2009 Draft Link Roundup

June 4, 2009 by Michael Axisa 29 Comments

We’ve got a small army of links today, so let’s combine them all into one post.

Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com posted his full first round mock draft. He has the Yanks taking Cal’s Brett Jackson, who Baseball America projected the Yanks to take in their first mock draft back in the middle of May. Mayo notes that the Yanks might be a little timid about going after a big bonus guy after losing out on Gerrit Cole last year.
Jason Churchill posted his list of the Top 33 Draft Prospects over at his great site Prospect Insider, while John Sickels posted his top 50 at Minor League Ball.
Writing for the big shots at ESPN, Churchill ran through the draft philosophies of all thirty teams (Insider only). “The Yankees don’t generally lean in one direction or another, but 12 of their first 14 picks the past two years have been college players, and they’ve been pitching-heavy the past four drafts,” he says.
Jim Callis says that nine players from this draft class are “all but locks” to make BA’s Top 100 Prospects List next year, with Stephen Strasburg the odds on favorite to rank number one overall.
Jayson Stark says that Scott Boras’ demand of $50M for Strasburg has murdered the history of baseball shows exactly what is wrong with the draft. He says we’re on our way towards having a cap on draft pick bonuses, and spoke to a club official that says it’s time for MLB to allow the trading of picks.
Bryan Hoch caught up with Yanks’ scouting director Damon Oppenheimer, who stuck by his “we’ve been given a budget by ownership” story. I do believe it he’s been given a budget, but I’m guessing it’s still a mighty big number, $7-8M or so.
You know the draft is close, because MLB.com’s Draft Tracker is up. Scouting videos for all!

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Jake K

I notice that Purke is one of the nine guys Callis says is a lock for the Top 100 next year. I really hope the Yanks don’t pass on him (unless, of course, Scheppers is still available).
Glen L

“Mayo notes that the Yanks might be a little timid about going after a big bonus guy after losing out on Gerrit Cole last year.”

That seems silly given that it wasn’t that Cole felt the yanks didn’t offer him enough, he (reportedly) just REALLY wanted to go to college and no money was going to change that.
- http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  Cole’s motivation for declining to negotiate/sign with the Yankees is irrelevant to the question of whether the Yankees have reason to “be a little timid about going after a big bonus guy after losing out on Gerrit Cole last year.” The point is that if they don’t sign their top pick this year, they don’t get another pick in its place next year, so they might choose to go with a safer pick (i.e. someone they are more certain will sign).
pat

I’m still holding out for Purke and Tate to fall to us. I’d be a happy camper.
- Tom Zig
  
  I would love for us to sign Tate. How high on our prospect list would he be if he signed with us?
  - pat
    
    Hmm, good question. I’ve never seen the kid play, but based on all the scouting reports and info available on the interwebs I’d say he would rank pretty high on our list of position players. He’s obviously behind ajax, montero, and romine. He would probably land at the head of the next tier where I would have put suttle/laird. Unfortunately they Laird has been playing like shit and Suttle hasn’t played at all. You could probably lump him in with sosa, de leon, and urena as young guys with ridonkulous upside. I guess that would oput him at about 5th or 6th on the list of our position players. Throw in all the pitching, and he’s probably in the 13-14-15 region.
    - Reggie C.
      
      a 5 tool guy like Donovan Tate is the #4 prospect in the system.
      
      1. Ajax
      2. Montero
      3. Brackman
      4. Tate
      5. Betances (but likely to drop b/c of continuing injury concerns – potential TJ cand
      McAllister makes more sense in the 5 spot.
Manimal

Brett Gardner + Austin Jackson= Brett Jackson?!?!?!?
- 27 this year
  
  coincidence…
Accent Shallow

While a hard slotting system would obviously hurt the Yankees, I think it also might hurt baseball as a whole — guys like Austin Jackson would end up going to college to play other sports.

While the college feeder system works for the NFL and the NBA, I’m unsure how well it’d work for MLB, since college baseball is such a marginal sport compared to football/basketball.
younguns

Don’t hold your breath on the availability of either Purke or Tate when the Yankees make their pick.

Knowing the dumbass Tigers, aka “annual draft spoilers,” Detroit is sure to grab one of them before the Yanks select.

Then there’s Boston…
- Jake H
  
  Detroit is taking Tuner.
Drew

Ha, I love the “budget” quote… We heard Cash say that a few times this past winter, we saw how that went. Heh
Drew

Should we be more excited about July signings or this years draft?
Jake H

Mike,

I was wondering if the Yanks picked Tate with a 4th round pick couldn’t they spread his 6 million bonus out over the contract since he’s a 2 sport star?
- pat
  
  What do those two things have to do with each other?
  - Jake H
    
    2 sports stars can get a larger bonus spread out over the years. I can’t remember if it’s only if they are taking in the 1st round thou.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    Yeah, if a player is a legit two sport athlete, the team can spread his bonus out over a five year period. Yanks did with with Brackman, Cubs did it with Samardjiza, D-Rays did it with Baldelli back in the day (volleyball!), lots of others.
    - pat
      
      Why can’t they just do it for everybody? why only two sport athletes? Did we do it with ajax?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  Sure, absolutely. $6M though? Yikes. That’s Wieters money.
  - Jake H
    
    Getting a legit 5 tool player you some times have to rollt he dice. Tate isn’t much of a football player from some reports so he could become a huge prospect.
    - Mike
      
      Tate is not worth anything near 6 million. 3 million is much more accurate, and i would rather spend that on Purke if for some fate he falls to us.
    - Reggie C.
      
      I like the way you think but it would be the ultimate roll of the dice.
      
      Tate is probably the most likely guy NOT to sign if his demands aren’t met, and even then there’s just as good a chance that his family could persuade him not to sign even if he got his $4/5 million. Essentially the Yanks would be selecting a player most likely to repeat the Cole stone-wall. Is that really the smart play when you dont have any insurance on having a 1st rounder next season??
      
      As much as Tate entices, i’d much rather go for a Purke or Scheppers.
      
      And we’re not even going into the likely budget restrictions facing Opp.
    - daneptizl
      
      Tate is an elite football prospect.
James K

Has anyone seen video of Purke? That guy throws seemingly all from the waist up. With his arm-slot being closer to a 3/4, does this give anyone cause for concern regarding injury? Are there other successful pitchers who have had good, lengthy careers without serious injuries pitching like this?
Todd

Mike. I am curious about your take on Damon Oppenheimer. He seems to have an unlimited budget each year (even though they are saying 2009 is an exception) to sign players. Plus, he probably has a bigger scouting budget than most teams. With that said, shouldn’t the Yanks minor league system be better than middle of the road? In fact, shouldn’t it easily be one of the top year after year? It just seems like the Yanks have a bunch of fodder at each level (there are exceptions of course).
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15305165&ref=profile Doug
  
  I’m not Mike, but inertia from the barren farm system years as well as the fact that the Yankees’ first pick is either at the end of the first round, or a sandwich pick, has a lot to do with it.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  Oppenheimer’s extremely smart, and I’ve heard that from the few people I know in the industry. However, I do think the Yanks have gotten a little too cute the last few years, especially with the injured players.
  
  Melancon in the 9th round? Fine. Brackman in the first? Eh, you mean to tell me another team was going to grab him before they picked again? Doubt it.
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