Phillies Farm System Ranked 27th In MLB

On the same day that Matt Gelb and Bob Brookover of the Inquirer released how they ranked the prospects in the Phillies system, ESPN's Keith Law released how he ranked the Phillies system relative to the competition.

The result? Fourth-worst.

From Law [ESPN]:

Their highest-ranked prospect on my top 100 (no team was shut out entirely) is the lowest of any team's highest-ranked prospect. They do, however, have a number of intriguing, high-risk guys from low-A on down, especially on the pitching side.

Said "highest-ranked prospect" is, presumably, Jesse Biddle, who topped Baseball America's pre-2012 Phillies list. Law's Top 100 hits tomorrow.

Vesting much in such rankings are, obviously, iffy propositions. But considering some believe that the Phillies moves this offseason (low-risk, short-term) and impeding financial flexibility (off the books will be $54.5 million in 2013 commitments) were to make way for the future, it's worth noting some scouts' regard of said future.

In that line of thinking, Biddle would pad a rotation that at year's end could lose Roy Halladay (free agency), and Lee at the trade deadline (if all hell breaks loose), as would Jonathan Pettibone (No. 5), Ethan Martin (No. 7) and Adam Morgan (No. 9). Either Maikel Franco (No. 3) or Cody Asche (No. 7) would replace 2013 third baseman Michael Young, 36, as would Tommy Joseph (No. 2), acquired in the Hunter Pence trade with the Giants, for Carlos Ruiz, 34.

And that assumes all would be big league-ready by 2014, which only seems the case for the pitchers, Asche and, maybe, Joseph.

Even then, though, rankings like this one from Law would seem to give pause to those hoping for a 2007-2011-like resurgence in an impending roster turnover.