Presenting Bryan's Law (of prospects)
Dynasty Baseball is ruled by predictable forces. Here is one.
Bryan’s Law (of prospects) states that the fewer prospects a manager has, the higher she’ll rank them. That is, if a team’s top prospect is the 90th-ranked prospect in baseball or thereabouts, that prospect will become effectively as valuable, to the owner, of a much higher-ranked player.
I have done this, so it’s not just “Bryan’s Law (of prospects)” in the sense I’m defining it. I have lived it. I have been there. Nick Madrigal was utterly untouchable two years on my team because I had no one better, and then I did and he wasn’t. The maturation process continued to the point that on Sunday I traded the No 2. prospect in baseball. I’ve come a long way, and I’ve seen this pattern repeat itself over and over as other owners have gone through the same thing. They all do it. They are all forgiven. Everyone is subject to Bryan’s Law (of prospects)
The reverse scenario, for what it’s worth, is not necessarily true. If a team’s 10th best prospect is the 90th-ranked prospect in baseball, the owner is not likely to part with them at a discount (if an owner has 9 better prospects, they likely are familiar with consensus prospect values), but is still far, far more likely to trade them at or near cost than the owner for whom, say, Gilberto Jimenez is a favorite son.
The point is when someone has middle-tier prospects at the top of their minor league roster you’re better off trying to swim 10 miles drunk than deal with them, and it’s not their fault, so don’t make it yours, either.
This is Bryan’s Law (of prospects).