Is Phillies' Farm System Now Lean?

Click here on this list of the Top 100 prospects from ESPN.

The good news: top prospect Domonic Brown, the untouchable one, comes in at #14. No other Phillies' prospect ranks in the top 100.

Schadenfraude news (sort of): None of the players traded for Cliff Lee ranks in the Top 100.

Reverse whammy news (sort of): None of the prospects obtained for Cliff Lee ranks in the Top 100, either. Not only that, but the Mariners didn't give the Phillies any of their top 3 prospects for Lee(Dustin Ackley is #8 (he's the Chase Utley-alike from North Carolina, playing OF now), Carlos Triunfel is #44 (he's a 2B), and OF Michael Saunders is #74.

The other news: Michael Taylor (now with Oakland and part of the Roy Halladay trade) is #24, and Kyle Drabek and Travis D'Arnaud, also part of that trade, come in at #s 40 and 99.

Rivals (and, possibly bad for the Phillies' news):

Atlanta has #s 1, 43, 63, 67 and 85;
Florida has #s 5, 21 and 62;
New York Mets have #s 23, 41, 64 and 73; and
Washington has #s 2, 31 and 92.

What does this all mean?

1. That the Phillies are built for the next couple of years (which makes sense, because by 2012 a bunch of their stars will be pushing 33, 34);
2. That the Phillies might not have enough prospects to trade should they need to make a mid-season move to fortify the team; and
3. That the Phillies are working hard to fortify their minor-league systems.

It also means that Washington might just have a plan, that the Mets have some young prospects who could help (but who probably cannot repair the holes they currently have) and that the Braves should be picked to finish second in the NL East.

I'd love to look back on this list 5 years from now to see a) how everyone turned out and b) how well those not on the list fared in comparison.

Pitchers and catchers report this week!