Build a Team from Scratch
In the All Questions Answered thread on Thursday, a reader asked me "If you could start a team based only on minor league players, what would your rotation and lineup be?"
I threw a lineup together really quickly, but it is an interesting question. My idea here was to build a team , using ONLY players currently in the minors, that 1) would be good in the long run but 2) had a chance to win at least a few games right away.
Here is what I came up with:
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C: Devon Mesoraco
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Dustin Ackley
3B: Lonnie Chisenhall
SS: Jose Iglesias
LF: Eric Thames
CF: Mike Trout
RF: Bryce Harper
DH: Jesus Montero
P: S. Miller, K. Gibson, M. Banuelos, D. Betances, M. Moore
CL: Z. Stewart
I'm actually not a big Jose Iglesias guy, but I wanted to be strong up the middle defensively right away. If I was going on pure upside, this team would look different. It is NOT A LIST OF WHO I THINK IS THE TOP PROSPECT at each position. I don't think Eric Thames is a better prospect than Dom Brown, for example, and I don't think Iglesias is a better prospect than Manny Machado. Some people took me to task for not including Julio Teheran, thinking that I like Gibson better than him for example, but that's not the case. This was thrown together quickly and I'd probably pick Teheran over Miller with a re-do.
I would structure my lineup: 1-Trout 2-Ackley 3-Hosmer 4-Montero 5-Thames 6-Harper 7-Mesoraco 8-Chisenhall 9-Iglesias
Anyway, if faced with the same question, what would your team look like? Remember the conditions:
1) Only guys in the minors
2) You ARE building with an eye to the future, BUT
3) You also want to avoid being completely embarrassed this year.
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