I think I am more optimistic about them two than the others, especially Kelly.

if richard, moze, or volquez are injured or ineffective, Bass or Cashner could step in and be at least average with tons of potential upside, and this is at the beginning of the season.

luebke is going to pitch great from the get-go, but may wear down as the season wears on. I think Erlin and Weiland are good bets to be ML ready by midseason. Kelly I think would be more a september guy.

i see your concern when it comes to moseley and richard though. I’m not totally convinced clay will be 100% by spring training. if he’s not then i wouldn’t trip about Bass beginning the season in the rotation, but i don’t like that it basically leaves Cashner as your next option if someone goes down. Ideally you want Cashner to spend the majority of the season in the bullpen so the staff has a chance to really work with him and refine his game, also you don’t want to have to bring up Erlin, Weiland or Kelly too soon if that happens.

that’s why i like cory brock’s idea of bringing in a vet on a minor league deal to stash in AAA as an insurance policy. heck, maybe even sign a guy like Chris Young, Scott Kazmir, or Rich Harden and let them work out of the bullpen. That way you get short term insurance and production for a pitching staff that’s short on veteran leadership. I like the idea of CY competing for a 5th spot or bullpen slot because the players and coaching staff love him and when he’s healthy he can still really pitch.

People are calling Kelly a #3 because he hasn’t put it all together yet. But he’s only been a full time pitcher for about 2 1/2 seasons and he’s still developing. He could really use a full season of AAA to refine his stuff. If everything breaks right he could be a strong #2, we’ll wait and see. I’d definitely put Joe Weiland and Robbie Erlin ahead of him. At worst, those two should be like Stauffer, great at home, hittable on the road.

Joe Ross and Keyvius Sampson might have Ace potential, but they’re a ways off. Our next best chance to land an Ace pitcher will come when Jedd Gyorko is ready to take 3rd base and we trade Chase Headley, probably in the 2012 off season or mid 2013 at the latest.

I don’t think we have any A grade players yet we have a lot of B players and even more C players (C players are actually very good). Our depth is ridiculous, but we lack that big name prospect.

As it stands now, we probably have the best (or at least top 3) farm system in all of baseball based on our depth. I’m sure some will pan out and some will fail.

It will be nice if we are able to accumulate big league depth like the Reds did and flip that in to a young controllable player like they did with Latos.

but sickels ranked 9 guys in our top 10 as at least borderline B+ types.

Alonso, Grandal and perhaps Gyorko are very highly regarded around baseball. But, yes, the strength of the system is depth. The impact type talent is going to have to come through trades of veteran players. Given the system depth, we’re in a good position to do that.

Thanks for the feedback. I like reading about the farm, but still trying to get a handle on the gradings.