Keith Law of ESPN has released his farm system rankings. You need an ESPN Insider subscription to see anything besides the fact that former Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer, with help another former Sox staffer in Jason McLeod, brought the Padres to first overall, but we can at least give you a taste of it. It's absolutely worth reading the whole thing, of course, to get a sense of where the rest of the league is.

The Red Sox rank 18 out of 30 -- not too shabby, considering they lack any kind of elite talent at the upper levels thanks to trades for Victor Martinez, Adrian Gonzalez, and others the past few years. Law is positive about parts of the system, despite this:

I do see a large group of prospects from low Class A and below that should produce a couple of breakout prospects in 2012, including Brandon Jacobs, Garin Cecchini, Henry Owens, Matt Barnes and Sean Coyle.

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What does a year of injury and futility cost you? Three spots if you're Ryan Kalish. After leading the list last year, Kalish comes in at #4 after a lost 2011.

He's not considered a prospect by all, but Kalish fits the bill in most ways. With only 163 at bats in Boston, Kalish is very much still the kid at Triple-A who fans are still waiting on to make the majors as a full-time starter. The hope was that this would happen last year, but a shoulder injury suffered in spring left him out for much of the season, and ineffective in his short return before he was again sidelined.

Now, with surgery out of the way and rehab in progress, Kalish will have to reassert himself as the heir apparent in right field. With the Sox eyeing a platoon there for 2012, that probably can't happen soon enough for most fans.

1. Ryan Lavarnway, C/DH

2. Will Middlebrooks, 3B

3. Xander Bogaerts, SS

4. Ryan Kalish, OF

Alright, it's time to finish up the top five. Ryan Kalish topped the second wave of players by a sizable margin, but second place was pretty close, and who knows where his votes are headed? It's the same story as always: rec the appropriate comment below to vote, and vote away!

The third spot on the list was always the one that was going to be obvious. At least here on Over The Monster, the community clearly held that there was a top tier of prospects formed by three men: Xander Bogaerts, Ryan Lavarnway, and Will Middlebrooks. With Lavarnway and Middlebrooks having taken first and second, Bogaerts was pretty much a lock for third.

Of course, that's actually a bit of a hit for Bogaerts, who has made his way to the top of many a prospector's list. And it's not hard to see why, either. As one of the youngest players at his level, Bogaerts tore the cover off the ball with Single-A Greenville. Even though he had some discipline struggles at the plate (hardly surprising at his age), he managed to hit 16 home runs in just 265 at bats en route to a .249 ISO. While he doesn't necessarily project to stay at shortstop long term, the added mass that will cause the shift could well add even more power.

With his breakout year having been predated by Jim Callis calling him our most exciting player to come from the DSL since Hanley Ramirez, it's just hard not to get hyped up about him.

1. Ryan Lavarnway, C/DH
2. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
3. Xander Bogaerts, SS

The Red Sox have four prospects in Jonathan Mayo and MLB.com's top 100 prospects list, released Wednesday. There are no real surprises here in terms of the who, nothing that shocking in terms of the where, either. The Red Sox have plenty of depth in their system, but no one expected to be of the Matt Moore or Bryce Harper caliber. (Who, by the way, are the first and second prospects ranked by Mayo.) You should absolutely take a look at the whole list, but here are Boston's highlights:

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In a battle of potential vs. proximity (or ceiling vs. floor, if you prefer), proximity has won. Will Middlebrooks is Over The Monster's choice for the second best prospect in the Red Sox' system, topping young phenom Xander Bogaerts for the honors.

After hinting at a breakout in 2010 with periods of brilliance, Middlebrooks put together a strong campaign with the Portland Sea Dogs in 2011, hitting .302/.345/.520 in 397 plate appearances with the team. When combined with his excellent glove at the hot corner, it was a year that left Middlebrooks the top prospect in the system according to many scouts.

While Middlebrooks struggled after a promotion to Pawtucket, the move was fairly aggressive all things considered, and he's generally been the sort of player who needs time to adjust to a new level to begin with. Given another offseason of development, Middlebrooks should be ready to establish himself as the heir apparent to Kevin Youkilis at third.

1. Ryan Lavarnway, C/DH
2. Will Middlebrooks, 3B

Over The Monster, you have spoken, and said you don't particularly care that Ryan Lavarnway might not stick behind the plate. Overcoming the super-high ceiling of Xander Bogaerts and the well-rounded Will Middlebrooks, Lavarnway's ridiculous run through Triple-A last year has earned him the top spot on your list.

1. Ryan Lavarnway, C/DH

While it's entirely possible that Lavarnway does end up taking over for David Ortiz instead of Jarrod Saltalamacchia come 2013 (or whenever he should choose to call it a career), if Lavarnway can end up sticking behind the plate, then he could provide remarkable value to the Sox. We've certainly sacrificed defense behind the plate for a decent bat in years past, and Lavarnway has slowly improved as a receiver. While he's still not even average, he did gun down 29 baserunners in 79 attempts--solid numbers for anyone--and didn't look too bad in his rare major league appearances behind the plate.

So we'll hope on a catching superstar the likes of Victor Martinez, all the while knowing that if nothing else, he'll have a good shot at replacing Papi at $400k a year. Who wants a $15 million pitcher?

Actually, probably best to avoid that given how they tend to work out of late.

Alright, moving on! Voting is the same as always: I'll give you guys names in the comments sections, and you rec the guy you want. If you've got someone in mind who I haven't included, then you can start that thread yourself, and I'll rec it in order to make up for your vote (since you can't rec your own comment).

Just to be clear: your rec is your vote. You can post for discussion, but votes that are only comments will not be counted.

Based on popular demand, Ryan Kalish will be considered eligible, Ryan Westmoreland will not.

Vote away!

Exactly one year ago today, we tossed out the 2010 list of top prospects and began anew. These were the results:

1. Ryan Kalish, OF

2. Anthony Ranaudo, RHP

3. Jose Iglesias, SS

4. Felix Doubront, LHP

5. Drake Britton, LHP

6. Ryan Lavarnway, C

7. Stolmy Pimentel, RHP

8. Lars Anderson, 1B

9. Kolbrin Vitek, 3B

10. Josh Reddick, OF

11. Ryan Westmoreland, OF

12. Yamaico Navarro, SS

13. Che-Hsuan Lin, OF

14. Oscar Tejeda, 2B

15. Garin Cecchini, SS

16. Junichi Tazawa, RHP

17. Brandon Workman, RHP

18. Luis Exposito, C

19. Sean Coyle, 2B

20. Juan Carlos Linares, OF

I've already taken a look back at the year-gone-by for these guys, and there were some mixed results. We could well be looking at a completely new top-5, with many of the top candidates not so much as making the list last year.

Last year's system of voting seemed to work fairly well. I'll give you guys names in the comments sections, and you rec the guy you want. If you've got someone in mind who I haven't included, then you can start that thread yourself, and I'll rec it in order to make up for your vote (since you can't rec your own comment).

Just to be clear: your rec is your vote. You can post for discussion, but votes that are only comments will not be counted.

Based on popular demand, Ryan Kalish will be considered eligible, Ryan Westmoreland will not.

Vote away!

The Red Sox announced they had signed 12 players to minor league contracts yesterday--news that's sure to make the whole of the fanbase tingle with excitement! And even better, there are starters in the mix, so problem solved, yes?

Alright, so minor league signings are never exciting, and rarely provide any real value. Every once in a while, though, some can surprise you. For proof, you don't need to look any further than last year's Yankees team, which picked up 310 insufferable innings from minor league signings Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia last year.

So, do we have any reason to hope for a miracle like those two? The short answer is "no," because both are exceptions of the highest order. The longer answer is "Not really, but Rich Hill was pretty good last year, right?" This is inevitably followed by a Google search for news on Kuroda, and a dejected sigh.

But hey, we've got these guys now, and they don't really cost a thing, so let's examine our scrap heap finds.

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