ESPN’s Keith Law has released his farm system rankings heading into the 2015 season. After being gutted apart by new GM A.J. Preller the Padres have still found themselves sitting 18th on the list, down only nine spots from the year prior. This is what he had to say about the Padres’ system.
"“New GM AJ Preller has traded away much of the depth in this system but has managed to retain the Padres’ top two prospects, Hunter Renfroe and Austin Hedges, as well as the pitcher they consider their top arm, Matt Wisler. It’s been a busy offseason in San Diego.”"
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A busy offseason is putting it lightly. In the process of giving the major league team a face lift the Padres were forced to part with prospects like Joe Wieland, R.J. Alvarez, Max Fried, Mallex Smith, Jace Peterson, Dustin Peterson, Jake Bauers, Joe Ross and Trea Turner. That’s a lot of guys all who were looked as guys with upside, and there hasn’t been a chance for Preller to add any depth to the system since those moves.
Still, as Law mentions, the Padres kept their top three prospects even through the overhaul, but Renfroe, Hedges and Wisler aren’t the only reason the system didn’t fall all the way to the bottom third. There’s middle infielders Jose Rondon and Taylor Lindsey acquired in the Huston Street trade, 2014 second round pick Michael Gettys, reliever Seth Streich who came from Oakland alongside Derek Norris, and Cory Spangenberg and Rymer Liriano who break camp with big league club this year just to name a few.
Despite what seemed like a mass exodus of all the team’s prospects, the system is still deep. There may be a lack of high end talent, but the depth has remained intact, and now Preller will get a chance to put a stamp on it with this year’s upcoming draft.
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