If you're in the business of re-building a baseball team, the best place to start is the minor league system and then work your way up.
That's the task Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington knew he faced when he took the job and apparently he was up for it.
This marks the first time since 2017 that the Pirates have had a Top 10 ranked farm system.
When Cherington took over, the Pirates farm system was ranked either middle of the pack or closer to the bottom depending on which ranking you looked at. By the midpoint of the 2020 season, the system had jumped to 15th in the league. A modest increase, but an increase nonetheless.
The addition of first round pick Nick Gonzales had a lot to do with that, but the Pirates farm system was still in desperate need of some high-end talent.
This offseason, we saw Cherington address that need by trading just about anyone and everyone that other teams had interest in. 11 of the top 30 prospects in the Pirates system have now been acquired by Cherington, a very high percentage of players for a GM who is still just getting started.
Enter Hudson Head, Miguel Yajure, Eddy Yean and others acquired in those trades and you now have a farm system in the upper part of the league.
So this is all good news, but it can actually get even better.
The Pirates are primed with the first overall pick in this years draft and there is high-end pitching talent that they could target. Then you factor in that the rebuilding process could have them in line for another first overall pick in next years draft, and all of a sudden you have a system that's going to being feeding the major league roster and turn things around.
Patience isn't often a phrase Pirates fans want to hear, but with the system Cherington is building, your patience may end up being rewarded if the moves he has made, and will continue to make, payoff.