The End of Bleacher Nation and Other Bullets

otter pumpkinFor as long as I can remember, I’ve loved Halloween. The pumpkins, the costumes, the candy … and the scares and the pranks. That there headline would be the prank of the day. Happy Halloween, chums. Boo.

  • Baseball America has kinda-sorta ranked the Cubs’ farm system as the fifth best in baseball. If that sounds a little low, and if you’re wondering why I say kinda-sorta, it’s because I can’t quite tell if this is their true organizational ranking, or if it’s a particularized one focused solely on near-term impact (I’m pretty sure it’s just the latter). They’ve employed a system whereby players closer to the bigs – by minor league level – provide more points for their farm system, so that’s why the Cubs are getting dinged (for example, Arismendy Alcantara is considerably more valuable in this system than Kris Bryant, even though the latter is arguably closer to reaching the big leagues, and is a much higher impact prospect). The Cubs are tied with the Royals for 5th, falling behind the Rangers, Padres, Astros, and Red Sox, in ascending order. In some ways, the ranking might be encouraging: even when weighted heavily toward AAA and AA, where the Cubs’ talent is not concentrated, the Cubs still land in the top five.
  • For his part, by the way, Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus says the Cubs’ system will be top three, at a minimum, and might be the top in baseball.
  • He’d never acknowledge it himself, so Jon Heyman does it for him: Theo Epstein played a huge part in this year’s Boston championship.
  • In AFL action yesterday, the Mesa Solar Sox won again, and Dallas Beeler chipped in with four scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked none, and struck out one. Wes Darvill represented the positional contingent in the game, going 1-5.
  • Unless I’ve missed it, Armando Rivero hasn’t appeared in an AFL game in about a week. He wasn’t pitching all that well of late.
  • The complex relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic could soon have an impact on international free agency, as well as young prospects from the DR who’ve already been signed. That impact is a little unclear (the issue relates to children of Haitian immigrants into the DR who might have trouble getting proper documentation to travel into the United States), but it’s something to keep an eye on.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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