The idea that you need high first round picks to maintain a farm system that keeps churning out top flight players is absurd. The Rays prove this, after graduating Upton, Longoria, Price and Niemen (plus Young, who they flipped for Garza & Bartlet) they should be going through a "re-loading period".
So why do they have, depending on the source, the best or second best farm system in Baseball?
Their top prospects:
Desmond Jennings - Acquired: 2006 Draft, 10th Round, 289th Overall
Jeremy Hellickson - Acquired: 2005 Draft, 4th Round, 118th Overall
Wade Davis - Acquired: 2004 Draft, 3rd Round, 75th Overall
Matt Moore - Acquired: 2008 Draft, 8th Round, 245th Overall
Alex Colome - Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2007
Reid Brignac - Acquired: 2004 Draft, 2nd Round, 45th Overall
Tim Beckham - Acquired: 2008 Draft, 1st Round, 1st Overall
These are the guys who popped up on most Top 100 prospects list, in that order. See the problem?
