HOME GROWN TALENT

Deadspin linked to an interesting article written by Domenic Lanza. He decided to sort through the major league rosters to find each team's Home Grown Talent. It is an exercise to show how well each team's drafting and minor league development has been at the major league level. It would also show what teams would look like if MLB had a "no trade rule," i.e. you had to develop your own talent.

He penned the following Cubs roster:

Chicago Cubs
Starting Pitchers
• Andrew Cashner 
 • Jon Garland
• Kyle Lohse
• Ricky Nolasco
• Jeff Samardzija 
 Bullpen
• Al Alburquerque 
 • Jerry Blevins
• Scott Downs
• Rich Hill
• Carlos Marmol
• Sean Marshall
• James Russell  
Catchers
• Jose Molina
• Geovany Soto
 Infielders
• Darwin Barney
• Starlin Castro
• Ronny Cedeno
• Josh Donaldson 
 • Ryan Flaherty
• Josh Vitters  
Outfielders
• Tony Campana
• Tyler Colvin
• Sam Fuld
• Brett Jackson
• Junior Lake 

Lanza opined that this is a bad team. There’s some young talent in Cashner Castro, and Lake but such a club would be near last place in any league. As a result, he can see why Epstein had to blow up the minors to rebuild.

What is interesting is that only five Cubs on their current roster are farm hands, and one (Lake) is playing out of position. Also, most of the Cub talent are utility-bench players and not full time starters.