NUMBER NINE....NUMB ER NINE....NUMBER NINE

[smootness]

I mean, JS destroyed our farm system, but we built it up again by mid-2009 with some pretty good present-day major leaguers.

Heyward, Freeman, Teheran, Vizcaino, Gattis, Schafer, Morton, Locke, Kimbrel, Venters, Simmons, Minor, Medlen, Hanson just off the top of my head.

True, but the best of this bunch were acquired before the Tex trade. Only Vizcaino, Gattis, Kimbrel, Simmons, and Minor were acquired after that trade. And Gattis was a stroke of luck. And the fact that Venters, Morton, and Locke are considered big pieces of our farm system at the time kind of makes my point for me.

The bottom line is that after this trade, our entire approach to the farm changed. I don't care who gets the blame, but it's a fact. We stopped bringing in high-ceiling talents after this trade, and by 2014 we saw the results of that approach. And it wasn't good. Even guys like Simmons and Minor - while good - were the absolute best this strategy was ever going to produce. And a rotation full of Minors with a lineup full of Simmons' won't win anything meaningful.