Team's Good Picks:
Clearly addressing the bullpen and starting rotation was crucial, but the biggest draft improvement was the acquisition of SS Jose Reyes. Drafting Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen in the second and third rounds was great. This adds depth to a horrible bullpen from a year ago. Now, Billy Wagner has two legitimate setup men in front of him, but little depth beyond that. The selection of Gil Meche adds a stable back end rotation starter who will eat lots of innings, but is very expensive in the next couple of years. Lastly, Carlos Gomez is a fun player to watch. Next season, Pottsylvania will have a dynamic duo atop the lineup with Reyes and Gomez. Combined, they could steal 150 bases alone.
Team's Bad Picks:
Everyone else. Ryan Theriot is a nice player that fills many roles, but he is not worth a fourth round selection. Much more could have been done with that draft slot. In fact he could have been on the board around the time of Brendan Harris' selection. Brian Barton was a horrible selection to start the sixth round. He was essentially let go in the Rule 5 draft from Cleveland, so why would he be drafted as high as he did. Brooklyn's management was considering the outfielder as a last pick overall if the draft had gone Brooklyn's way. It's a bad sign when he could get more playing time in BARB than in MLB!
Overall: C
This is a draft and pre-draft grade. I thought the acquisition of Jose Reyes, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima were some of the best in BARB. The selection of Gil Meche was nice, but the loss of Adam Wainwright was worse. With the only experienced OF being Juan Pierre, who is not seeing regular playing time in MLB, the selection of Carlos Gomez gives Pottsylvania a dynamic young outfield with Felix Pie and Matt Kemp. If that was all of Pottsylvania's draft, then an 'A' might be warranted. But, this is not all of the draft. The rest of the draft has poor positioning and draft slots. I do like the selection of Mark Mulder, only .25, but not so high. He would have been available later in the draft. Another good draft like this could propel Pottsylvania into the playoffs.
2 comments:
Wow. Brian Barton is a horrible selection? I haven't disagreed with too much of your reviews (besides the prospects that myself and Chris drafted), but I think you are way off in saying that. Barton is still pretty young. He is a five-tool talent who has taken a while to develop and just got caught in a numbers game in Cleveland. If he gets playing time in MLB this year, I'd bet he will be a darkhorse to win the NL ROY award.
Its a huge IF and he strikes out way too much. If he was really a darkhorse for NL ROY, then Cleveland would have protected him over Brad Snyder or Trevor Crowe. I agree that Barton isn't a horrible player and could be serviceable, but he is fighting for playing time and he would have been available later in the draft. Think about it, the fifth round is still high pick, Chris Perez (FF), Jordan Schaefer (Darwin), and Chad Cordero (Worcestor) were still on the board. All would have been better selections for Pottsylvania.
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