Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Dombrowski has opened up on the team's farm system.
The Philadelphia Phillies do not have a very good farm system. This is common knowledge. The problem is that it has become a running theme.
The Phillies have long had one of the thinnest organizations in baseball, and something needed to change.
So Philadelphia removed Luke Murton from his post as farm system director and "promoted" him to assistant general manager of hitting, which seemed like a clear demotion on the part of the Phillies.
At best, it was a reassignment.
Team president Dave Dombrowski said the club felt there was "too much on Luke Murton's plate," which is a big reason why Murton couldn't focus his attention on the actual development of the farm system, via The Athletic.
That sounds like a rather poor excuse, but whatever the case may be, Philadelphia made a change, and the team should be recognized for that.
“I want whoever’s in charge of player development to be hands-on day in and day out,” Dombrowski said. “It just cuts people too thin sometimes. There’s just more and more that goes on all the time. And I think the sophistication of the hitting, it’s so much more now than it used to be. … So I don’t think it was per se something was missing in player development as much as I really want somebody who’s going to do that full-time.”
Baseball America ranked the Phillies' farm system 29th in all of baseball earlier this season. It also doesn't help that top prospect Aidan Miller has been sidelined all year with a back injury. Additionally, second baseman Aroon Escobar has had an awful campaign, and while Andrew Painter has picked it up recently, he has had a disappointing season overall.
Right now, Philadelphia is a contender because of all of its seasoned veterans. But guys like Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler are all aging. The Phillies' average age is 28.9, which puts the squad in the bottom half of the MLB.
What is Philadelphia going to do once its older players start seriously declining, which might already be happening in certain cases?
That's why Dombrowski and Co. felt a change was needed, but you do have to wonder if it came too little, too liate.
