- How many affiliates will there be in 2021?
- Where will they play?
- How many rounds will the 2021 Draft have?
- What will the order of the 2021 Draft be?
- Who’s retired?
- Who’s gotten sick?
- Who’s gotten injured?
- Who’s had surgery?
And none of that even addresses what will happen with the big club, which has already drawn comparisons to the ’98 Marlins. That may be unfair, but it’s not untrue.
But we’re not here to discuss the big club. That’s not our place. Unfortunately, while we saw an inordinate number of players make their MLB debut – or at least in the modern era, where the cries of “play the kids” are muted by the admonishment of “don’t start the arbitration clock soon!” – few of them did much to disabuse the notion that their best quality was their DOB.
Yeah, I know that’s harsh. And yes, I’m quite well aware that the sample sizes are only slightly larger than the taxes paid by a certain president.
As some of you pointed out in the comments, even the surprise of Luis Garcia has a couple of rather large “yeah, but” markers – five walks and six errors in 40 games. He also ended the season on a 3-for-27 skid, with two of those hits coming on the last game of the season.
Both Kieboom and Garcia have graduated from the prospect ranks. The latest Top 30 looks a lot like when this site began: a whole of lot pitchers, a handful of position players, and almost no one at AA at higher who’s age-appropriate-to-the-level.
The PBA between MLB and MiLB expires tomorrow. Perhaps we’ll get some news, but I fear we won’t. MLB has already shown that its “good” news tends to get buried.