Over on Sickels website (see link above), the Orioles have been nominated as an organization that has taken the biggest step back in 2010. I've been thinking about this since the end of the minor league system, though in fairness I haven't followed it as closely as I have in years' past given the amount of young talent on the MLB squad. I think this was part that was especially disconcerting: Here are some words Sickels uses to describe the O's top prospects in his top 20 review: "disappointed" "command the issue" "horrible bb/k" "yuck" "blah" "unimpressive" "hand injury" "strikeout rate is scary" "blech" "tommy john" Those are 10 words or phrases Sickels uses to describe 10 of the top 11 prospects going into the year. The off years of most of the top 10 is definitely a downer, though I still hold out hope for a few of them. I am somewhat relieved to think that the really important guys (Matusz, Britton) have performed, and so whether or not a guy like Snyder becomes a major league regular is a secondary issue. But I thought I would get feedback from others on whether or not this year has been a bad one for the minor league teams.