This afternoon Major League Baseball (via mlb.com) officially released its list of the Top 50 Prospects in baseball. One glance at the list will give Blue Jays fans even further proof that new GM Alex Anthopoulos knows exactly what he is doing at the helm of the club.

Faced with a nearly impossible situation regarding Roy Halladay when he took over, Anthopoulos was able to insulate himself from media distraction and complete the blockbuster trade that will hopefully set the Jays on the right course moving forward. While many hated that Halladay was traded in the first place, he was going to leave after next season regardless. It came down to whether Anthopoulos could maximize the return package for his ace, and judging by the Prospects list it looks like he might have.

The top names on the list are of no surprise to baseball fans. Jason Heyward (Atlanta, #1), Stephen Strasburg (Washington, #2), Buster Posey (San Francisco, #4), and Desmond Jennings (Tampa Bay, #6) have been mentioned on several analytical and fantasy baseball sites for a long time. A few players, such as Brian Matusz (Baltimore, #5) and Neftali Feliz (Texas, #7) have already made an impact on the major leagues, turning in a few dominating performances last season. But in looking at the rest of the Top 50, one thing would have been missing had Anthopoulos not made the Halladay deal – Toronto Blue Jays.

For a team whose new philosophy is building through the draft and through the minor league system with youth, having zero of the Top 50 prospects in baseball is both embarrassing and unacceptable. But after the series of trades that sent Halladay to the Phillies, Toronto now has a system buoyed by pitcher Kyle Drabek (#17 on the list) and 1B/3B Brett Wallace (#16). Either one (or both) of those prospects could be seen in Toronto as early as this summer. Adding them to a current core of Ricky Romero, Adam Lind, Aaron Hill, and Travis Snider at least gives Toronto a solid foundation, something they didn't seem to have as early as last season.

In reality, projecting prospects in baseball is a crapshoot. So many variables go into the successful grooming of a major league star that the "experts" are often wrong (ask Todd Van Poppel). But ten times out of ten, I would rather risk having a top prospect fail than never having a top prospect at all. It's nice to finally have a GM who thinks the same way.