Such as high draft picks.  The Rays now have far and away the best minor league system in all of baseball because of their futility.  Some guys have already made their presence known in Tampa, like B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Andy Sonnanstine, and James Shields.  This of course isn’t mentioning their players acquired through trades, such as Dioner Navarro and Matt Garza.  A ton of others are still in the minors, but are almost ready for the bigs.

They’re pretty balanced in terms of hitters and pitchers in the farm.  As far as hitters, they have a few guys that have all star ceilings.  Reid Brignac and Desmond Jennings are two of them.  Brignac has been a top prospect ever since he’s been in the minor leagues and has excelled.  The 22 year old is currently struggling a little in AAA, but still projects to be an elite shortstop with above average power.  Jennings burst onto the prospect scene last year after a huge year in A ball in which he hit .315 with 9 home runs, 21 doubles, 5 triples, and 45 stolen bases.  He’s a prototypical leadoff hitter.  He hits for great average, has decent power, and has jet engines for legs.  Add to that the fact that he’s only 20 and you have the makings of a fantastic center fielder.

The pitching is where it’s at though, and the amount of young elite pitching prospects they have is simply unfair.  Not only do they have two frontline guys in Kazmir and Shields, but they have Garza who could develop into another frontline starter.  They have Niemann who was highly touted out of Rice University, and Andy Sonnanstine who could turn out to be a solid #4 or #5 starter.  We haven’t even gotten to 3 of the best pitching prospects in the game, either.

David Price, Jake McGee, Wade Davis.  These three all have dominant ace potential, and the thought of them in the same rotation is scary, scary, and scary.  All three were in Baseball America’s top 20.  Davis and Price are currently owning AA at very young ages, and Price was making major league hitters look silly in Spring Training with his combination of a high 90’s fastball and a sick-nasty slider that’s already a plus plus pitch for him.  Add those three with Kazmir, Garza, and Shields, and that’s simply stunning.  There’s no way a team should be able to have that many dominant starters.

Good luck keeping them from free agency.

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