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2012 MLB Draft Thread

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Absolutely brutal draft.
 
B00bie our resident Mel Kiper here...

Not to excited about the Naquin pick to be honest, I think you need to start taking chances on some real lightning rod pitchers and hitters. We have no one that can drive runs in and as it stands now I don't know if we have an ace. Our bullpen is awesome and the rest of the roster is pretty average in terms of talent.

This isn't football where you draft on your current team needs.
 

The junior college ranks always produce some good talent and in 2012, Baker might be the best from that pool. With a strong, durable and athletic build, Baker is what teams want to see on the mound. He could have three at least Major League average pitches with solid average command. His fastball sits comfortably around 92 mph, but he can dial it up to 95 mph when he needs to, and it has some pretty good run and sink to it. His secondary stuff is behind the fastball, but his curve has the kind of rotation you're looking for and he has shown a feel for a changeup with decent fade. He gets very high marks for his competitive nature on the mound. While it might take some time for those secondary pitches to develop and for it all to come together, Baker's upside has him moving up boards as the Draft approaches.


The ceiling of all three pitchers is pretty high, really like the arms they acquired.
 
[video=youtube;pb1NQ64UxEE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb1NQ64UxEE[/video]
 
Joseph Wendle was picked in the 6th.

Listed as a 2B
 
Josh McAdams in the 7th.

Ollie Williams scouting report:

Big motherfucker with power.
 
Now, if after he signs and pitches, in a year the ligament finally goes, then you have a million dollar bonus baby on the shelf until he is 20 who still hadn't gotten out of A ball. Good luck with that.

One HS pitcher didn't work out (Stetson Allie) and that's your justification for not taking him? Give me a break.

How many corner college outfields, who hit for little to no power and don't have elite speed, have ever worked out well in the majors? And how many of them would have been worth a top 15 pick?

Difference makers on the mound are what separates the haves from the have nots in MLB. Teams that win titles have top of the rotation starters (plural)....guys who can kill losing streaks and flip momentum. Teams that don't continue to select in the middle of the 1st round and take guys like Naquin with their 1st round picks. He'll be good enough to likely make an MLB club some day but won't be an impact player (unless he busts through a massively high ceiling that few think he has).

Giolito has a + fastball and a + to above average curve at only 18 years old. Those guys don't grow on trees, especially ones with his physical stature. At 6'6", 235 LBS you can certainly dial back some of that velocity and comfortably settle him in around 94-96. He has a long stride to the plate and should easily be able to relieve some of the pressure on his arm through lower body training.

We're talking about a guy who was a lock to be a top 5 pick pre injury and could have even gone #1 overall had he worked out well. Surely you take in to consideration him tweaking his elbow but at #15 in the draft, you select him and run to the bank. He has the potential to have #1 starter stuff and instead of rolling the dice on him you take a college outfielder half a round early who has no pop in his bat. I guess I just don't understand the logic but hey, what do I know. :tongue:
 
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One HS pitcher didn't work out (Stetson Allie) and that's your justification for not taking him? Give me a break.

How many corner college outfields, who hit for little to no power and don't have elite speed, have ever worked out well in the majors? And how many of them would have been worth a top 15 pick?

Difference makers on the mound are what separates the haves from the have nots in MLB. Teams that win titles have top of the rotation starter....a guy who can kill losing streaks and flip momentum. Teams that don't continue to select in the middle of the 1st round and take guys like Naquin with their 1st round picks. He'll be good enough to likely make an MLB club some day but won't be an impact player (unless he busts through a massively high ceiling that few think he has).

Giolito has a + fastball and a + to above average curve at only 18 years old. Those guys don't grow on trees, especially ones with his physical stature. At 6'6", 235 LBS you can certainly dial back some of that velocity and comfortably settle him in around 94-96. He has a great stride and should easily be able to relieve some of the pressure on his arm through lower body training.

We're talking about a guy who was a lock to be a top 5 pick pre injury and could have even gone #1 overall had he worked out well. Surely you take in to consideration him tweaking his elbow but at #15 in the draft you select him and run to the bank. He has the potential to have #1 starter stuff and instead of rolling the dice on him you take a college outfielder half a round early who has no pop in his bat. I guess I just don't understand the logic but hey, what do I know. :tongue:

It appears the Tribe went for signability in the first and used those supposed savings to draft some high-potential guys in the 2-5 rounds. Did I see correctly that of their first 5 picks, all were rated in the top 100 draft prospects?

As for not drafting Giolito - that would've pretty much been the draft. I like the idea of not spending all of your allotment on a pitcher coming off an injury and instead spreading that across multiple guys.

Fangraphs has an interesting piece about the Pirates and how drafting Appel in the first forces their hand the rest of the draft -

The Pirates’ Game Theory Dilemma | FanGraphs Baseball
 
Anything involving the UCL isn't just a tweak, let's not neglect the significance that injury has.

I like the kid as a prospect too, but that's an enormous risk especially when you're probably going over slot to sign him an you're a small market team.

Don't get me wrong, I think there were still better guys I'd have taken ahead of Naquin. But Giolito is a gargantuan risk for a team.

Plus, the three arms they took today have serious helium as well. So I can live with it.
 
The Indians farm system is not deep right now, they just needed to add as much talent as they could. One pitcher is not worth it.
 
like the kid as a prospect too, but that's an enormous risk especially when you're probably going over slot to sign him an you're a small market team.

I think it's exactly why you do it though.

Small market teams NEVER even sniff a guy with as much talent as Giolito in free agency. They just don't have the financial resources. So to get a top tier pitching talent, sometimes you have to roll the dice, overpay the draft slot and get someone in to your far system that possesses a TON of raw talent. It's the strategy they took last year with both Lindor and Howard (overpaying the slot for a more talented prospect), that's why I just didn't understand why they seemingly did the opposite the following draft.

We'll see how picks 2-5 do but again....it's the 4 quarters is not equal to a dollar mentality in baseball. 4 above average players do not have the same impact as one star. You have to swing for the fences when you get the chance, especially in a small market. The opportunity to snag a player like Giolito doesn't come around every year and it rarely comes along in the middle of a round. Maybe he has arm trouble the rest of his career, who knows but in my opinion it was well worth the risk. Maybe we just agree to disagree on the strategy of how a small market team should draft.
 
I think it's exactly why you do it though.

Small market teams NEVER even sniff a guy with as much talent as Giolito in free agency. They just don't have the financial resources. So to get a top tier pitching talent, sometimes you have to roll the dice, overpay the draft slot and get someone in to your far system that possesses a TON of raw talent. It's the strategy they took last year with both Lindor and Howard (overpaying the slot for a more talented prospect), that's why I just didn't understand why they seemingly did the opposite the following draft.

We'll see how picks 2-5 do but again....it's the 4 quarters is not equal to a dollar mentality in baseball. 4 above average players do not have the same impact as one star. You have to swing for the fences when you get the chance, especially in a small market. The opportunity to snag a player like Giolito doesn't come around every year and it rarely comes along in the middle of a round. Maybe he has arm trouble the rest of his career, who knows but in my opinion it was well worth the risk. Maybe we just agree to disagree on the strategy of how a small market team should draft.

yeah that worked real well with Grady, Hafner, Wood and now Ubalololdo.
 
The way money works in the baseball draft is retarded. Ok if you don't want to add a salary cap or something, but set up the draft so you don't have to risk sinking all of your money in one player. Again, I don't really have an opinion on who we drafted because I know none of them. However the system itself is so dumb. If the way it works forces you to pass on a player you think is the best for monetary reasons, something isn't right.
 
I think it's exactly why you do it though.

Small market teams NEVER even sniff a guy with as much talent as Giolito in free agency. They just don't have the financial resources. So to get a top tier pitching talent, sometimes you have to roll the dice, overpay the draft slot and get someone in to your far system that possesses a TON of raw talent. It's the strategy they took last year with both Lindor and Howard (overpaying the slot for a more talented prospect), that's why I just didn't understand why they seemingly did the opposite the following draft.

We'll see how picks 2-5 do but again....it's the 4 quarters is not equal to a dollar mentality in baseball. 4 above average players do not have the same impact as one star. You have to swing for the fences when you get the chance, especially in a small market. The opportunity to snag a player like Giolito doesn't come around every year and it rarely comes along in the middle of a round. Maybe he has arm trouble the rest of his career, who knows but in my opinion it was well worth the risk. Maybe we just agree to disagree on the strategy of how a small market team should draft.

I strongly disagree that in baseball one star is more important than four above average players. Especially cheering for a team that had back-to-back Cy Young winners and wasn't in contention either year. Or looking at teams like the Tigers and Angels who just ponied up for stars and aren't playing well.

I'd argue that of any major sport, baseball is the least reliant on star players for success.
 

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