The Cubs’ farm system, once the envy of nearly every organization, has seen its prowess tumble in recent years as elite talent has either matriculated to Wrigley Field or been traded away. That attrition thinned out the upper echelon of prospects to the extent that the latest rankings from Baseball America ($) list the Cubs at No. 29, ahead of only the Brewers.
The bottom 5 farm systems in baseball:
26. Rockies
27. Rangers
28. Mets
29. Cubs
30. Brewershttps://t.co/OA6AVrsYAA— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) August 19, 2019
Your first instinct may be to indict the organization’s scouting and development staff, and they’ll be the first to tell you their strategies have failed to produce big-league talent at an acceptable rate.