Best Home Grown Team?

[Smithian]

I just finished reading Terry Francona's book and at the end Theo Epstein is talking about how he wishes they had not gone out and signed all the high priced free agents before 2011. He pointed out who their starting lineup could have been if they ignored free agency (Crawford) and blockbuster trades (A-Gon). Here is what they could have today if they had stayed focused on home grown talent;

C: Ryan Lavarnway
1B: Anthony Rizzo
2B: Dustin Pedroia
3B: Will Middlebrooks
SS: José Iglesias/Jed Lowrie
OF: Jacoby Ellsbury
OF: Josh Reddick
OF: Ryan Kalish

Bench: David Murphy, Jackie Bradley Jr., Daniel Nava

Pitching: Justin Masterson, Justin Masterson, Clay Buchholz, Félix Doubront, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon,

That's really good team with not that many holes.

Raises the question, who do you think the best team would be today (2013) would have been if there were no trades and FA. Since some prospects get traded, assign them to the system they graduated from.

[Mc21]

Braves version off the top of my head...

C: Brian McCann
1B: Freddie Freeman
2B: Elvis Andrus
3B: Martin Prado
SS: Andrelton Simmons
LF: Kelly Johnson
CF: Gregor Blanco
RF: Jason Heyward

BN: Evan Gattis, Adam LaRoche, Tyler Pastornicky, Jordan Schafer

SP: Adam Wainwright, Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy, Kris Medlen, Julio Teheran
RP: Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, Neftali Feliz, Luis Avilan

Other position players: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Other pitchers: Jeff Locke, Matt Harrison, Tommy Hanson

I'm sure there are some other bench caliber guys and relief pitchers I'm missing, but I think that'd be a pretty solid team. Really good if you consider they almost always had a draft spot in the 20s when all of these guys were drafted (Heyward and Minor the only exceptions).

[houston-nat]

No trades OR FA?

I was gonna say the Rays, but looking at their draft history, they have had no bona fide major leaguers drafted since David Price in 2007, and nobody in the Price draft class has turned up either (although I think Terdoslavich has at least played in the majors once or twice, somewhere). They do have Evan Longoria, Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson, Reid Brignac, John Jaso and Desmond Jennings to build around, though. Plus the rusty, rotting wrecks of Josh Hamilton and Delmon Young.

Fun fact: the Rays drafted Mike Minor and Wade Miley out of HS, but couldn't sign them.

[Smithian]

No trades OR FA?

I was gonna say the Rays, but looking at their draft history, they have had no bona fide major leaguers drafted since David Price in 2007, and nobody in the Price draft class has turned up either (although I think Terdoslavich has at least played in the majors once or twice, somewhere). They do have Evan Longoria, Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson, Reid Brignac, John Jaso and Desmond Jennings to build around, though. Plus the rusty, rotting wrecks of Josh Hamilton and Delmon Young.

Fun fact: the Rays drafted Mike Minor and Wade Miley out of HS, but couldn't sign them.

The Braves troll made a solid case for Atlanta.

Rays came to mind but to me they seem to do a great job developing pitching but position players they focus on smart signings, trades, and filling holes from within.

[mitlen]

WHFS  1974  (Home Grown Radio)

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Cleveland could probably make a good case, although a fair amount of their drafted or international signee talent is now getting old (CC, VMart, Coco I think, maybe some others).

[Smithian]

What's the Nationals one?

C: Derek Norris
1B: Chris Marrero
2B: Anthony Rendon
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Ian Desmond
OF: Bryce Harper
OF: Justin Maxwell
OF: Tyler Moore

Bench: Lombo, Kobernus, Frietas, Bernie, Espie

Pitching: Strasburg, ZNN, Detwiler, Milone, Lannan, Storen

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee if you count expos like Desmond.

[HalfSmokes]

What's the Nationals one?

C: Derek Norris
1B: Chris Marrero
2B: Anthony Rendon
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Ian Desmond
OF: Bryce Harper
OF: Justin Maxwell
OF: Tyler Moore

Bench: Lombo, Kobernus, Frietas, Bernie, Espie

Pitching: Strasburg, ZNN, Detwiler, Milone, Lannan, Storen

We didn't 'graduate' Norris, if you count first appearance as graduating, that knocks out Ramos- Solano?

[houston-nat]

We didn't 'graduate' Norris, if you count first appearance as graduating, that knocks out Ramos- Solano?

It's if trades didn't exist, so we'd presumably still have Norris.

[Smithian]

We didn't 'graduate' Norris, if you count first appearance as graduating, that knocks out Ramos- Solano?

Whoops. For some reason thought he debuted for the Nats in a September.

So does that make our catcher Jhonatan Solano?  Or that guy who backed up Brian Schneider?

[Lintyfresh85]

It doesn't matter if they played for the Nats or not. Lee and Phillips didn't either... and they'd still be part of the super team.

[Mc21]

The Royals may be pretty good. Add Greinke and Beltran back onto that team. They haven't developed many pitching prospects off the top of my head though, so it'd probably end there.

You'd think the A's would have a solid group, too, considering their team philosophy was built off developing their own players.