Futures that Couldn't Make the Cut

Tampa Bay Rays

They have had so much success, but they’re still a young club. Right off the bat the payroll kept them off the list. They’re lack of spending prevents them from locking up young studs (though they do have a contract savvy GM, look at the deal they gave Evan Longoria!). I’m also concerned about their lack of offensive prospects. This season leftfield, rightfield, first base, 2^nd base, catcher, and shortstop are all question marks for the Rays. They also don’t have any great pieces to cover those positions in the future.

The Rays continue to have a plethora of pitching prospects, and one of the best young rotations in the game. The bullpen is still really weak though and they lost a lot of pieces this offseason. If they trade some of their pitchers for some top notch hitting prospects they could immediately propel into the top five on my rankings.

New York Yankees

            As far as payroll goes the Yankees are set. They can eat up any contract in baseball. They’ve also worked to restore some respectability to their farm system. However, they’re a very old club right now. Their core still contains Jeter, Posada, A-Rod, and Rivera. All these guys are locked up for a while and besides Rivera they’re all showing signs of slowing down.

            It’s true Jesus Montero and Austin Romine can take over at DH/C in the future; but that leaves the whole left side of the infield to worry about. Teixeira, a master at slow starts, had the worst numbers of his career last season and that too could be a cause for concern in the next couple of seasons.

            The biggest factor holding New York back is the rotation. If they had gotten Lee maybe this would be a different conversation. However, they didn’t, and now they have to scrap up some starters. People like Ivan Nova, but the kid is nothing more than a number four pitcher, not the number two/three combo they desperately need. Also, there’s a variable in Sabathia. After this season he can opt out of his contract, and there’s been talk that he’s thinking about it. If that happens and he signs somewhere else the Yankees rotation is dead in the water.

Florida Marlins

As I said in the Atlanta outlook, 10^th was a tie between the Braves and this club. I love the prospects in the Florida system. Their lineup is stacked and they have a lot of big offensive pieces. They’re also learning to play defense better and that helps the pitchers. Josh Johnson is an ace, and Ricky Nolasco has had nothing but weird and bad luck in his career, meaning he could still develop into a great number two.

My biggest concerns are the payroll, ownership, and the farm. Florida never spends money, and that could hurt them when it comes to keeping their young studs around. Ownership does nothing to squash Hanley Ramirez’s antics, and his bad attitude could hurt this team. The farm was deep last season, but it’s top prospects have all hit the MLB and left it a little dry moving into the future.

Philadelphia Phillies

            People, who know me, and my takes on baseball, know that I’m not a huge fan of the Phillies. But, it has nothing to do with their players or fan base. I don’t like the Phillies because of their management. Ruben Amaro Jr. takes a win now strategy and it’s completely killed the future of the Phillies.

            No matter how good their rotation gets they have traded away all their position prospects (except Dominic Brown). The offense is streaky and below average. Injuries to guys like Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez are killing them, and they have a lot of money tied up in players who are already aging and seeing their numbers suffer. The Phillies might be on top for the next couple of seasons, but until they have some young prospects who can hit this team is just going to get older and less competitive.

San Francisco Giants

I like the long-term outlook of the rotation. Lincecum has a little injury risk, but Cain and Bumgarner are young and those three will make noise for a long time. However, the offense is weak, and the contractual obligations are ugly. They still have a lot of years and money owed to Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand, which is turning their ability to spend into sludge.

Also, the offense has some good pieces, but they’re still behind a lot of the league. I love Posey and Sandoval as a core, and boy does Brandon Belt look like he’s got a great future ahead of him. However, besides those three there’s no one that really stands out. If they could acquire one new core piece to the offense it’d be hard to overlook them.

Texas Rangers

Texas has a young team and it was hard to overlook them. The rotation is young and without an ace (which hurts them in the short run), but they have Neftali Feliz and Martin Perez who could fill that role in the long run. The offense has very few holes except maybe at catcher or first base. They also have some great management and I love Nolan Ryan’s initiative.

However, they are one of the most injury prone teams in the league. Their core hitters involve Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton. These three miss about 20-25 games a year apiece. This holds the offense back and it will only get worse as these players get older. If they can stay healthy the Rangers are easily a top team on the list, but until we see what their rotation and offense can do at full tilt it’s hard to find a place for them.