Yankees Farm System Ranks 19th Most Valuable

Victor Wang did some extensive research in order to determine how much money different prospects are worth to their teams based on how well they played and how little money they made in their six seasons under team control.

In the end, Wang was able to assign a dollar value to the different grade prospects based on John Sickels rankings. The dollar values are laid out at Beyond the Box Score if you'd like to check them out. After Sickels finished ranking each farm system, Doug Gray over at Reds Minor Leagues ranked all the farm systems using this method.

One possible flaw is that Gray only counted C+ prospects and better, because not all grade C prospects are listed on Minor League Ball . I don't think this would have made much of a difference, given the abundance and relative lack of value of a C prospect. The Yankees ranked 19th on the list with a farm system worth $85.18 million. The Indians ranked first with a value of $150.94 million. Here's how it broke down for the Yankees:

As you can see, Jesus Montero represents a very large chunk (38 percent) of the Yankees farm system's value. Montero makes the system hitter-heavy, even though the system is usually thought of as pitcher heavy.

Now, given that the Yankees traded away some top prospects, being ranked 19th isn't terrible. If the Yankees held onto Austin Jackson, Arodys Vizcaino, and Michael Dunn, their system would have been ranked 11th with a value of $110.18 million, which is a much more suitable number.

There is no doubt that the Yankees' system took a big hit this offseason, but the system has still remained in the middle of the pack. I expect the Yankees to rebound a bit this season with some draft picks and hopefully with some breakout performances.