Fix the Indians

[AZ_]

I'd definitely be okay with flipping Frazier or Gonzalez is the return was worth it.

 

[Nom]

Some quick numbers I pulled -

From 2005-2014 here are some draft slots -

Royals - average position 5.9. Seven of their top picks in that timeframe were in the top 5. Four of them were top 3.

Pirates - average position 7.2. Six top 5 picks and 3 in the top 3.

Indians - average position 13.1. Two picks in top 5 (both were 5th pick). No top 3 picks.

Didn't run the Pirates' numbers - but 3 of the top 4 position players in terms of WAR for the Royals were top 3 picks. Pirates have McCutcheon (11th) and Neil Walker (11th) along with Gerrit Cole (1st) as higher picks that are among their leaders in WAR.

 

[Stark]

I was a bit younger and never followed the draft during these years, but were the guys like Beau Mills, Michael Aubrey, and Trevor Crowe projected to be just as good as the guys we've drafted in recent years, or was our drafting really just that bad a decade ago?

EDIT: What I'm trying to ask is, were people excited when we drafted Mills and Crowe similar to how we were excited when we drafted Lindor and Aiken?

 

[AZ_]

I was a bit younger and never followed the draft during these years, but were the guys like Beau Mills, Michael Aubrey, and Trevor Crowe projected to be just as good as the guys we've drafted in recent years, or was our drafting really just that bad a decade ago?

EDIT: What I'm trying to ask is, were people excited when we drafted Mills and Crowe similar to how we were excited when we drafted Lindor and Aiken?

Lindor and Aiken are multiple tiers above those other guys in terms of ceiling.

Aubrey was derailed by injuries though, that one was rough. That dude could really hit.

 

[Seiklis]

I was a bit younger and never followed the draft during these years, but were the guys like Beau Mills, Michael Aubrey, and Trevor Crowe projected to be just as good as the guys we've drafted in recent years, or was our drafting really just that bad a decade ago?

EDIT: What I'm trying to ask is, were people excited when we drafted Mills and Crowe similar to how we were excited when we drafted Lindor and Aiken?

From what I remember on the Indians scout board
2003
Aubrey was seen as an extremely safe, Mark Grace type of first baseman, he got taken out with a hip injury
At the time, I remember wanting to take the chance on Lastings Milledge who was the super high upside athlete OF but Aubrey had fallen a few spots and was seen as pretty good value.

Snyder was an utter reach from the get-go. Most of the board wanted Conor Jackson (Have still never found out if he blocked the Indians from taking him again after we drafted him out of high school) Some wanted the local-ish kid Chad Billingsly but most of us were on the Jackson train

2004 Jeremy Sowers was Dolan being seen as being cheap. The best prospects in the draft were both represented by Scott Boros and seen as extremely hard signs because of this. This meant that despite Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew being there and being the best prospects in the draft, the Indians passed. The only question was between Sowers and a high school arm out of Texas named Homer Bailey. Sowers was seen as an ok pick though most of us wanted Dolan to concede and pay for one of the 2 talents

2005
Trevor Crowe was nonsense to be honest. Right off the bat they tried to sell the idea he could play 2nd base, something he hadn't done since either his freshman year or high school, can't remember which it was. I was in the Cliff Pennington camp as if they wanted an middle infielder who could steal bases (This was the supposed selling point for Crowe) then take the one who HAS actually played middle infield. Most of the board was firmly on Craig Hansen who was a supposedly can't miss closer out of St John's. There were some Jacoby Ellsbury fans though as Dennis I think kept pointing out that if the Indians were going to take a CF they might as well take the one with an arm

2006
Indians didn't have a first round pick but did have a sandwich pick between rounds 1 and 2 in which they selected David Huff, another soft throwing lefty. This was the year Dennis went nuts on the Indians passing Joba Chamberlain, this seriously was a 6 month debate(And continued into years after he came up and pitched well with the Yankees). Most of the board never seemed that invested as Huff was rated pretty decent but didn't have much in the way of upside.

2007
This was the big one. All of us universally rebelled on Mirabelli in one big sweeping "fuck you, fire this ass" Jason Heyward fell and was the player pretty much the entire board was collectively creaming over. Instead they take Beau Mills, a DH. Pronk already couldn't play 1st base and they take another player who has no hope of playing the field and going into his career is a DH only. As I remember, this was the last year Mirabelli was the guy who made the pick, though now it sounds like he's back into that role

2008 on
Chisenhall was seen as a higher upside player than the Indians had taken in years and was generally well received.

Alex White was considered a great pick and most of us couldn't believe Dolan actually paid White the premium he wanted (especially after refusing on Weaver)

Honestly I don't remember anything from the 2010 draft, I think Harper kinda sucked all the light out of the room. They took Drew Pomeranz, I think there was a contingent who wanted Delino DeShields Jr, but I think that was just from name recognition.

Lindor was loved, Naquin confused the hell out of everyone and was generally disliked (General consensus was on Victor Roache though there was a group who wanted Lucas Giolito like boobie did here) Frazier seen as an obvious pick much like Lindor was. The Indians scout board pretty much fell apart after 2013 draft wise so I never got a sense much on Zimmer. I know we liked it here so I'll go with that

There you go, that's pretty much the feel on every first round pick since 2003 from what I remember.

.....Fuck you John Mirabelli

 

[Stark]

A huge step forward for this team will be when these two are no longer occupying spots on the 25-man roster:

Damn, I've done it again.