The Team's Good Picks:
Clearly Darwin's management believes that the lineup needed an upgrade in the outfield to assist Jeff Francouer. The steals of Josh Hamilton and Rick Ankiel will provide some left handed power in the lineup. The pre-draft trade to acquire Milton Bradley for Josh Sweeney allows for some depth for the lineup down the road. PZ Myers will hope for 15-20 jacks from Josh Hamilton and solid defense and 20-27 homers from Ankiel. What cannot go underestimated is the defensive contributions of the two. Ankiel, a former pitcher who's story is well documented, has the league's second best arm, only to teammate Francouer. Hamilton, who can play center, can cover plenty of ground and has a very good arm.
The Team's Bad Picks:
I do not think there was enough done to address the bullpen. The Finches' Owner, S Hatfield, criticized other owners for some draft picks spent on bullpen arms. Well, Kevin Gregg cannot be counted on. The startingrotation has seen many injuries to start the season and the bullpen has had a lot of wear and tear, so injuries should be anticipated. Jeremy Accardo will be crucial to assist JJ Putz and John Broxton, but not enough was done here.
Questionable Picks:
The Finches selected 3B Pedro Alvarez who has several roadblocks. To be honest, Alvarez was not a player on many "lists" so his talent is somewhat unknown. From my understanding, he is in the Dodger's system. IF so, then he is behind Andy LaRoche, Nomar Garciaparra, Blake DeWitt, and Josh Bell. He must be a keeper prospect, but the 40 man rule kills keeper prospects, so this is a risky pick.
Great Picks:
The selection of Catcher Bryan Anderson was a terrific pick. He has a smooth left handed approach as a catcher. He is still a year or two away as the Cardinals do not need to rush him because of the defensive prowess of Yadier Molina, also a Finch. Be aware that there is a potential that all three catching prospects, Jeff Clement, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Anderson may move to first base, which I am guessing the management took into account as there is little long term depth behind David Ortiz and Lance Berkman. Both Ortiz and Berkman have had long injury issues and health concerns, so depth at both positions are crucial.
Overall Grade: C+
There was more depth concerns with this ballclub that management realizes. John Smoltz, Josh Johnson, Scott Kazmir, and Chuck James have had injury concerns before the start of the season! Yet, little was done to pick up some depth at the position. Franklin Morales and Johnathan Sanchez could fill in for a few starts, but should not be counted on in the rugged East. Chad Billingsley is likely going to start the season as the 3rd or 2nd slot in the rotation, which is asking a lot of a young player.
6 comments:
pedro alavrez is actually the vanderbilt 3B. he is widley regarded as the top hitting prospect in the 08 draft class
Well there you go. I just think selection of college players is a waste of a degree of freedom for organizations. The league is not built for keeper players like Alvarez, Scheppers and others.
I'm really surprised about how good Hatfield's team was. I call: it will come back down to earth this year. This team can be better if he traded some bullpen to others... wait, most teams restocked their pens. Never mind...
Clearly Hatfield's team overacheived and missed the Injury bug that bit other teams. Finally he's getting bit. Its odd but there are NO more Excuses for this team to MAKE the playoffs
I don't think my club overachieved last year. I won because I had a clear edge in late-inning matchups. I achieved this edge in two ways:
1) loading up on relief, so that I had a legitimate closer type available to setup the regular closer in virtually every game
2) fielding an underrated lineup with multiple switch-hitters, especially after July, which creates problems for the opposing manager in terms of getting an edge in the matchup game
My team will hit more this year, play better defense, but will not be as strong in the bullpen after the trade of Hoffman. This is the one move I made that really came back to haunt me, so I actually agree with the rating of my draft, though for different reasons. I overestimated the readiness of Salty and Clement to contribute to my major league roster right off the bat, and by the time the spring rolled around it was clear I was going to have problems behind the plate, which precipitated a lot of high-wire discussions for catching help that went nowhere. I made several pitches for catchers and found in every case other GM's wanted me to overpay, usually to the tune of J.J. Putz. So I plead guilty to undermining the effectiveness of my draft by being too slow to realize my hole behind the plate, but can you blame me? Everybody and his mother had anointed Salty the likely Texas starter in February. Then he regressed on defense, painfully so.
I would have been surprised if Salty had started. Gerald Laird is a very solid catcher. I was surprised to see Salty not on the roster, should have been put at first. I know late innings are important but you kind of need to play well throughout the game and your lineup and pitching didn't fear anyone. Good pen though.
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