2010 Draft: Nats clinch top pick
ByIt seemed inevitable pretty much all summer, but once the Pirates took down the Dodgers Monday afternoon, the Nationals officially clinched at least a tie for the baseball’s worst record, thus securing the top pick in the 2010 Draft (they also had the worst record last year, which acts as the tiebreaker). Tampa Bay was the first team in MLB history to have back-to-back first overall picks, taking David Price and Tim Beckham in 2007 and 2008, respectively. It took just two years for another team to turn that trick, and the Nats will have a chance to add Las Vegas uberprospect Bryce Harper to last year’s top choice, righty Stephen Strasburg.
In all likelihood, Pittsburgh and Baltimore will round out the top three selections in some order. By clinching the best record in baseball, the Yanks have locked into the final pick of the first round, #32 overall (Texas and Tampa failed to sign their first rounders). The Yanks could always forfeit that pick for signing a Type-A free agent. Our 2010 Draft Tracker will be up shortly after the end of the season.
Most hyped battery combination EVER.
Seriously.
Combined All-Star teams for those two: 1.5. Anyone want the over?
(Of course, a better measure of career would be WAR or something. Whatever)
I’d take the over on that, especially considering the Nationals are required to send at least one member of the team to the All-Star game and the rest of the team is really bad.
Zimmerman. Bam.
You know, a Zimmerman-Zimmerman-Strasburg-Harper-Detwiler-Burgess-Marrero-Desmond-Flores-Willingham-Morgan core isn’t all that shabby.
If they can pick up a useful piece selling Adam Dunn midseason next year, who knows? Maybe by 2011-2012 they’re a legit NL East contender.
When does Zimmerman (Ryan) hit free agency? and will that be before Harper and Strasburg emerge (assuming they do emerge at some point)
He signed an extension to keep him in Washington until after the 2013 season.
He’s signed through 2013. They bought out his arb years.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/
more than that–wouldn’t he have hit free agency after the 2011 season if not for this?
Yes.
That’s why the last two seasons of that deal are at FA levels of compensation:
12M in 2012, 14M in 2013.
Pop quiz hotshot Mike, the Yankess take ________ in the first round next year.
Drew Vettlson,Central Kitsap HS, Silverdale, Wash. OF/LHP/RHP
Thats right, we’re cornering the market.
another switch pitcher?
Indeed. Cashman dreams of building a switch hitting switch pitching switch fielding army. Vettlson is just another cog in the machine.
Do they all have to have names that begin with the letter V? Is V some sort of coded symbol for ambidexterity? It kinda looks like a pair of equal arms…
Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Mississippi. I know they loved him out of high school in 2006. They’d jump all over James Paxton from Kentucky if he falls.
You think the Yanks would take Paxton,a college senior in the first round?
If he shows some consistency with that ridiculous fastball-curve combo all year, definitely.
Damn, well if he’s as good as advertised and now will have almost no leverage left he sounds like a small market special. Unless of course Boras pulls some shit and threatens to go the AAron Crow/ Tanner Scheppers route.
if he shows the consistency he has the talent to be here within a year or so, so no harm in taking a senior in the 1st.
A lot of “Drew’s” being mentioned. I like it.
Mike, whats your read on Harper? Still consensus #1?
Absolutely.
I think the phrase “a chance to add Las Vegas uberprospect Bryce Harper” pretty much captures Mike’s thoughts on that.
Yeah I know, but some analysts have been down on him lately.
Yeah, he had a rough showing at some showcase event recently. Struck out four times in four at-bats. Now people are wondering if he can deal with the hype, and how he’ll fare against better pitching, because he’s never faced great competition.
Screw that, the tools are historically great. Even if you draft him and trade him two years later for an elite player, it’s a fantastic pick.
Struck out four times in four at-bats.
UBER-BUST
We take Utah Mr. Baseball SS/RHP Marcus Littlewood.
And we take him with the sandwich round pick we gain from offering arb to Jerry Hairston and him declining it and leaving. We lose our own first rounder, #32, when we sign Type A FA Jose Valverde.
we’re taking tom seleck? i mean, isn’t he kinda old? mr baseball notwithstanding
A draft pick with a ’stache? I’m interested.
A draft pick with a ’stache? I’m interested.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ac7Q.....titled.bmp
jerry isnt type B anymore, so we dont get anything for him.
He’s right on the qualification line. If he gets a few innings at 2B/3B/SS during these last 4 games, he may just get back on the list.
He needs to have 75% of his innings at 2B/3B/SS, and right now he’s at like 74.49%.
does the 52 number he scores on the list as 1b/dh/of transfer directly to the 2b/ss/3b or is it recalculated because if it is direct he wouldnt qualify anyway. and if he is that close stick him at 2b/ss/3b for the next 36 innings.
You get ranked in each stat against everyone else that qualifies in that positional grouping. So your ranking completely changes if you move from one group to the another. Same applies to AL vs NL.
any interest in a couple of HS infielders…Nick Castellanos 3B from FLA or Manny Machado SS Miami, Fl?
No idea, sorry.
wilson feltmaker and sam waxmolding. they’ll accompany stoneburner
there were both in the BA top 10 HS prospects for next year’s draft list. do you know anything about http://www.baseballrumormill.com because they seem to have pretty good profiles on draft prospects?
Nick Castellanos 6′ 4″…smacked four doubles at the Under-Armor All-star game last month and is hitting well in the Pan-Am games where the US is 3-0. Castellanos was the DH in that game and had an impressive 2 for 4 day with a double, two runs scored and three RBI.
“Nick Castellanos is currently playing third base, but will likely end up at first base as a professional. Nevertheless, Castellanos’ hitting was very impressive, pulling the ball and going to opposite field with equal effectiveness.” I’m intrigued.
top HS pitcher sounds like it might be Jameson Taillon of TX.
Isn’t he a director?
Isn’t he a director?
ICWUDT
I love those cupcakes like McAdams loved Gosling.
Mike, Matt Harvey was thought as a possible number one in this draft a few years ago, but has fallen due to some poor seasons. What are your thoughts on him and about where do you see him going?
He’s a mess. Stuff is down, command has disappeared. 3-4th round if he’s lucky.
Should have signed out of high school, that’ll cost him $1M or so.
does not compute.
I like the idea of signing Yusei because he should be pretty cheap considering what Tazawa got and he was closer to the bigs. Chapman I am intrigued by but not nearly sold on to spend all that money on him.
Holliday has proven his is a NL hitter, so let him stay there. I would rather bring Damon back for a year and go after Crawford or even Jayson Werth in a year.
ross ohlendorf begs to differ
I have little doubt that the 2010 draft will be outstanding (HS players and DES’s (Draft Elibible Sophomores), are more likely to come sign than ever before, because of the possibilities of a World Wide Draft and Hard Cap Slotting (Everything designed to hurt the Yankees (Although it was NOT the Yankees who gave huge contracts to UNPROVEN PROSPECTS like Strasberg and Sano)). This will mean the the number 32 pick, will be better than most people anticipate.
I will be very interested to see where Gerrit Cole ends up. I doubt he falls all the way to the Red Sox or Angels (If he turns out to be a Number One-type starter, and plays for one of those teams, that would be my worst draft nightmare). However, a real possibility is that he is picked by the Orioles or the Mets. I can guarantee you that if he ends up in Camden Yards or Citi Field, he will be so despised by Yankee Fans, he will make JD Drew look like a cultural icon in Philadelphia.
Early prediction: He goes to the Birds at pick 2 or 3, Royals with pick # 4 or Arizona with pick # 6 (Mets at pick 5, will be too cheap to draft him. Ooops, I mean they will do the right thing, and stay with Selig’s slot range)).
Cole isn’t eligible until 2011.
That wasn’t the only part of that ramble that was wrong…
Isn’t it a little hasty to call a 16-17 y/o kid an uberporspect because he hit one long home run. I know he probably has good numbers but I would think this is a lot of projection to forsee Bryce Harper being the next Johnny Bench. Anyway is there any chance Geritt Cole slips down to the Yankees?
i dont think he signed the card giving them permission to redraft him
I don’t he’ll sign the card, but who knows what’ll change between now and when he’s eligible in 2011.
Let me ask you this-example A Yankee scout is driving down the street sees a pickup baseball game. The pitcher in this particular game is lights out throws 100 mph and seems to be a natural. Can this player be signed right then and there by the scout. Or does he have to enter the draft?
Is this a serious question?
Yes it is I did not know, and you should not be bashing me. This question is totally fair. The question to elaborate is why are some players eligible for the draft and some are not. Latin players can be signed as free agents, yet american players in college or high school have to be in the draft. IF player a as I used in teh above example was a raw talent who did not play organized baseball because thet town he lived in did not have a high school team Would that player have to enter the draft or could he sign with any team?
If he’s college age or younger, he might have to have his agent/advisor request something through the commissioner’s office. Honestly, though, the chances of that happening in the modern AAU/traveling team world that we live in is virtually nil. Hell, I’d put it below the odds of the Nats making it to the playoffs next year.
This year, the Astros signed a local guy who slipped through the draft in such a fashion…… The Astros signed undrafted right-handed pitcher Ruben (RJ) Alaniz for $160,000 on Saturday.
He pitched at Juarez-Lincoln High School in La Joya and was discovered by scout Rusty Pendergrass in a tryout camp after the draft.
Alaniz, 18, slipped through the cracks as teams prepared for the draft, but pitched well enough in showcase games this summer that the Astros had to outbid at least two other teams to sign him. Owner Drayton McLane and scouting director Bobby Heck were effusive in their praise of Pendergrass for getting the deal…….. done.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/…b/6574116.html
Different situation. A tryout camp featuring an undrafted player who was planning on going the Juco route and didn’t sign because of illness/injury is totally different than the situation that mryankee described.
Tryout camps have been a huge part of the game and is one of the few ways that teams can get American players at a young age on the open market.
chances are, someone that talented who hasn’t found organized ball doesn’t want to spend his life playing baseball or traveling around the country w/ 30 dudes for most of the year
At face value, that question is unanswerable. You’re leaving a bunch of parts out: age of the player in question, what time of the year it is.
In your hypothetical story, I’m going to say the player is 25. In that case, yes. He might get fired for not checking with his bosses, spending money on a player who has not had a medical, a background check, etc., but yes, he could be signed.
I am sorry the payer is 18-19 years old, lives in a twon where the high school does not have a baseball team. the Yankee scout checks with Cashman himself and the player gets viewed personally by all the higher up scouts, passes all the medical exams. Does this player have to enter teh draft or could he be signed right away. I am sorry for not being more specific.
No. He’s not eligible without approval by the Commissioner’s Office. Unless there’s a loophole that exists, I’m fairly certain that he’s not eligible. I could be wrong, but your hypothetical situation ain’t going to exist. See my point above.
I’ve seen that movie.
Crap, did I just ruin someone’s dream? Is telling someone a Brendon Frazier movie isn’t plausible on the same level as telling a kid that Santa ain’t real?
That was not the movie I was basing this question on.
Suggestion then: Don’t try and make hypothetical arguments out of baseball movies. In only extremely rare cases are they not filled with plot holes (Talent for the Game/The Scout/etc.), errors (Fenway in For Love of the Game), or huge failures of common baseball sense (Nuke getting promoted to the bigs from the Carolina League in Bull Durham).
Edward James Olmos was the scout I cant remeber the name. I never thought of it until this thread.
That movie was full of pot holes.
The name of the movie you’re thinking of is “Talent For The Game”, starring Edward James Olmos and Lorraine Bracco.
And, just like “The Scout” with Albert Brooks and Brendand Fraser, it’s a baseball film based around a faulty premise. High school and college age kids have to go through the draft before they can be signed.
But I think Steve Nebraska may have been a resident of Mexico.
And we ridiculed that movie for being full of plot holes.
ICWUDT hahahaha
Hypothetically if a chimpanzee becomes really adept at baseball, can the Yankees sign him or does he go to the draft?
I dont think anyone is making prediction based on one HR?
The 1st article I read on Bryce Harper came out of the Boston Golbe. The ipetus of the story was his homerun that went like 450 feet or something. That was part of the profile
And yet, that article, just like all the other Bryce Harper articles, is also NOT about Harper being an uberprospect based solely on one home run.
You’re not fully reading and understanding the article if that’s the lone takeaway you got from that.
Exactly. It was just stating a fact. If a game recap says that Tex got a triple, it’s not implying that he’s fast to get 15 triples and 50sb a year.
Anyway is there any chance Geritt Cole slips down to the Yankees?
Haha, yeah right.
Isn’t it a little hasty to call a 16-17 y/o kid an uberporspect because he hit one long home run.
mryankee: 1
Strawman: 0
More on the Nats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com.....khabpMkyPA
Their payroll is going down to about 40M or so, with arb raises. Their 2009 payroll was about 60M.
They lose:
8M of Austin Kearns’s salary (10M 2010 option but a 1M buyout)
5M of Dmitri Young (his option won’t vest)
10M of Joe Biemel, Ronnie Belliard, and Nick Johnson (traded away)
2.6M of Daniel Cabrera (cut)
If I was the Nats, I’d use that spending money to buy some non-Type-A free agents, and sell them at the deadline again to add a few more pieces. Maybe Marlon Byrd, Russell Branyan, Aki Iwamura, Erik Bedard, Carl Pavano, Kelvim Escobar, Fernando Rodney, Brandon Lyon, Mike Cameron, Carlos Delgado, Adam LaRoche, Mark DeRosa, Joel Piñero, Doug Davis, Jason Marquis, Brett Myers, Jason Schmidt… something like that. Add another piece or two, and then put those pieces + Adam Dunn + Christian Guzman up for sale on the market, see if you can snare another quality young piece or two.
the chances of them doing that are as good as me doing halle berry tonight
I hear she’s in College Station today.
The chances of the Nats signing and then trading a couple of players on that list are not slim, they’re actually pretty good.
I wasn’t saying to sign ALL those players, just two or three. Read carefully.
They should without a doubt. They have to think about spending money now to make money in the future. If they can land a couple good pieces at the deadline who are around the same age as Strasburgh and Harper, they should be able to fill up a ballpark based on Hype when both of those players come up. They have young players who are able to play well, Dukes, Morgan, Zimmerman, etc. who should be around for a while as well.
Crazed fans like most of us would go, but the general population is still attracted to a winner.
At the rate the Redskins and Wizards are
progressingregressing, if the Nats can start winning in a couple of years, they’ll OWN the DC sports market.There is a winning team in Washington………. The Capitals. With the best player in the NHL, Alex Ovechkin. Although they will NEVER top the Redskins in popularity, a Stanley Cup winning team, could vault the Caps right to number 2, in Washington.
What’s hockey?
/TSJC’d
I’m talking about real sports.
Not hockey.
DC Sports popularity (unscientific)
1. Redskins
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
11. Georgetown
16. Wizards
17. Capitals
31. Natinals
32. Nationals
Actually:
1. Redskins
2. Redskins Cheerleaders
3. Redskins Taxi Squad
4. N/A
5. N/A
6. N/A
11. Orioles
12. Georgetown basketball
13. Ravens
14. Maryland basketball
15. George Mason basketball
16. Wizards
28. Texas Rangers
29. Minnesota Twins
30. Staring at old photos of Frank Howard
31. Natinals
32. Nationals
45. Senate v. House slo-pitch softball game
47. ESPN Fantasy Umpire League
48. RAB Fantasy Football League
49. Dallas Cowboys
50. Capitals
Yeah, but by spending the money for good players who aren’t Type-A’s will help you win now to attract fans.
Even without crazed fans like us, people who are Nationals Fans are more pumped about Strasburg than anyone is about anyone else.
watching monster’s ball and whackin it does nto count
I have no idea why the Nats would consider a cancer like Pavano, or guys that seem to get constantly injured like Escobar or Schmidt (Or for that matter Pavano). I would invest the savings in the Draft or Internal Free Agents (IFA’s). One thing I have learned, is for non- contenders, giving million dollar contracts to non impact players, is like throwing money down a rat hole (See Kyle Farnsworth’s and Gil Meche’s contributions to the 2009 Royals as an example of this) . At least, by investing in the draft and IFA’s, those kind of teams will have a chance to eventually contend. Not to mention the fact, that the ENTIRE Royals 2009 draft, will cost KC, far less, than the Farnsworth and Meche contracts.
My point
———
your head
do you still want to know how janusz feels about this?
No.
Gil Meche’s contract looks bad this year because of missing time, but in ‘07 and ‘08, he out-pitched his contract’s value by $9.8MM and $10.2MM respectively.
And the problem with Farnsworth wasn’t that they signed him, it’s that they signed him to a two-year, 9M deal that makes him untradeable. If they had waited until later in the winter when the market evaporated and given him a one-year deal for, say, 3M, at the deadline he would have cost only 1M or so, and they might have been able to flip him to someone for something.
Just because you’re a bad, small market team doesn’t mean you have no financial power. One of the financial advantages you do have is the ability to scour the market for unwanted longshots and convert those forgotten players into useful pieces at the deadline by being the seller to the playoff contenders. The trick is, you can’t overplay your hand and give those longshots contracts so big that they can’t be moved.
The Royals giving Farnsworth 2y/9M: dumb
The Indians giving Pavano 1y/1.5M with 5M in incentives: smart
It is important to have someone like Farnsy on your team, you know in case there is a bench clearing brawl
Fighting the Royals is like fighting Corky from “Life Goes On”.
I agree Meche pitched well in 2007 and 2008, but even at his best, he is a number two starter, not an ace (a number FOUR or FIVE starter on the Yankees or Red Sox). In the 2008 and 2009 drafts they Royals brought in two guys (Tim Melville and Aaron Crow), who are considered to have ace potential, and even better, are local guys who might stay a decade in KC, and COMBINED, cost less than a year of Meche. These are the kind of players, that can bring ivision titles to KC, not Meche.
I agree Meche pitched well in 2007 and 2008, but even at his best, he is a number two starter, not an ace
Okay. They have an ace that they drafted and developed. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s going to win the Cy Young Award this year. Meche doesn’t need to be an ace for them, he just needs to hold down the fort, eat innings, and let others develop. Obviously Meche isn’t going to push anyone over the edge but the Royals haven’t been on that edge in a long time. They’re just looking to get there. Since they don’t have the money (or draw like the Yanks, Sox, Phils, Mets, etc.), they need to sign the lesser guys and develop talent and that strategy takes time.
Gil Meche has nothing at all to do with what I’m talking about regarding the Washington Nationals.
I never said the Nationals should be handing out 5yr/55M deals to anyone to be a starting pitcher for them while they’re rebuilding and suck.
I said they should give Pavano, Escobar, or Schmidt a one-year deal and then flip them at the deadline for prospects.
All of this conversation is a gigantic Januz tangent to nowhere.
I can see Russia from my house!
http://binside.typepad.com/pho....._palin.png (safe)
What I said was the best way to spend money, was the draft, IFa’s, and bringing in more and better scouts (Particularly if you are a small revenue team like the Nats). Guys like Pavano, Escobar & Schmidt are often hurt (So there is no guarantee you can even flip them for a spare part). Not to mention guys like Pavano who are despised in the clubhouse (Guess why the Nats traded Milledge?).
As for Meche, I used him as an obvious example of wasting money, compared to spending it on the draft. As for Bedard, everything you hear about him is highly negative in the clubhouse, and that is not needed on a young team (Not to mention trading Adam Jones and others for him).
Your writing style is a refreshing mix of strawman arguments, red herrings, and invalid conclusions.
http://web.me.com/romancini/Fa.....mage_2.png
I am very aware of Zach Greinke, and how good he is. What you said about Meche “Holding Down The Fort, Eating Innings, and Let Others Develop” is fine, but NOT at $11m per year. I guarantee you if I was a Royals fan, I would rather see Crow than two more years of Meche.
Even teams like Yankees are finally understanding that guys like Pavano are not bringing them titles (You can add a Chad Gaudin to the rotation at the FRACTION of the cost with the same level of productivity). Guys like Sabathia and lots of young pitching are going to win multiple titles. Just like replacing Farnsworth in the pen with David Robertson and (For this season) Phil Hughes. Much better options and much cheaper.
5th starters make 11 million. it’s jsut the way it is.
5th starters do not make $11m. Joba Chamberlain does not, nor does Dice-K for that matter, and the same for MOST other pitchers.
A) Neither Dice-K nor Joba have ever been free agents. Were they free agents, both of them would likely make MORE than 11M. So, you’re wrong on that count.
B) Neither Dice-K nor Joba are 5th starters. Joba is an ace in training, and Dice-K is a 3rd starter. So, again, this is an epic Januz tangent to nowhere.
If Meche were on the open market now he’d probably make 15 mill
Teams like the Royals are bad because they spend money on the wrong guys. Why get an innings eater like Meche for 11? Better off throwing 30 at Sabathia. Why sign Guillen for 11? Throw it all at Tex. May as well lose with great players.
5th starters get 11m when they sign contracts at 32 and are #3 starters, but their talent diminishes and they become #5 starters.
Well didnt they try that with Dunn this year? I mean they wanted him since the beginning of FA, and didnt sign until he had no choice. So basically unless a player doesnt get a significant offer, they’re not going to the Nationals. So it might be tougher than it looks.
Plus you dont want the team to be too good and get too high of draft pick- kidding, sort of.
well if he shows the consistency he has the talent to be here within a year or so, so no harm in taking a senior in the 1st.