wrong, after all I AM in this system".

Gotta use it and I'm sure the Sox farm systems are using it as motivation.

We should probably just get Philly on the phone now about Hamels. Offer them their choice of 2 of Septimo/Santiago/Ohmigrosso/Jones/Axelrod/Quintana. Embarrassment of riches!

Boy you can't just get off this stance can you. Hate to be wrong but you are wrong. You are probably the type of guy that read all those stupid publications and live by the stupid ratings that some stupid guy writes which are "his opinions" of the farm systems. I'd say the Sox are making all those so called expects look pretty stupid now don't you???? Proud it's ok to be wrong!!!!!

Have you watched Detroit at all this year. They have one solid pitcher and his arm will be ready to fall off here soon. Take my word for it and look at the history of these hard throwers...the arm goes!!!
The Tigers are terrible defensively and fat boy at first has gotten the cash so he's satisfied

What is he wrong about? They base those rankings on how many impact players a team might have at the minor league level. These guys can be used to become star players for your team, or trade for valuable pieces from other teams. Sale has been awesome for sure, but if the Sox wanted to trade for another stud starter like a Hamels or Greinke, they just don't have anybody those teams would want. Bringing up Septimo because Will Ohman is bad or having Jordan Danks and Eduardo Escobar on your bench doesn't mean you have some great farm system.

Nobody is fielding a team with even 5 or 6 players from their farm system. Getting talent on your team is 50% farm and 50% trades. Pitching is the only position you can stockpile prospects because of the numbers(10 t0 12 per team) and have success. Teams constantly give up on players that blossom later, PK and AJ on the Sox, Sandoval,Pagan, and Melky on the Giants.

Along with what Nardis says, forget whether you think these guys are doing well now. Think about the future. Let's say these guys keep performing as well as they are in their current positions. That means our farm has produced a brilliant starter, a LF who can hit 30 HR/year. Great! That's awesome. The starter is big, and the LF, while not someone to build a team around, is a very solid player to have at the position.

Now let's look at the others. We've produced a closer with a 4.00+ ERA, two bench players (one of whom is a good fielder and can't hit, the other is an OF who hasn't drawn a walk yet, so I don't think he'll bat .400 in a season), and some good pen pitchers. Add on to that fact that pen pitchers are NOTORIOUSLY streaky AND that they provide little value compared to a starting pitcher, and you start to realize that we haven't produced very much. We just have some guys who are performing well and keeping our team afloat along with one star (in his first year of starting) and another good player (also in his first year of starting).

Now, the icing on the cake. What if even half of these guys perform worse next season? Odds are it will happen. It's certainly happened with all prospects we've ever had and I'm sure the same goes for most other teams' prospects. Then what have we produced?

Long post, I know, but my main point is that you don't base the story of our farm system off of a half-season or less from a few prospects. And even if you do, it's not that impressive of a story.

P.S. I hate to even imagine it, but think about who we would replace someone like Paulie or Alexei with if they went down. That's when things get really scary.

Actually I agree. I guess I'm just being cautiously optimistic. I don't respect Cleveland. There is nothing about them that makes you want to say they should be a division winner. That leaves Detroit. So to say Detroit isn't good enough, that would imply we really should win the division. Don't want to get ahead of myself by saying that YET. But....I'm hoping.

Actually I agree with you. Guess I'm sounding a little pessimistic because I'm trying to stay grounded.

Sale is not a product of the farm system. He came major league ready out of college. He went through the minors without unpacking his bags. In a sense the minor league system is weak, the Hudson signing and Youk trade prove that a bit. Some of the guys they brought up pitching though prove that the system is at least doing what is intended to do.

Enjoy the moment! It's along season but remember this is suppose to be for fun, so enjoy!!!

Part of the farm system is scouting and drafting. Was he the 1st pick of the draft overall?

Perhaps a little. Still in the bottom 5 imo. There have been a few guys that have come out of nowhere and have had good seasons. Some high picks that have struggled in the past are also looking like they're figuring things out. Barnum and Hawkins could possibly be impact position players. The guy they got for Quentin, Simon Castro, is doing very well.

Sale was 13th.

Thank you. My point.

Not counting Sale as a product of our farm system is wrong. You are just more familiar with the story of Sox young players and that makes it easier to reach such conclusions. It was our scouts and those responsible for development that realized his talent and that he didn't need any seasoning in the minors.

If we would have wasted him in the minors for two years, watching his stock skyrocket as a top 10 prospect in baseball, would that have made our farm system better? Viciedo and Sale came from our farm system, we didn't acquire them from trades or traditional free agency.

I can discredit almost any farm system by looking at the players at a case by case basis. I think most would consider Seattle as currently having a strong farm system.

Jesús Montero came into the year ranked as the number 6 prospect, but he isn't a product of there farm system, they traded for him. Danny Hultzen was ranked as the 21st best prospect in baseball, but coming into the year he had pitcher 0 innings for Seattle, clearly he isn't a product of there farm system. Taijuan Walker came into the year ranked as number 20, but he was much more successful in his first two seasons, if anything he should count against there farm system due to poor development. (I don't honestly believe any of this, just showing how easy it is to claim that players in the minors aren't really products of that farm system)

Our farm system is bad, probably in the bottom 1/3rd of the league, but don't discredit the young talent it has produced this year just to make the argument stronger. The goal of a farm system is to develop cheap young talent, and this year the Sox have a few cheap young players helping them win games.