I'd like to call your attention to a couple of new links over on the left hand side of the site: 1. College Baseball Daily has updates almost daily, as the name implies. Right now they are running down their top 100 college players for 2012. 2. MLB Draft Guide is a very ambitious MLB draft site that gives almost daily profiles of prospects eligible for the 2012 draft.
I was cruising around the the draft sites looking for early 2012 mock drafts. I thought it might be fun to look as some of the names being projected for the Giants at #20 overall. Since the new CBA was announced, it seems much less likely that the Giants will be signing any FA's that cost draft picks, so I'm assuming they will still have #20 when draft day rolls around.
2012 looks to be not as strong as 2011, especially at the top. It seems to be strong for both college and HS shortstops, prep arms and power hitters. Not so strong for college pitching and college hitters other than shortstops. Here are some names I've seen in mock drafts at #20:
My MLB Draft; Baseball America: Carlos Correa, HS SS. 6'3", 190 lbs. Some draft sites are ranking this kid the #1 shortstop in the draft in a pretty strong draft for shortstops. His size makes some wonder whether he will stick at the position, but he may hit well enough that it doesn't matter. He's from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. We know the Giants have a scout down there because they drafted 4 kids from there in 2011! This is one guy who might make me think they should take him as the BPA rather than a pitcher.
Baseball Draft Report: Ryne Stanek, Arkansas RHP(Draft Eligible Soph). 6'4", 180 lbs. 3'rd round pick by the Mariners out of HS in 2010. His coach says he has a "tremendous fastball" and "three really good pitches." Made 12 starts as a true freshman going 4-1, 3.94, 64 IP, 26 BB's, 41 K's. I'm not wild about the ratios and I doubt the Giants take a chance on a draft eligible soph with the new harder slot rules.
TTF Baseball: Brian Johnson, Florida, LHP. Polished college lefty who keeps the ball on the ground and has great control. Not a typical Giants first round pick.
Draft Site: Rio Ruiz, HS 3B. B-L, T-R. 6'2", 200 lbs. Two sport star out of SoCal also a football QB. Committed to USC. There are a few videos out there. His swing looks quite long to my eye, but a nice looking athlete with power potential. I expect the Giants to stay away from two-sport guys in this draft as they always have.
Rant Sports: Travis Jankwoski, Stony Brook, OF. 6'3", 190 lbs. B-L, T-R. Put up a .355/.419/.457 with 30/34 SB's. Not a bad guess given the type of player the Giants have taken in the last 2 first rounds. We know they scout the Northeast. In addition, Jankowski hit .326 with 7 triples in the Cape Cod League which is pretty sensational for that league. The Giants historically put a huge amount of stock in the Cape Cod League.
MLB Bonus Baby: Jake Barrett, Arizona State, RHP. 6'3", 220 lbs. Big hard-throwing RHP. 7-4, 4.14, 76 IP, 21 BB, 72 K's. Given the Giants organizational needs at pitcher, this could be a very nice pick to help fill that gap. We know they favor hard throwers, so I would put more stock in a guy like Barrett than Brian Johnson.
Draft boards change dramatically over time, so the take home point here is not the specific players listed but a general idea of what type of players may be available to the Giants at #20. From this list, I am encouraged that they will be able to draft a solid MLB prospect at this slot.
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Barring numerous miraculous breakouts down on the farm, I just can't foresee the Giants not pursuing pitching, pitching and more pitching. I think if there are college pitchers on the board that aren't too much of a stretch, I think they have to take them... Proximity to the majors in starting pitchers should take precedent over projectable arms right now, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think you still have to go Best Player Available in the first round, but if they are choosing between approximately equally graded prospects, yeah, I think they have to go pitching, preferably out of college
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is looking like a thin class of college pitchers for the 2012 draft.
ReplyDeleteThe CBS sports site is doing feature asking the question what would MLB teams would look like today if they had not traded away any prospects. Kind of like how your team would look today if you only built from the draft and international free agent signings.
ReplyDeleteKind of a fun topic. From the perspective of the Giants, outside of Joe Nathan, I'm having a hard time thinking of any Giant prospect who I miss who is still active in the majors.
After that I'm coming up with names like Aardsma, Jerome Williams. The Giants seem to graduate a few 2nd level catchers like Yorvit Torrealba, but none that I miss.
Anyone think of a homegrown Giant who is currently doing well that we'd like to have back?
I cannot think of any homegrown talent for 2012 but I wish we had Matt Downs last year when Freddy Sanchez went down. He had a decent year as a utility guy and he wouldn't of costed us Sosa and Stoffel even though they weren't in our future plans. I would have preferred Downs to Keppinger. I am mixed on Thomas Neal. I thought he was going to be a decent player until his numbers suffered in AA. I still think he will be a decent player for the Indians and I am wondering what his power potential will be. 15-20 homers? Time will tell whether trading him for Cabrera was a good idea or not. If we still had Francisco Liriano, he probably could be one of the best 4th or 5th starters if could stay healthy. And of course Joe Nathan could have a great 8th inning guy or some serious trade bait.
ReplyDeleteWell, there was Francisco Liriano from the same trade as Nathan, but he hasn't really bounced back from TJ surgery. I think Sabes considered him a big injury risk and it looks like he was right. Unfortunately, AJ didn't work out in SF either. The trade was a huge negative because of Nathan's success.
ReplyDeleteIf the Giants did not have so many homegrown impact players from the last 4-5 years, you could say the lack of impact talent in former Giants prospects around the league was just because, you know, they never have any impact prospects. When they have keepers like Cainer, Timmy, Wilson, MadBum, Pablo Sandoval, Posey and even a Nate Schierholtz, then I think you've got a big enough sample to say that Sabes has had pretty good judgement about who he trades away and who he keeps.
I have to say, I think the Wheeler trade is going to come back to bite him though, even though I supported the trade and still do.
Kelly - great topic. This is definitely an argument near and dear to OGC (where the hell is he?) - the Giants don't come out til Dec 17? Beyond the Box Score has an All True Team series - apparently inspired by the A's and Billie Beane, ugh - with strict have to play all your games with the Gints. Your CF? Yup, Marvin Bernard. Ott, Hubbell and Terry are there. But our 4 M's - Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Mathewson don't make the cut, so its sort of pointless.
ReplyDeleteIf the Gints have a little more faith in Torrealba (a guy I always liked) maybe they don't make the AJ trade. Nathan stays, we don't sign Benitez. Sabean has a great record of trading away shiny guys who don't turn out. Aardsma and Liriano come close, but injuries have really derailed them. I've always thought that Nathan got traded because of some dustups with Alou. He is the only guy with any significant numbers still playing, and really the only big time guy Sabean has traded away. Foulke did OK, but it took him a lot of years to get there, and he's long retired.
DrB made the point Sabean is thin skinned and remembers his mistakes and slights for a long time. This Melky trade was his first offseason trade since AJ/Nathan, besides a dump of Alfonso for Finley and Hawkins for Steve Kline. I think that if Beltran doesn't work out Sabean will look at Rollins/Cuddyer/Willingham but he may not like what he sees or want to extend anything beyond 2 years. I wouldn't be shocked to see another trade this offseason.
Roger - great point about Matt Downs. Would have been better than Keppinger or Bill Hall. Funny how these things happen. He was in the Timmy draft, 36th round. Rollinger (6th) and Bocock (9th) are gone, but we do have some other hangers on: 1st round sup Manny Burris and our 7th rounder Brett Pill.
ReplyDeleteThomas Neal has injury issues, I wish we held onto him, I think we make the playoffs without Cabrera out there. But you look through the Gints drafts you'll see a bunch of guys Sabean threw in and not much happening overall.
DrB - to get back on your post subject, I would be psyched for that SS Correa to be there. Seems to be higher than 20th on a lot of lists. Could Kenny Diekroeger go the Brandon Crawford route? That guy has a ton riding on next season. If he has a great season he could go really high, but if he doesn't he might be one of those Barr value picks. Right now he's around the Giants pick, but I bet that changes one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteIf Correa is gone maybe they look at Jesmuel Valentin Diaz out of the PR academy - committed to LSU - switch hitter, a bit smaller framed and might stick at short. Jose Valentin's son, and from Don Carlos' hometown. If the Giants can scout the hell out of PR and make some bold draft choices there that would be great. It really seems like its overlooked, only 27 MLB players compared to 115 from the DR and 81 from VZ (MLB's #s). It looks like Diaz won't be a first rounder barring some serious breakout, but he looks very interesting.
I've seen Trey Williams the CA HS 3B from Velencia all over the place on lists, I bet he's closer to those 2 Harvard-Westlake guys than our lowly #20. How about Kyle Zimmer from our own backyard?
Aloha Drb, Thanks for the 2 new websites. Their lack of top starting pitching prospects in the high minors needs to be addressed. My perception from reading your breakdowns is that they do have good arms in the lower minors. It would help them if a couple of those international pitchers would step up such as Mejia, Lamb, or Roibel.. I hope that the Giants come up with at least 2 good starting pitching prospects and and good SS in the upcoming draft. I'm not even sure if the Giants will address starting pitching heavily in the upcoming draft. Last years draft was suppose to be deep in starting pitching, and they only took Crick and Osich early.. I don't know enough about the SS they drafted last year, so all I know is they have Crawford and Adrianza as good SS depth in the org..
ReplyDeleteLG
I almost forgot to mention Joe Panik who might be at the top of the SS depth chart unless they decide to move him to 2nd base.
ReplyDeleteLG
The pickings just seem awfully slim at pitcher in the 2012 draft. There's Barrett and a guy named Beck from Georgia Southern who seem to be big hard throwers like the Giants like. Zimmer is a possibility too. There's a huge HS kid named Taylore something or other who is 6'9", 260 lbs and throws easy low-mid 90's heat. Those would seem to be the best bets for pitching in the first round.
ReplyDeleteThis draft seems unusually strong in guys who should be able to stick at SS.
The Giants have tended to stick pretty close to slot with their signings, Buster Posey being the lone exception. With the harder slot cap in the new CBA, I look for them to play it very conservative in this first draft. They'll be looking for the next Joe Panik, a guy flying under the radar who is motivated to sign quickly and start his pro career. That doesn't rule out taking a pitcher, but I'm pretty sure you won't see any two sport stars or draft eligible sophs or high school kids using college as leverage.
ReplyDeleteThere is talk going around that the Giants rejected an offer from the Yankees for Matt Cain. Supposedly the deal included Swisher, Montero, Betances, and others. I don't like it. I think we need to keep Cain although it doesn't hurt to listen to the offers. I believe Lincecum will be out the door in 2-3 years and if we lose Cain and Lincecum, the prospects will not be able to overcome the losses to the starting pitching. But, if the offer had Banuelos, Betances, Montero and Nunez you might have to take it. Some offers you cannot turn down even if it goes against everything you say to the media. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteAloha Drb, it will be interesting to see how the harder slot cap changes the draft. I think the scouts will really have to do their homework as to the $$ it will take to sign a draft prospect. From what I've read, it probably won't affect the 1st round too much because the bonus money will still be high enough. I don't think the Giants have to play it too conservative with their 1st round pick.. I do think MLB will lose more of the 2nd tier high school picks to college baseball, which I kinda like being a college baseball fan here in the islands. This is going to hurt small market teams like the Pirates and Royals who spent a lot of $$ on over slot signing bonuses the last draft..
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Roger, I'd have to say the Yankees might be smarter than I thought they were. Cain really feels like a lynchpin player. As bad a PR move as it is, I move Timmy before I move Cain. Either way, it has to be monster for the Giants to bite. Herschel Walker.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants, trading Sanchez and having no MLB ready starters in the pipeline really need very specific compensation for Cain or Lincecum. They want to win now. I'd be pretty surprised (pleasantly) if any team could swing it. I'm open to it. I'm one of the few fans I know who didn't meltdown when the Giants traded Matt Williams.
The more I consider one of these trades, the more appealing Beltran becomes. I hate to say that with the Red Sox involved.
The only problem with any package the Yankees could put together is that Montero would be the centerpiece and he's not a great fit for the Giants or any NL team for that matter. Otherwise, that's exactly the type of trade I think Sabes is eventually going to have to make in order to leverage his pipeline of homegrown talent into a sustained long term championship caliber team.
ReplyDeleteBack to the draft: I don't see anybody in this draft worth blowing up your slot cap for or risking loss of future draft picks. I'd put Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg in that category, but nobody from this year.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me think it's a deep draft is when I go to a site like MLB Draft Guide and see reports and video on a couple of players like Courtney Hawkins and Ron Miller and I don't see either of them on BA's preseason Top 50. Both of them look to me like they could be solid picks in the supplemental first round or early second round.
Drb, I know this is off the topic but I'm interested in your take on whether the Giants are doing a good job at securing talent in the international markets? It seems like ever since Francisco Liriano, they haven't had much success. I'm hopeful that Angel Villaona can come back, but it seems like other teams such as the Braves, Red Sox, Mariners are making bigger splashes signing these types of players then the Giants. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLG
After Angel V and RafRod had less than spectacular starts to their pro carreers(BTW, I think it's way too early to write either of them off), the Giants seemed to get a bit more conservative on the international market. The current strategy seems to be to sign multiple midlevel prospects in the $250-$500 K range rather than go for one big splash in the $2 M range. They also have held back since the age/drug scandal broke a couple of years ago and seem to be only going for prospects who have been thoroughly vetted by MLB in terms of age and being clean on drugs.
ReplyDeleteThe Jury is still out on whether this is a good strategy or not, but I'd say the early returns are encouraging. I think you could make a case for Adalberto Mejia being a top 5 Giants prospect right now coming out of the DSL. Leonardo Fuentes has shown at least as much as RafRod at a fraction of the price. They might miss out on the next Miguel Cabrera or Jose Reyes with this strategy, but teams can also burn through a huge amount of money signing expensive contracts that go bust before they land one of those big fish too.
Umm, I find Pablo Sandoval to have been quite a success, but that's just me. :^)
ReplyDeleteThe record of bonus babies producing on the international market is pretty bad from the Top 10 lists I had seen before. The majority of them do not pan out. Still, Villalona was looking really good until his murder trial.
Not sure how to research this but it would be interesting to see the success rate of international signings. Anyone knows a good database that captures international (or even just Latin American) signings with bonus levels? I'm only aware of BA's Top 10 signings lists that they periodically update.
I'm with DrB, both Villalona and RafRod are too young to label them failures. 27 is usually the year that prospects wilt on the vine, and both are far from that. It was not just the Giants who thought they were good, other teams did too, and the prospect expects thought a lot of both as well. Sometimes it just take times for them to develop, prospecting takes a lot of patience that I've found to be lacking in some of the people I see opining about Giants prospects.
Until I see the data, I would not characterize any team as being particularly successful in international signings than others (Mariners, if you are counting Japanese players, have a huge advantage because their owners are Japanese). If they were that much better, then they should be dominating other teams with international players leading the way. I don't see that as being true for those teams, though success can be relative, if they are getting good support players, but when I think of these teams core players, they are not international signings for the most part.
I had done research on Giants slotting in the past and found that it was a falsehood that the Giants were cheap with the draft, as per the labeling of them as overdrafters in order to pay less bonus. Except for one season, where they did under slot for most picks, as DrB noted, they have been pretty good about slot for the most part, though they did do a number of draft and follows, as well as the occasional big bonus, like Ishikawa, in the latter rounds.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they were willing to pay overslot for their first round picks, most got something above slot, most for their first pick in the first round, particularly Posey as noted. Lincecum, Bumgarner, Wheeler all received over slot, Wheeler particularly so. But so did most of the first round picks of the Sabean era, from my research and recollections of recent drafts. I think Panik was the first slot signing for a first round pick during the Sabean era (though not sure if Linden was first round pick or supplemental; he was under but only because he and his agent were boneheads, over played their hands, and Linden took over negotiations at the last minute and accepted a below bonus to sign.)
OGC,
ReplyDeleteWhile the Giants have gone over slot frequently, it has usually been only modestly over slot with the exception of Buster Posey. Maybe Travis Ishikawa, but that was a long time ago now. They have not given out any major league deals either except for an apparent under-the-table deal with Gillaspie which they may be regretting now.
In any event, I don't think they will have any trouble adjusting to the new harder slot cap and other drafting rules.
Yes, Shankbone, near and dear to my heart. Prospects traded who we regret losing in a trade are few (was Nathan a prospect? For me, no, he had a great season when we traded him, he was a good reliever with closer potential, I thought). Keith Foulke, Bobby Howry, Aardsma, Nathan. Carlos Villanueva did OK for Brewers. Clay Hensley did OK for Padres. But neither were missed. Jeremy Accardo did OK initially but injury took him out, so does he count against or did Giants see injury coming? Hard to say exactly, but we don't miss him in any case.
ReplyDeleteThere were others who did some stuff but weren't missed. Brian Buscher 3B with Twins, got lot of playing time, but mainly because Twins were desperate. There was a pitcher who lasted a while with Orioles, also cause they needed bodies (Burres?).
Oh yeah, Joe Paterson did great for AZ in 2011, a lot of Sabean Naysayers point to him and how we are paying so much for Affeldt and Lopez, but really, we had no space for him at the start of 2011, and he didn't really do that well in the minors, BA certainly didn't think that much of him, so are these people saying that they are smarting than BA, heck, most other prospect experts who didn't think much of him?
Liriano is hard to judge for me. Sure he's been good, great even, but mostly he's been totally disruptive of the Twins planning for any season. They have to leave a spot for him in case he's back and healthy, yet cannot really plan for a really good 6th starter to take over if he is injured again. And if he's injured or worse, ineffective, their plans are screwed.
The analogy I compare Liriano to is the singing frog, Michigan J. Frog in the Looney Tunes cartoon. Sure, he's great at times, but when you need him to perform for you in the worse way, he can't. But once you've heard the siren song, you desperately try to figure out a way to use him to your advantage, but get disappointed all the time.
I learned the downside of that with the latter years of Barry Bonds. Sure, he was one of the greatest hitters of all time then but only for 130 games, and he also leaves the game late as well plus did not always feel up for pinching-hitting. That left us with our 4th OF often out there in critical situations, plus starting a large percentage of the time, making our offense very poor when Bonds sits out.
I'm glad they were able to trade Liriano for a good player, but sad that whoever OKed the deal didn't know what an ass Pierzynski would be. If he could have been as good as advertised for us, there would not be the angst there is about the deal, I think.
Still, the ying and yang of this situation is that it dealt a crushing blow to the final years of the Bonds era, helping to lead to many losses, yet it is those draft picks - Lincecum, Posey, Bumgarner - who are part of the heart of the 2010 World Champions and look to lead us for many years to come.
Love the singing WB frog analogy OGC.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that Nathan wasn't a propect when he was traded. He's just the only ex-Giant currently out there who really performed at a high level. I think it was the Giants (Sabean) hubris about closers at the time that led to that trade.
Nen had gone down after 2002, and Tim Worrell turned in that great season in 2003 then left for the Phillies. Nathan, based on stats, was clearly the next in line to close. But I think Sabean thought Righetti could turn anyone into a closer. Enter Matt Herges. I don't know if the Giants trade Nathan (even though Sabean said it was injury concerns that led him to trade Nathan) if Worrell hadn't done so well for the Giants in '03.
And yeah, I've always wondered why the Giants didn't consider who Pierzynski was and how he was going to fit in the team. I don't think that's a hindsight consideration.
But, as OGC says, that disaster helped usher in the down years that led to the high draft slots that brought in MadBum, Buster & Timmy.
I think Sabey Sabes has always been very cautious with his pitching, and the PR angle of the AJ Nathan trade made him even more cautious, which ensured him keeping the pitching intact.
ReplyDeleteGetting the protected slot for the 2006 draft and then hitting on Timmy did wonders. After the punt draft picks 2004/5, Sabean finally gets money and starts to reevaluate, loads up on picks for 2007 (madbum draft) and then hired Barr in time for the 2008 (Posey) draft. I really think you have to use 2006 to the present as a completely different era when discussing Sabey Sabes and the draft.
I agree with your analysis of the AJ trade OGC. It is obviously a very bad trade, but the meat of it is all about Nathan. Liriano has been exactly who the Giants thought he was, talented and injury prone. Boof Bonser never got to a level, but there was a year where Bonser and Liriano were both healthy and pitching well and that's when it looked really really terrible like top 5 of all time terrible.
Todd Linden was the 41st pick, a 1st supp, I remember that overplay OGC. Its pretty nice to look back on all the mediocre names from 97-02 and hope its a thing of the past. Time will tell, but I see a whole lot more useful pieces now.
And it was a huge failure of advance scouts on AJ. The Giants were going after a position advantage, but not seeing the personality really cost them. I remember Twins fans saying "he's a a&&*ole but he's our a&&*ole". He consistently is the most hated player in the game. #2? Chase Utley.
ReplyDeleteOGC have you looked at Barry Bonds stat sheet on Baseball Reference? I recently did, its like a cartoon character. 2004 - 609 OBP, 263 OPS+. He really was amazing. I think in 20 years history will judge him quite differently. People get impatient for a new strategy but you can't steer the ship on a dime. 2005-8 were the hangover years of the sign supporting vets strategy (that yielded poorer and poorer results). But in 2003 we had the wire to wire team that crashed spectacularly to the Marlins, 2004 we weren't close enough and got slammed by Finley, 2005 Bonds got hurt and the jig was up.
Monday morning QB, it was time to blow it up, but for 2006 Petey M insists on Zito for bay area PR and interest. Sabean gets used for the Lee/Soriano overbids, so 2007 he bites on Rowand. These 2 moves were mistakes, but the Giants have been able to navigate around them, and they're almost over. Sabean's moves 2008 to the present have been (washed up former MVP shortstops notwithstanding) for the most part very solid.
The way I see it, Sabean averaged 2-3 bonehead moves a year from 2003-2007, shaking his head clear and changing strategies (and really just going with another pitching first strategy he used in 1998-2003 that had some really bad luck) towards the draft, short term contracts and its working out well. 2009-2011 has been some of the most intense baseball I've ever seen.
Yes, modestly over, did not mean to disagree, was only adding some detail that many Giants fan did not know about the Giants draft bonus behavior.
ReplyDeleteMy theory has been that the AJ trade was actually done by Sheriff Ned. First, he mentioned all the time that Sabean was great about letting them stretch and do things on their own, like trades. Second, Magowan CYAed by commenting that had the trade been run by him, he would have vetoed it. One would think Sabean would know to run this by him. Third, it is literally the worse trade ever made by Sabean, and it is not really that close, either, unless Wheeler really pans out the way Mets fans think he will. Sabean may make mistakes on who to sign, but he has been really really good at knowing who to keep and who to let go. So did he really make that trade?
Which leads me to think that most of the "mistakes" are really just cases of "it is better to try something than to do nothing", but that is another story.
I would say the buck stops with Sabean so unless the trade was ordered from higher up the chain than him, he is responsible for what his lieutenants do. Ned may have negotiated the trade, but I can't believe he didn't at least give Sabes a heads up on what he was working on. Maybe Sabes wasn't paying close enough attention but then that's a problem too.
ReplyDeleteStill, one really bad trade in 13 years is still a very good track record. My wife is from South Dakota and roots for the Twins so I had followed AJ's career before the trade. My own reaction at the time was that the Giants gave up a lot but I really liked AJ and was happy he was going to be a Giant. I really liked the LH bat from the catcher position.
I think Felipe ruined Nathan for the Giants. He got into Nathan's head. Poor guy was so afraid of Felipe that he kept throwing to first base to avoid having to deliver a pitch in the playoffs. I think that's why the Giants didn't mind trading him.
Agree with DrB, the buck stops with Sabean. The two blunders that Petey M can get a fair amount of blame is shunning Jeff Kent (I'd say 1/3 Kent's fault - wanting out, closer to ranch, fed up/ 1/3 Petey M's fault - pissed about truckwashgate, pr obsessed/ 1/3 Sabes fault for not stepping back and making the all out play to retain Kent.) The other is of course our 126MM Avocado man. How the Zito contract got THAT bloated is just Scott Boras genius mixed in with some bad rum punch. Everybody was talking 4-5 years at the most. Well, it cost Petey M his seat at the table and the lead car down Market street, so he paid pretty good.
ReplyDeleteAgent Ned has a fair amount of blame for the Alfonso signing (without a damn physical!) but the buck stops with Sabean there as well. Ned does seem obsessed with catchers though to be sure. That is a good articulation of Alou's treatment of Nathan. I really think they threw out the baby (his great season) with the bathwater (a bad playoff performance). I thought the price was steep but was psyched to have a lefty catcher who was an all-star as well. When it came out he punched the trainer in the nads, that was just crazy to me. I wasn't psyched to see him get a ring, and the fact that Rowand named AJ as one of his closest friends definitely drove the final nail in my view of Warrior Spirit.
You gotta play at Ty Cobb's level to be able to act like him I says. AJ double play was a disaster. But Petey M approved it for sure, the game of CYA is pretty transparent on that one.
Sabean is in a classic bind on the Beltran-Wheeler trade. We didn't grab the brass ring. You have to go big, it was a lot to give up but I support it.
Drb or anybody else, You may disagree that I think the Giants have drafted a lot better in the past 4 drafts since John Barr became scouting director with Buster Posey being his 1st ever draft pick in 2008. I especially like their draft picks with power potential including Ricky Orepesa, Tommy Joseph, Chris Dominquiz among others.. Overall, have you been happy with the last 4 drafts? If not, what types of players would you like to see them draft to improve their future drafts?
ReplyDeleteLG
LG,
ReplyDeleteWell, the last 4 drafts have certainly leaned much stronger to the hitting side of the ledger. Yeah, I like the last 4 drafts a lot. Time will tell, but I particularly like what they did with the last 2 drafts from lower down in the drafting order.
Time will also tell whether the shift in emphasis to hitting and doing a better job of evaluating hitters results in better long term return from the draft or not. It's pretty hard to argue with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and MadBum from earlier drafts.
Since I've been following the MLB Draft Guide site, I've been more and more impressed with the strength and depth of the hitters in the upcoming draft. I mean, this Keon Durham kid isn't even in BA's Early Top 50 and he's freaking awesome! Of the pitchers who are likely to still be available at the 20'th pick, I really like Taylore Cherry, but none of the others really get my juices flowing.
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