The Phillies' Farm System is the Best It's Been in Years

Click here for a story about a Rice-educated pitcher who is 8-1 at AA (despite not having blazing stuff or having totally mastered his pitches).

Click here for a story about a more intriguing prospect, the very large and strong outfielder, Michael Taylor, a Stanford alum who doesn't strike out much and is in the top 10 in most categories in the Eastern League.

While Savery projects as a back-end-of-the-rotation guy, it's harder to tell about Taylor except that the numbers don't lie. What I mean by that is that I've read that the only two untouchables in the Phillies' organization are OF Dominic Brown and P Kyle Drabek. That said, it's hard to believe that the Phillies will dangle Taylor unless they get someone significant in return. And with Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Roy Halladay (the latter of whom would appear to be untouchable) on the DL and big bucks owed to Roy Oswalt, it's hard to see who that someone might be.

Read the very good articles from the Philadelphia Daily News and see if you agree with me about Taylor. Still having vivid memories of the Ivan DeJesus trade (which gave both the aging Larry Bowa and the unproven Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs), I shudder to think that you'd trade Taylor for the Pirates' Ross Ohlendorf, only to see the latter have a Dick Ruthven/Tyler Green type of career while the former goes on to put up Hall of Fame numbers. Then again, picture a lineup with Rollins, Utley, Ibanez, Howard and Taylor in it, and smile, at least at the prospects for that group.