Am I the only person that thinks our farm has taken some big steps forward this year, and could actually be average by league standards next year? No, you are most definitely not. The article is right-for one reason or another, the drafts of 2003-2006 were really bad. That has left a void in the high minors right now which causes the bad rankings and lack of possible trades (not much MLB ready talent). 2007-2008 was much better (2009 doesn't really have any sample yet) which is going to flip the rankings around once again as they are getting to the high levels of the minors. The international signings have also helped and we haven't even felt the full impact of that yet. Rhee and Lee have been noticed while Ha and Jung haven't been yet because while high schoolers drafted high typically get a grace year in the prospect rankings before they start sliding international prospects especially from Asia have to prove themselves first since so little is known about them. This year many of our interesting prospects have taken big steps forward, especially at pitching and SS. A developing SS? You stop it right now. That's just crazy talk. A few of them, actually. Darwin Barney, Hak-Ju Lee, Starlin Castro