By FRANK WARD
DailyPhiladelphian.com Editor
The good news: your Philadelphia Phillies have two Top 100 prospects according to Baseball America’s 21st annual rankings. The bad news: The Fightins traded away four guys on the list in the last seven months.
Before anyone gets all riled up upon learning the identities of those on the list, just keep in mind these are rankings of prospects. Some will pan out and many others will not. In fact, a year ago players by the name of Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson made the list. This year, none of them are in the top 100.
Here are the Phillies who made the list: Dominic Brown (15) and Phillippe Aumont (93).
Dominic Brown is the top ranked Phillies prospect according to Baseball America.
Brown is up from being listed as the 48th best a year ago. Aumont, who came over in the Cliff Lee deal was no. 93 on the list in 2009 as well.
In listing the former Phillies farmhands who are on the list, let’s start with the man we gave up to get Lee — Jason Knapp, who comes in at no. 64. In essence, you could argue the Phils traded Knapp and the above former Top 100 prospects for Aumont and two other guys who have yet to crack the rankings.
The other former Phillies all were part of the Roy Halladay package: Travis d’Arnaud (81), Michael Taylor (29), and Kyle Drabek (25).
On paper, it looks like the Phillies have given up a lot to get Halladay. They did, but keep in mind two things.
First, Halladay is worth every player given up as he increases the Phillies chances of holding another parade this fall. The Phillies window is now, not three years from now.
Second, prospects are just that — prospects. Check back in a year to see if these guys are still climbing the rankings, or if they’ve fallen off the way Carrasco, Donald and Marson did.
