I agree that NH’s approach is better, its actually spot on, but the execution has been pretty questionable.

I agree with the system defenders, but I can’t help but be concerned by how others view us, particularly when those “others” are the best of the best.

Do they expect everyone to be Harper, Trout, Minor, or Strasburg?

Look at who was drafted around Pedro.  Who is tearing it up right now?  Tim Beckham, Smoak, Skipworth, Matusz, Castro, Wallace, Dykstra, Crow?  Nope.
Just Alonso, Posey, Lowrie, & Hosmer. 

What about Sanchez’s class?  Hobgood, Tate, Maztek, Green, Purke, Wheeler, Borchering?   Nope.  Turner, Minor, and Alex White all had negative WARs.

Taillon’s class?  Pomeranz and Chris Sale have made it.  That’s it. 

Patience folks.  Patience. 

Me…I can wait for:  Taillon, Cole, Bell, Allie, Heredia, ZVR, Dodson, Kingman, Dickerson, Marte, Grossman, Freeman, Maggi, Ngeope, Cain, Black, Curry, Holt, Baker, Chambers, and Cunningham. 

Anyone who’s been around since then should know that Littlefield was an idiot, and Bonifay not much better (still better than Littlefield at least). I didn’t care much for Larry Doughty either, but he was at least better than those two. The only good GM’s we had since Harding Peterson were Syd Thrift and Joe L. Brown when he stepped in temporarily to hire Syd Thrift in the first place.

Huntington has been the best GM since then, and I am grateful. They could have done a lot worse, (but then again, it would very hard for ANYONE not to be an improvement on Littlefield & Bonifay.)

In response to the Pirates being a top 5 next year, I’m not even sure that they could achieve that.  I think they would need a few guys to take that big step forward, in a Grossman kind of way for that to be true.  However, I think they can easily be somewhere 5-10 with simple, encouraging years from the draftees from 2011 (Cole and Bell, especially, but let’s not forget Dickerson), along with guys like Grossman proving he can achieve at the AA level similarly to what he did last year.  Continued improvement from Taillon will also be necessary, considering the amount of stock the entire franchise has riding on him, not to mention the expectations everyone around MLB has for him.  As a side note, I think I’m very comfortable with the idea of Taillon spending the entire season in high-A this year.  However, with an expanded pitch selection, especially if his change-up continues to improve, but also if he’s allowed to use his slider which was projected to be close to the level of his curveball, I find it difficult to believe that he won’t be able to achieve and very possibly far exceed his stats from last year in WV. 

To reiterate, I can easily see the Pirates having a top-10 farm system this time next year with a simply encouraging, consistent season all-around.  However, if one or two of the guys in WV or Bradenton can have breakout years that establish them as serious prospects, I think some thought has to be put into what’s holding them back from being a top-5.

Haha Debt situation you mean the Great Kevin McClatchy couldn’t afford to keep someone? But will bash Bob Nutting to death cause hes soo cheap, when hes spent more than anyone else on the MLB draft in last 4 years.