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2017 Red Sox top prospect voting: Starting over with a changed, depressed farm system

There’s been a lot of subtraction from the farm this year to benefit the major-league roster. So, let’s figure out how to rank this new-look system.

By Matt_Collins
Baltimore Orioles v Boston Red Sox Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

We’re now a few weeks into the new year, and spring training is closer than you think. That means it’s time to start our annual top prospects poll. Over the next 10 weeks, you the readers will be voting on the top-20 prospects in the Red Sox farm system, one spot at a time.

Before that, though, it’s worth taking a look back at the results of last year:

  1. Yoan Moncada
  2. Andrew Benintendi
  3. Rafael Devers
  4. Anderson Espinoza
  5. Michael Kopech
  6. Brian Johnson
  7. Sam Travis
  8. Luis Alexander Basabe
  9. Deven Marrero
  10. Michael Chavis
  11. Pat Light
  12. Nick Longhi
  13. Marco Hernandez
  14. Teddy Stankiewicz
  15. Travis Lakins
  16. Christopher Acosta
  17. Mauricio Dubon
  18. Austin Rei
  19. Williams Jerez
  20. Marc Brakeman

Clearly, a lot has changed over the last 12 months. The number one prospect in the system has been dealt to Chicago, along with number five. Number four was sent to San Diego. Number eight, number eleven and number seventeen were all also sent to other organizations. This was the reputation Dave Dombrowski had when he took over the Red Sox, and he’s played right into it. On the other hand, as I said last week, he’s used these trades to build a phenomenal major-league roster that is still built around a strong, young core.

Either way, there is going to be a ton of change in this year’s top-20. The very top of the ranking is still going to be extremely talented, but there’s a lot of different types of players who will fill out the rest of the list. For now, however, we start at the top.

If you remember correctly, Ben tried using the poll system for this voting process last year. That didn’t work because someone inexplicably decided to stuff the ballot. I’m going to try it again this year, because it’s a much better system that is more accessible to a wider audience. If there is someone you feel I unjustifiably left off the list, throw the name out in the comments and we'll use the rec system for those players. Assuming it works, polls for the Tuesday posts will run until Thursday night at 7PM. For Friday posts, they will run until Monday night at 7PM. Please, everyone, just play by the rules.

Without further ado, here are your choices:

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