Miami Marlins news: NL East farms rankings reveal major issues

Earlier today, I published an article about the Miami Marlins farm system ranking that was recently published by MLB.com. The Fish's farm system is fronted by SP Eury Perez, who was solid in Spring Training, SP Max Meyer (recovering from TJS) and 3B Jacob Berry, fresh off of a disappointing .248/.343/.362 batting line in the Minor Leagues last season. How does the farm system situation affect the NL East going forward?

The Miami Marlins are looking at an interesting NL East outlook.

The Miami Marlins are at #18 in the MLB.com farm system rankings, which is pretty bad compared to how The Fish were doing just a season ago. Considering the team isn't spending big in the off-season, the farm system is a vital part of improving the team. Kim Ng needs to make sure that the drafting and development system is top-notch. Improving the farm system should be a priority for The Fish going forward, and that's only possible with Kim Ng's focus and with Bruce Sherman investing in hiring the best people for the job.

The Washington Nationals are years away from being a competitive team and are rated #10 on the list. They look to be in a good position farm system-wise at the moment, so it will be interesting to see how those prospects develop. They look to be years away from actually becoming a threat to the Miami Marlins, so for now we may as well not focus on them that much.

The New York Mets are one of the biggest competitors for the Miami Marlins and are at #11 on the list. I do however have hope that all of their spending will not buy them a championship. Their farm system is above average, but that will change once their top two prospects Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez get promoted to the Majors this season.

The Philadelphia Phillies (#21) and the Atlanta Braves (#30) have the best ratings when it comes to comparing them with the Miami Marlins. Both teams have very low rated farms and will have to rely on free agency more at the moment. Philly won the pennant with just 86 wins last season, but they will need to make sure that they spend wisely in free agency as their farm system is pitching heavy. If their starting pitching prospects don't work out, they may be in serious trouble as their aces Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler ae free agents in the next two seasons.

Atlanta has a very good core, but will need to make sure that it delivers as they're up against their likely payroll limits (considering how frugal they've been in their last two off-seasons). They already won one World Series so it's hard to doubt that core, but of course anything can happen and the team did lose two of their top players from that championship team to free agency already (Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson).

The Miami Marlins need to improve the farm system and that should be one of the top priorities going forward.