Houston Astros assistant general manager of scouting Bobby Heck faces a challenging task of restoring the depleted farm system, but already has eight of his draftees since 2008 ranked on Baseball America's recent list of top 10 Astros' prospects. (MLB.com/Alyson Footer)
It feels like an eternity since the Houston Astros featured one of the top farm systems in Major League Baseball.
Owner Drayton McLane Jr. had the best of both worlds with a competitive, playoff-caliber Astros squad and plenty of talent climbing the minor league ladder.
What happened?
In the process of trying to build a winning product, McLane turned his back on the Astros' farm system and carelessly began trading away quality prospects in order to acquire short-term solutions.
Remember when the Astros traded for Aubrey Huff on July 12, 2006?
At the time, it appeared to be an ideal move for Houston despite the fact that Huff was going to be a free agent after the season.
His bat was (and still is) capable of hitting close to .300 with 20 homers and over 80 RBI in a given year.
After the 2006 season, Huff signed a three-year, $20 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles, leaving the Astros with a brief memory of his presence.
In order to acquire Huff, Houston traded minor league prospects Mitch Talbot and Ben Zobrist to the Tampa Bay Rays. Ultimately, the Rays got the better end of the deal as Zobrist continues to develop into a standout player.
This season, Zobrist hit .297 with 27 homers and 91 RBI and was selected to the AL All-Star team.
Typical story with the Astros -- trading a prospect who turns out to be an All-Star with another team just to acquire a temporary solution.
Remember when former Astros general manager Tim Purpura traded Willy Taveras and top prospects Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh to the Colorado Rockies for a disappointing right-hander named Jason Jennings?
Then there's Ed Wade dealing prospects Matt Albers and Troy Patton to the Baltimore Orioles for Miguel Tejada, and Chris Burke, Juan Gutierrez and Chad Qualls to the Arizona Diamondbacks for closer Jose Valverde.
At one point, Patton, Albers and Gutierrez were all ranked as top 5 prospects for the Astros.
Although Tejada and Valverde have been great additions, it hasn't been enough to put the Astros in the playoffs. With both players hitting the free-agent market this offseason, there's a strong possibility that neither will be wearing a Houston uniform in 2010.
What about all those years of poor drafting?
In 2007, the highest draft pick to sign was fifth-rounder Collin DeLome, who doesn't even rank as one of the organization's top 10 prospects.
Unfortunately, for several years, McLane's strategy was to sacrifice draft picks as compensation to sign high-priced veterans. His lack of caringness toward developing internal prospects caused the farm system to completely tank and enter the 2009 season ranked dead last among the 30 Major League Baseball teams.
Luckily, McLane finally woke up and smelled the coffee once he realized his quick-fix strategy failed.
Now, the Astros face a long, uphill battle in their attempt to rebuild the farm system. That's why McLane went out and hired Bobby Heck on Oct. 24, 2007 as the team's scouting director.
Heck was instrumental in transforming the Milwaukee Brewers farm system from being the worst in baseball in 2000 to a No. 1 ranking from 2001-04 by drafting prospects such as Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Tony Gwynn, Jr., Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks.
Despite having the talented Heck as scouting director, it's going to take at least two more quality drafts, as well as not trading any of the organization's limited top prospects, in order to rebuild the depleted farm system.
Since being named Baseball America's Organization of the Year in 2001, Houston's farm system has yet to rank higher than 20th in Major League Baseball.
It's embarrassing to know the Astros' minor league affiliates combined for the worst winning percentage (.426) during the 2009 season. To make matters worse, none of the affiliates even produced a .500 record.
If Heck's doing such a great job, then why do the different Astros' minor league affiliates continue to lose ballgames?
Remember, Heck has added his draftees to a spillover of players floating around the Class A, Double-A and Triple-A affiliates from when the Astros neglected their farm system.
Recently, Baseball America released a listing of the Astros' top 10 prospects.
Without a surprise, Jason Castro, Jiovanni Mier and Jordan Lyles rank as the organization's top three prospects. Then there's Sammy Gervacio, Chia-Jen Lo, Ross Seaton, Tanner Bushue, Jay Austin, Jon Gaston and T.J. Steele rounding out the top 10.
Eight out of these 10 prospects -- with the exception of Gervacio and Lo -- are a product of Heck's first two drafts as the team's scouting director.
Gervacio broke into the farm system in 2003, while Lo, a native of Taiwan, signed with the Astros in November 2008 under the direction of Pacific Rim scouting director, Glen Barker.
Since Houston finished a horrid 74-88 this season, they will have the No. 8 overall selection in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft.
Plus, there's a possibility the Astros may receive additional draft picks depending on whether Type A free agents LaTroy Hawkins and Valverde get offered or reject arbitration to sign with another team this offseason.
Although McLane doesn't want to hear this, trading aging superstars Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman or Carlos Lee can fetch top-notch prospects in return and will help Heck rebuild the farm system at a quicker pace.
This won't ever happen since McLane needs Oswalt, Berkman and Lee to sell season tickets and attract fans to Minute Maid Park.
Either way, Heck definitely has the Astros' farm system slowly heading in the right direction.
As long as McLane's willing to invest in his farm system and doesn't trade away the top prospects, Heck will get an opportunity to work his magic.
If it's any comfort to Astros fans, Heck is one of the best in the business and possesses the ability to clean up McLane's mess.
Comments
I saw a few of those players and they are talented. The only thing worst than trading a prospect is "rushing" one.
As far as the poor minor league record, some of that has to fall on the guy running the coaches. I never hear about us having Great coaching.
You always hear it takes scouting AND player development.
Scouting can't do it alone.
Big D
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