40-Man Roster Analysis By The Numbers
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PrintIdentifying and Signing Hitters Since 1995
| Top 5 Organizations | ||||
| Team | Roster | PA | Seasons | Top Three in PA |
| Blue Jays | 21 | 32,851 | 65.4 | Michael Young, Vernon Wells, Jay Gibbons |
| Rockies | 19 | 23,379 | 46.6 | Todd Helton, Juan Pierre, Juan Uribe |
| Cardinals | 16 | 21,007 | 41.8 | Albert Pujols, Adam Kennedy, J.D. Drew |
| Phillies | 12 | 20,653 | 41.1 | Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Marlon Anderson |
| Yankees | 17 | 20,176 | 40.2 | Mike Lowell, Alfonso Soriano, Nick Johnson |
Toronto turned Young into Esteban Loaiza and lost Gibbons to the Rule 5 draft, but is still reaping the benefits from drafting Wells. The Blue Jays' sizeable advantage was obviously built on more than three hitters, though. While 11 others have amassed 1,000 big league plate appearances--Cesar Izturis, Casey Blake, Orlando Hudson, Felipe Lopez, Craig Wilson, Reed Johnson, Ryan Freel, Chris Woodward, Alex Rios, Josh Phelps, Aaron Hill--among them only Hill was drafted on general manager J.P. Ricciardi's watch. Check back in 10 years to see how Adam Lind and Travis Snider fare. The Phillies have gotten perhaps the most out of their own talent, as behind Rollins and Burrell on the list are Chase Utley (fourth) and Ryan Howard (ninth). | ||||
| Bottom 5 Organizations | ||||
| Team | Roster | PA | Seasons | Batters with 1,500+ PA |
| Giants | 8 | 1,539 | 3.1 | None: Lance Niekro, 517 |
| Padres | 9 | 4,368 | 8.7 | Khalil Greene |
| Dodgers | 15 | 6,758 | 13.5 | Alex Cora |
| Cubs | 10 | 6,893 | 13.7 | Corey Patterson, Eric Hinske |
| Orioles | 7 | 7,337 | 14.6 | Brian Roberts, David Dellucci |
No wonder the Giants invest so heavily in free-agent hitters. Bill Mueller is easily the best hitter they've developed since Matt Williams (1986 draft), but if you think Niekro's uninspiring, check out the batters right behind him: Jason Ellison, Todd Linden and Kevin Frandsen, he of 102 big league plate appearances. Granted, the Padres haven't fared much better, but they have at least churned out regulars Xavier Nady, Jason Bartlett and Josh Barfield. More surprising was the Dodgers poor showing, as Cora has more than three times the big league experience of David Ross or Shane Victorino. Even more surprising, Russ Martin is already fourth on the list--after one big league season. The likes of Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche and James Loney figure to change this sooner than later. | ||||
Identifying and Signing Pitchers Since 1995
| Top 5 Organizations | ||||
| Team | Roster | IP | Seasons | Top Three in IP |
| Cubs | 29 | 8,989 | 55.5 | Jon Garland, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano |
| Athletics | 20 | 7,053 | 43.5 | Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder |
| Diamondbacks | 25 | 6,495 | 40.1 | Brad Penny, Vicente Padilla, Brandon Webb |
| Angels | 15 | 6,239 | 38.5 | Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, John Lackey |
| Phillies | 19 | 5,315 | 32.8 | Randy Wolf, Adam Eaton, Brett Myers |
The Cubs and Giants rank one-two in sheer quantity of major league pitchers developed, but the Cubs have wrung considerably more quality out of their group to date. Beyond trading Garland for Matt Karchner, Chicago also traded away Kyle Lohse (for Rick Aguilera), Dontrelle Willis (for Matt Clement) and Justin Speier (for Felix Heredia) before they could contribute to the Cubs. Not surprisingly, the Athletics ranked second on the strength of their Three Aces, but Nos. 4, 5 and 6 aren't so bad either: Jeremy Bonderman, Rich Harden and Joe Blanton. The Angels home-grew the best three-fifths of their 2002 World Series rotation and other notables like Francisco Rodriguez, Ervin Santana, Scott Schoeneweis, Scot Shields, Jered Weaver and Bobby Jenks. | ||||
| Bottom 5 Organizations | ||||
| Team | Roster | IP | Seasons | Pitchers with 500+ IP |
| Brewers | 10 | 1,431 | 8.8 | Ben Sheets |
| Twins | 21 | 1,435 | 8.9 | None: J.C. Romero, 456 |
| Expos/Nationals | 14 | 1,833 | 11.3 | Cliff Lee |
| Orioles | 16 | 2,137 | 13.2 | None: Erik Bedard, 476 |
| Devil Rays | 15 | 2,193 | 13.5 | Joe Kennedy |
If not for Sheets, the Brewers best pitching find since 1995 would have been . . . Ruddy Lugo, a third-round pick in 1999 with a 3.81 ERA in 85 big league innings. And while the Twins are notable for their pitching depth, only the bullpen (Juan Rincon, Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek) has been developed internally, underscoring just how good GM Terry Ryan and his staff have been at importing talent. Things could change quickly for Minnesota, though, if two or more of Matt Garza, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins and Anthony Swarzak pan out. The Expos/Nationals are responsible for three impact hitters (Jason Bay, Grady Sizemore, Ryan Zimmerman), but their pitching returns pale in comparison: relievers Jorge Julio, Chad Cordero and Scott Strickland. | ||||
Where Players Have Signed From Since 1995
| From | Total | Hitters | Most PA | Pitchers | Most IP |
| College | 369 | 172 | Todd Helton, 6,073 | 199 | Tim Hudson, 1,651 |
| High School | 233 | 106 | Carlos Beltran, 5,178 | 127 | Roy Halladay, 1,336 |
| Junior College | 110 | 47 | Albert Pujols, 4,062 | 63 | Mark Buehrle, 1,428 |
| Dominican Republic | 107 | 38 | Rafael Furcal, 4,385 | 60 | Ramon Ortiz, 1,256 |
| Venezuela | 70 | 37 | Cesar Izturis, 2,615 | 33 | Johan Santana, 1,090 |
| U.S. NDFA | 24 | 8 | Brady Clark, 2,184 | 19 | Eric Gagne, 545 |
| Japan | 13 | 7 | Ichiro Suzuki, 4,444 | 6 | Tomo Ohka, 943 |
| Mexico | 11 | 3 | Jorge Cantu, 1,263 | 8 | Rodrigo Lopez, 937 |
| Cuba | 9 | 4 | Yuniesky Betancourt, 812 | 5 | Livan Hernandez, 2,167 |
| Australia | 8 | 2 | Chris Snelling, 183 | 6 | Grant Balfour, 68 |
| Korea | 5 | 1 | Shin-Soo Choo, 200 | 4 | Byung-Hyun Kim, 723 |
| Panama | 4 | 1 | Carlos Ruiz, 78 | 3 | Manny Corpas, 32 |
| Taiwan | 3 | 0 | None | 3 | Chien-Ming Wang, 334 |
| Independent League | 2 | 1 | J.D. Drew, 3,774 | 1 | None |
| Nicaragua | 2 | 0 | None | 2 | Vicente Padilla, 979 |
| Colombia | 1 | 0 | None | 1 | Emiliano Fruto, 36 |
| Curacao | 1 | 1 | None | 0 | None |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | None | 1 | None |
| Puerto Rico | 1 | 1 | Mike Rivera, 366 | 0 | None |
WHEN PLAYERS SIGNED
PLAYERS ACQUIRED BY ROUND SINCE 1995
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