Minor League Whiff

It's a well documented fact that the Astros farm system stinks. Not much relief for the big league team sits in the pipeline.

I've complained many times about it before but I'm not beating a dead horse.

I'm about a month behind on my subscriptions (longer in some cases). In the June 7, 2010 edition of Sports Illustrated, an article entitled Wave of the Future features the upcoming draft. The article also describes how many clubs now view the draft as an efficient less inexpensive way of building a team than free agency.

It's obvious owner Drayton McLane knows trucking and grocery distribution. He doesn't know squat about baseball. He disdained paying rookie signing bonus put the club in its current crisis. Instead of smartly paying cheaper bonuses, McLane authorized terrible contracts for veterans like Carlos Lee and the Kat. That's all old news.

Until this article though, I didn't realize how badly the Astros missed out on the draft. I just thought a couple of top picks didn't sign. Scouting lower round talent also lead to the current state of disaster. According to the article, in 2007 the Astros didn't sign 4 of the top 11 picks and in 2008 they missed out on 6 of the top 25. Folks that is a 28% failure rate.

To miss out on 28% of top draft picks shows the incompetence fostered by McLane. The number becomes more staggering when you factor in the players signed but not to make the big leagues. Living up the Quest for Futility, the Astros record for moving players to the Majors is just as abysmal at the season record. Actually the season records looks magnificent compared to the number of players promoted to the Majors. Of 243 drafted players in five drafts, the article states only three played at least a day with the big team. That number is up to four or five now with the promotion of Julio Castro. The success rate of drafted players sits at 1.65%. The
article contrasts that with the Red Sox and Rangers. Both teams produced double digit players in the Major Leagues from those same five drafts.

Drayton McLane managed to destroy one of the more competitive baseball teams in short time. The rot of the club starts up top with the owner and permeates down the depths of the minor league system. McLane believed the Astros could remain competitive only by signing free agents and not stocking the farm system. Now the Astros are crippled by overpaid players and the minor leagues are crippled by loss of trying to undersign players.

The Astros are now just a sad state of affairs.