Sep
23
2009 Draft: Lane Meyer’s Draft Grades
ByDraft coverage all-star Lane Meyer of NoMaas posted his review of this year’s draft class, grading the thing out on a pick-by-pick basis. I think Lane might be a little too optimistic with some of the grades (Caleb Cotham screams generic college starter to me), but there’s nothing wrong with that, and overall he did a great job. He gives the entire class a B+, but I’m a tough grader so I consider it more of a C+/B- haul because of the lack of an obvious impact player. Don’t get me wrong, Slade Heathcott and JR Murphy are studs, but more like above average regulars than true impact talents.
Anyway, make sure you head on over and check it out.
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Great work by Meyer. (He loves his Jersey boys, though, doesn’t he?)
Oh, and:
Remind me what this joke is in reference to again? I remember the fuzzy fringes of this story, but not all of it.
Wow a truly great and magnanimous poster must have made that joke. That’s what Interested Reader wrote on Lane’s blog last year. Something like “HAH schooled by Lohud” and “how can we take you seriously when you don’t have any credentials”. They crosschecked the IP’s and it matched up with comments abe had made in their message board. He claimed somebody else used his computer or something.
Thanks. I thought it was the PeteAbe thing, but couldn’t remember with absolute certainty.
PS- You’re still a sick degenerate.
PPS- Say hello to your mother for me.
Haha, now I’m gonna talk to a donkey. Hey donkey what goin on? You’re a donkey, I like that. You eat apples right? I produce Entourage. Ok, talk to you later Donkey
Say hello to your mother for me.
Decent draft. Not a crappy one, and not a top 5 draft either. I am very, very interested to see how the Yanks handle the next couple of drafts considering Bud Selig is pushing hard for hard slotting.
My guess, if the Yanks make some good coin in the playoffs, we will see some serious money being spent in the next couple of years. What do you guys think?
The Yankees spend on the draft however much they see fit. It’s not affected by revenue.
Ok, do they change what they see fit now that Selig is pushing hard slotting?
Do you mean increasing the draft budget to get high talent before Porcello-like guys are locked into the top spots?
Of course not. Selig’s been pushing hard slotting for years. The only team that seems to care about slotting is the Mets, and look where that gets them.
There’s probably a bunch of factors involved. Consider:
-If the hard-slotted draft (TWSS) is imminent, ALL TEAMS, not just the Yankees, could be more willing to go overslot, seeing it as their last chance to buy elite talent before the system changes.
-You may see a flood of DES’s and highschoolers willing to take deals, thus driving down their relative bargaining power since there’s more signability guys falling than before
-Teams could actually gain the upper hand immediately, as agents would be forced to take slightly-above-slot deals now rather than settle for firmly-at-slot deals once the system changes.
I think you could see the Yanks take elite signability guys and actually sign them to lower bonuses going forward if the Selig threat becomes more tangible.
i.e., maybe Heathcott takes only 1M instead of 2M, because 1M is still better than 200k that he’d get when he re-enters the draft three years later.
BOOYA.
Yeah, but the chances of the Yankees being able to sign these guys a year later or 3 years later also diminishes.
Medchill, Gerritse, and Mack (and a slew of lower round signees) all land B+ (or better) grades, but Meyer then grades Stoneburner a B/B-. That seems alittle off considering the Stoneburner has been clocked at 96 post-draft according to Meyer.
All in all … lots of optimism, especially in the lower portion of the signing class.
Remember, though, he’s not grading them on how good of a prospect they are, he’s grading them on how good of a pick they are.
Getting a decent prospect in the 37th round nets you a higher grade than getting a good prospect in the 14th round, because the 37th round is generally a wasteland of abject failure.
I think a grade of B-Plus is way too high. There were several guys who they did not sign (Alpin, McKenzie, Bruno & Lyons come to mind), that if signed, would have helped to warrent a B-Plus grade. That being said, the much lauded Kennedy/Joba Draft, has not exactly lived up to hype (David Robertson may be the best of the bunch), so a lot remains to be seen.
I certainly do not think they deserve top grades like the Royals, Pirates, and especially the Rockies deserve. But they are not the Mets or Blue Jays either. I am going to be GENEROUS and give them a C-Plus (The Plus goes adding DeLuca at the last minute).
That being said, the much lauded Kennedy/Joba Draft, has not exactly lived up to hype (David Robertson may be the best of the bunch)…
Batshit insane.
you really think david robertson is the best of the bunch from that draft class?
It’s all aboout the instant results.
(cleans out microwave, unwraps burrito)
Let me ask you, where did the Royals and Pirates pick? Now, basically take away that top pick and compare to the Yankees’ draft.
Pirates top pick was not a top 10 draft talent by any stretch of the imagination.
That’s not what he’s saying.
And, you may be wrong; Sanchez has looked good so far.
No team is going to sign all of its DESes or HS guys. To me Lyons, Thompson and Meade were the only ones I regret, but we still inked a good percentage of our signability guys. Heathcott and Murphy are solid picks, though they used leverage to get overslot money when they were more or less slot picks. Cotham, Warren and Stoneburner are all solid prospects with legit shots at being pro pitchers, and we landed a few solid relief prospects in Brooks and Black. We had a few short-season bright spots, especially Mack and Medchill, and we have a few boom or bust late rounders like Golsan and Checo. All things considered I really liked this draft. B+ seemed fair in light of the picks we had and the prospects we managed to land.
Per Lane Meyer: “A young man without a postional home, Rabago’s one plus tool is his strong throwing arm. Baseball America even went so far as to speculate that he could have been drafted as a pitcher. However, after drafting him as a catcher the Yankees have already converted him to 2B.”
Does that seem a little strange to anyone else? The kid doesn’t hit much and his only plus tool is his strong arm… So the Yanks convert him from catcher to second base? Come again?
Maybe we have plans to use him as an org guy, and his niche will be throwing really hard to first from second to train our young first basemen how to make tough scoops while keeping your foot on the bag.
That’s all I got.
Given the whole no-hit/big-arm profile, it seems strange that they wouldn’t just scrap the offensive side of things altogether and put him on the mound full-time.
I mean, either that or try him at second base, of course.
I’m good with giving him a shot at the mound.
I do have a fantasy, though: That Hector Rabago, with his great hustling, solid defense, ability to play multiple positions, and utter lack of any offensive talent can one day become the first ever scrappy latino guy.
That would be sweet.
+300
david eckstein but with arm strength?
wow.
Hey, Padres, my shitty utility infielder can play catcher. CAN YOURS?!?!??!?!??!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, BURN!!!!!!!!!!
if david eckstein is still playing if/when this guy reaches the majors there will be a lot more wrong with the world….
I thought they were trying him out as a super utility type player?
It is very possible that Robertson may be the best of the bunch (Joba and Kennedy are in dire need of attitude adjustments), Melancon the jury is still out on, and highly regarded prospects like Brad Suttle and Dellin Betances have not exactly stayed healthy.
Use the reply button, please. We’ve been over this before.
There is a reply button in the corner, he is upset you didn’t click on him
Based on the fact that Januz did not use the reply button, I have now downgraded his comment from a B-Minus to a C-Plus.
Optimist.
As of now Robertson may be considered the most successful of the bunch. He’s certainly not the most talented.
As of now Robertson may be considered the most successful of the bunch.
Can he?
Joba the not-quite-good-yet, still work-in-progress, sometimes brilliant but often horrid starter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> David Robertson the solid reliever
No, Joba is the most successful one of that draft class, hands down. I love DRob and think he’s a damn effective reliever, but what he’s done is still not as impressive or successful as what Joba’s done, even if Joba has totally shit the bed the past two months.
This.
Ehhhh, yeah I guess you’re right. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but it makes sense. Just off the top of my head I’d say D-Rob has been more valuable to the team as a late inning k machine (135 era+) than Joba has been while slogging through 4 and 5 inning starts (94 era+). Statistically speaking though, you’re correct. 146 approximately league average innings from a starter are are more valuable than 41 above average from a reliever.
BTW, I hadn’t looked at the stats in a while but Joba’s year hasn’t been that terrible considering his age, first full season starting in the most difficult division eva. Sure his peripherals aren’t too pleasing to the eye but the results haven’t been as catastrophically as imagined.
*catastrophically bad
Exactly.
At his best, DRob has been lights-out for an inning or two. At his best, Joba’s been lights-out for an entire game. Joba’s had more scuffles than DRob has, and they’re more recent in the memory, but those recent scuffles shouldn’t outweigh the fact that he’s still been better at his peak than DRob has.
Oh, and there’s several perfectly valid reasons to explain Joba’s scuffles. It’s not like the guy was good and then just started inexplicably sucking on purpose.
Oh, and there’s several perfectly valid reasons to explain Joba’s scuffles. It’s not like the guy was good and then just started inexplicably sucking on purpose.
Psh, yeah right. The only reason he’s sucking is because they keep babying him and keep guaranteeing him things.
WHY WON’T GIRARDI AND CASHMAN JUST PUNCH THAT UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BABY IN THE MOUTH TO MOTIVATE HIM LIKE I WOULD LIKE TO WITH MY BOILING RAGE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!!!
Joba’s had (brief) stretches of dominance this year and stretches of suckitude, and a whole lot of mediocre. He needs to work on economy of pitches, he needs to reach back and hurl at times, but so too does the team need to stop changing the “rules” on him. This constant adjustment of his boundaries, his innings, his rest, etc etc is a good way to mess with a young pitcher’s head. Next year, with a virtually unlimited innings cap, it should be almost completely on Joba’s shoulders. But New York fans need to stop being idiots about a young pitcher’s growing pains. If Cash had listened to the New York fans regarding Phil Hughes we would have given up on the kid long ago.
Yes, that. However to say Robertson is more successful than Joba completely ignores Joba’s performance in 2007 and 2008 where he was much more dominant than Robertson out of the pen and was extremely effecitive in the rotation as well.
Joba’s simply run into a rough spot in his career, but so far he has unquestionably had more success than Robertson who now is no more than the 4th best reliever in our bullpen. Joba has been our #3-4 starter pretty much all year.
I think you are all confused. You should judge Joba’s performance on what he has done over the past 5 minutes. In fact, he has not pitched at all in that time, which makes him utterly useless. Last year or even last week is soooo last year/last week.