Chicago Cubs Boasts Top-10 Farm System in MLB
The future is looking bright for the Chicago Cubs. Their winter was filled with impact free agent acquisitions headlined by shortstop Dansby Swanson and starting pitcher Jameson Taillon.
Ownership and the front office kept their word and started to regain some of the trust that was lost with the Cubs faithful. The window of contention has been busted wide open and the direction is up.
Perhaps even more promising for Chicago is the state of their farm system.
The Athletic's Keith Law just released his highly anticipated farm system rankings and the Cubs come in #10.
Their system is stocked with prospects such as Pete Crow-Armstrong, Brennan Davis, and Kevin Alcantara, to name a few. The upside is there, plenty of prospects have elite toolsets, and the upper levels of the system could have some impact guys.
Here's Law's explanation on why he ranked Chicago where he did:
"To be honest, I thought they’d end up higher on the list, but perhaps I was a year early with those expectations, which were mostly built around the group of position players in A-ball and the Arizona Complex League this year, only one of whom, Kevin Alcantara, made my top 100. Most of the others are still interesting prospects with upside remaining but didn’t progress to the point where it would have pushed this system into the top 5. There’s less pitching here, although they bet big on upside with their first pick in 2022, Cade Horton."
Having a strong a promising farm system is something that every perennial contender possesses. Depth is important for championship runs. Impact talent is necessary to keep the salary cap manageable for free agent acquisitions. Promising development and projections are key to use for ammo in a trade.
The Cubs are finally rounding the corner, the rebuild is over, and they have set their foundation on multiple levels.
The future is bright on the North Side.
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