Minor league rankings show M’s have long way to go

An interesting piece just moved on SportsIllustrated.com, a story by John Manuel of Baseball America ranking baseball’s farm systems.

To no surprise, the Mariners are down on the list, 20th of the 30 organizations, with Manuel citing the gutting of the M’s system by former GM Bill Bavasi’s regime.

When Jack Zduriencik took over as GM last winter, rebuilding the minor league system was one of his primary goals. It’s something that takes time, and while the Mariners had all those first- and second-round draft picks last year, their cupboard still needs some healthy restocking.

That’s why I’m leery when I read rumors of the Mariners pursuing Type A free agents this offseason. To sign a Type A player, the Mariners would lose a first-round draft pick, and to this organization those first-rounders are pure gold.

So when the talk of the Mariners’ interest in Jason Bay stirs every so often, as it has again today, I’m extremely suspicious. Bay obviously has a nice bat, which the Mariners badly need, but three other factors tell me he’s not the kind of player who fits the mold that Zduriencik’s front office covets.

First, he’s a right-handed hitter, and it only takes Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre to show how those guys have fared at Safeco, particularly under the expectation that they were here to carry the offense (Bay is a career .227 hitter at Safeco, although the sample size is only six games. I counter that by saying Beltre seemed freaked out by Safeco in much less than six games.). Second, Bay isn’t exactly considered a defensive whiz in the outfield, and Zduriencik has placed a defense-first priority on his moves so far. And third, there’s that Type A free agent thing, with the draft pick the M’s loom to lose if they were to sign Bay.

Baseball America’s minor league rankings, subjective as they may be, illustrate where the M’s stand in terms of prosects nearly ready to make an impact in the big leagues. While the M’s are 20th in baseball, they’re last among the four American League West teams. The Rangers rank first, with the Angels 16th and A’s 17th.