UCB Roundtable Day 13: The Importance of the Cardinals’ Farm System

Each October the United Cardinal Bloggers hull up in a virtual bunker to discuss the most pressing issues facing Cardinal Nation. Functioning in a manner far more efficient than any government entity, and with far greater decisiveness, these bloggers answer the biggest questions you’ve had about the Cardinals. On my day to ask the question, I lobbed a 45 mph breaking ball that didn’t break. The results are below:

The Cardinals have many on their roster that came up through the team’s minor league system. This is a source of great pride for many Cardinals fans. Today’s question:

I suppose there are four ways to use a minor league system.  1) develop players and send use them to acquire key veteran player (the Jocketty approach), to scout like mad and hope to draft a group of winners  (Washington, Anaheim, Kansas City),  with questionable competence (Chicago Cubs), and the way the Rays and Cardinals have done it.

Let’s start with the easy part.  The farm system has been a crucial component of the Cardinals success, perhaps now more than in any other time I can recall.   While it has failed to produce a big name player, like a Mike Trout or Bryce Harper (recently), it has produced a deep roster of every day players as well as some great utility guys.   What is lost in all of the spreadsheets and stats is that the kids have learned to play as a team, many of them winning at each level of the system.  Until recently, that was lost on a lot of analysts, but I think they are beginning to understand that and now rate the farm system accordingly.

That said, the attention paid in drafting and developing pitching talent has been a particular strength of the club recently, and it has already paid dividends and looks to continue doing so.   Good pitching with a deep bench of utility players allows the front office to focus on one, maybe two free agents instead of a roster full of them.  The forward looking impact of this cannot be understated, and is a big reason why the Cardinals play like a big market team in a small market city (as does Tampa).  It is also the big reason why the Cardinals haven’t gone into a long rebuilding period as many teams do (some seem to be stuck there – Chicago, Houston).

When comparing this system to that under Walt Jocketty, I prefer to see the kids come up and produce for the club for several years (Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso, Allen Craig) instead of being shipped off for some veteran talent.   We will be able to see this play out over the next few years in the NL Central.

So, yes, I think it is a very successful system that takes a lot of pressure off the front office during the off season.  I don’t think it is the only way, as Walt Jocketty has been successful with almost the exact opposite approach – we’ll see if that is a good strategy or slash and burn over the next few years . Teams like the Dodgers, Braves, Phillies have produced some bigger stars, but need a bigger payroll to field a competitive team with regularity.

Mark Tomasik – RetroSimba

Cardinals often have had a good mix of system-produced players and acquisitions. It’s when that mix goes to either extreme that the franchise gets in trouble. I like the mix the Cardinals have now. The DeWitts and John Mozeliak seem to operate strategically and that strategy includes a farm system that can produce big-league talent, enabling management to acquire others through trades and limited free agency while operating within a budget that maximizes profit. The Cardinals’ farm system plays more of a role in the team’s success than some (Red Sox and Cubs, for example) but not more than others (Giants and Reds, for example).

Daniel Solzman – Redbird Rants

It definitely plays a bigger role.  All you have to do is look at all the guys on the roster that were drafted by the Cardinals.

Tom Knuppel – Cardinals GM

I believe it is cyclical. I don’t think the Cardinals produce an over-abundance of players for their own team. It averages out.

Dathan Brooks – Cards Tied For First

I’d say it’s a balance of both, but the Cards probably rely on the farm system more than other teams their “size”.  On the other hand, not many teams their “size” can afford to go get deals done with key FAs when it’s a good fit.  3MM+ every year helps with the trade options Mo has, but by & large, they can’t spend the way larger market teams can.  Credit really good ownership for that.  No question, the draft is a critical piece of the puzzle here in St. Louis, but relying solely on one or the other would fast track this or any team to dismal days.

Bill Ivie – I-70 Baseball

I think comparing them to other organizations is hard.  What is our barometer?  Number of players on the roster?  Quality of players on the roster?  It all depends on whose glasses you are looking through.

Look at it this way: players drafted by the Cardinals who now play on the major league roster are plentiful.  During the LCS, you could find one of those players at three infield positions, catcher, and center field.

That being said, I would argue that two of those players (Descalso and Kozma) are not slated to be starting players for most of their careers.  Jon Jay is borderline where he would be a starter for most teams but not for others.  Allen Craig is solid, if he can stay healthy, otherwise he is destined to become a role player.  We all know who Yadier Molina is.

But when we talk about the farm system, are we judging them by the number of players or the star quality of players?  The organization has done a decent job of both, but I would like to see a few “star” players be developed by this team before I’m willing to say that the organization is doing a great job at that level.

They have the potential over the next few seasons to prove that to me.  Right now, I’d give them a solid C+ based on who we have seen.  Rosenthal, Kelly, Miller, Tavares, and Wong have potential to move that to an A- very quickly, however.

I think the minor league system is vitally important given the club’s market size versus the expectations of that market.

St. Louis is, what, like 25th in market size in MLB? Yet they can consistently bring in top free agents (or at least be in the running) because of their “stars and scrubs” approach. What I mean by that is that they have a lot of guys that they pay minimum dollars and get much more production out of, which allows them to spend more of their money on the Hollidays and Beltrans. Where would this team be without players like Craig and Jay, who may not be superstars but produce at a level that is way above their pay scale?

In the light of the Miami selloff, it’s hard to fathom that a team in a market this size with contracts this big has gone 20 years (ironically, as long as the Marlins have been in existence) without being a seller at the trade deadline. What was the last contract they dumped, Lee Smith? The reason is because of the fan support, of course, but also because they can focus their dollars knowing that cheap and productive talent is coming through their pipeline.