Now a few days after the MLB non-waiver trade deadline, the dust has settled and teams have had a few games with their new pieces. Below the major league level, though, reside the farm systems that have undergone major overhauls as as a result of the wheeling and dealing.
The 2017 MLB trade deadline saw some of the most highly-touted names in baseball shipped off to new teams.
Major talents such as Jose Quintana, Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish and Todd Frazier were all wearing new uniforms after July 31. What teams got in returns for these players, though, is even more interesting.
Elite prospects have become the name of the game. It’s not so much about trading a star for a star anymore. Rather, it’s about trading proven, reliable stars for unproven, yet elite minor league talents.
After this year’s deadline, that mentality has become more true than ever.
Just for the four players mentioned above, they collectively acquired five of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects at their midseason rankings. Teams value the future potential of elite prospects over the minimal value that their stars have on an average or bad team. It’s quite simple.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the game’s top farm systems and how they fared after the trade deadline.