River Avenue Blues

“It’s a bigger joke this year than it’s ever been,” said an unnamed agent to Jerry Crasnick at some point during the last three days, referring to the new draft system put in place by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Yankees and a number of other clubs finagled the system by selecting college seniors in the top ten rounds so they could reallocate the funds to higher-upside kids late. The same agent said teams have reached pre-draft agreements with those seniors and most deals will come in around $5,000. Scott Boras went so far as to call the new rules a “mockery.”

The new system is what it is though, there won’t be any changes in the next five years unless the two sides decide to open up the CBA and renegotiate mid-term. I wouldn’t count on it, the owners and players both seem happy and that’s all that matters. I think we’ll see clubs adjust their strategies going forward but this was the year of the college seniors. Clubs loaded up on them early to reduce the risk associated with not signing a player — losing the draft pool money, specifically — and took shots in the dark late. The Yankees drafted seniors with one of their two second rounders as well as with their seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth rounders. It’s backwards; after the first and second round all the best players went in double digit rounds.

Anyway, here are some miscellaneous draft and Yankees-related links and notes from around the web…

• Final Breakdown: The Yankees drafted 41 players in the 40 rounds thanks to the extra second rounder for failing to sign LHP Sam Stafford last year, including 21 pitchers (14 righties and seven lefties), 11 outfielders, six infielders, and three catchers. Twenty-four of the 41 were college players, 15 were high schoolers, and two came from the junior college ranks.
• We already know that first rounder RHP Ty Hensley expects to sign soon, but Chad Jennings has the full transcript from the right-hander’s conference call the other day. “I think the quicker that I can get started and get on to A-ball next year, I think the better,” said Hensley. Amen.
• Keith Law said (subs. req’d) he’d rank Hensley “likely sixth” on his Yankees prospect list, “behind half of the (Low-A) Charleston roster.” I haven’t thought too much about that yet but the 5-10 range seems likely. You can make a case that he should rank above Jose Campos because of the elbow injury, but I won’t do it. Here’s my Pre-Draft Top 30 for reference.
• In his AL draft evaluations (subs. req’d), Law says Alabama OF Taylor Dugas (8) “squares up all kinds of pitching and I would be very surprised if he didn’t hit his way to some kind of major-league role, maybe even as the heavy side of a platoon.” That surprised me.
• Speaking of Dugas, he told Don Kausler Jr. that he grew up a Yankees fan and that Ron Guidry is a close family friend. He hails from Lafayette, Louisiana like Gator. Dugas said he hopes to sign quickly.
• “I’m gonna come back to LSU and make another run at it next year,” said Raph Rhymes (30) to Jim Kleinpeter. The LSU outfielder and SEC Player of the Year and led the nation in hitting with a .469 average this year, but he doesn’t offer much power and is without a home defensively. Don’t count on him turning pro.
• Prep RHP Brady Lail (18) told Tony Jones that he’ll forgo his commitment to Arizona and turn pro if the Yankees make a sweet enough offer — $400k according to James Edward. He sounded pretty gung-ho about college a few days ago on Twitter but has since changed his tune a bit.
• “I went to a couple workouts with (the Yankees) and I really liked their organization and how they run things … It’s just a nice fit and how it happened,” said prep catcher Chris Breen (12) to Despina Barton. No word on whether or not he’ll sign, though.
• High school RHP Dayton Dawe (15) has been training with former Yankee and fellow Canadian Paul Quantrill according to Dale Carruthers. “He taught me a lot (about) using my arm as a whip, standing on my back leg and driving my front side toward the plate … Paul Quantrill really taught me how to save my arm in the way of not letting it get sore,” said Dawe. I know Quantrill isn’t remembered fondly around these parts, but he spent 14 years in the big leagues as workhorse setup man. I’d listen to him too.

After three long and sometimes tedious days, the 2012 amateur draft is complete. The Yankees selected 41 players across the 40 rounds, starting with first rounder Ty Hensley on Monday night. They added another 15 players on Tuesday and concluded with the final 25 rounds yesterday. The spending restrictions implemented by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement led to some creative drafting around the league including in New York’s war room, which emphasized young and upside around the typical unspectacular Day Three picks on Wednesday.

All of Yankees’ picks can be seen at Baseball America. The majority of the players selected yesterday will just help fill out low minors rosters for a summer or two but there are some gems mixed in. Teams usually signed 30-35 players out of a typical 50-round draft in the past, but I’m not sure if that number will change with the new 40-round format. It’s easy enough to plug roster holes with undrafted free agents anyway. Here’s a look of the players the Yankees hauled in the yesterday, the forgotten 16-40th round crop.

The Upside Plays
By taking five college seniors in the first ten rounds on Tuesday, the Yankees saved enough draft pool space to roll the dice with same late-round gambles in the later round. High school outfielders Vincent Jackson (23rd round), Ty Moore (25), and D.J. Stewart (28) were selected within five picks of each other and represent the best of the late-round, high-upside lot. I actually wrote Moore up as a potential target a few weeks ago and I’ll just refer you to that, but the short-version is that he’s a bat-first prospect with left-handed power.

Jackson is the best prospect of the bunch, a left-handed hitter with the innate ability to get the barrel of the bat on the ball and future power potential based on his 6-foot-5, 195 lb. frame. He pitched some in high school and has a strong arm to go with good speed, though not good enough to play center field long-term. The Yankees like Stewart so much that they invited him to Tampa for not one but two pre-draft workouts according to Corey Dowlar. Another lefty hitter, he has power but lacks baseball experience because he focused primarily on football in high school. There’s lots of athleticism in Stewart’s stocky 6-foot-0, 215 lb. frame.

Prepsters Brady Lail (18) and Jose Diaz (29) belong in this mix as well, though they don’t offer the same kind of obvious upside as Jackson, Moore, and Stewart. The former is 6-foot-3, 170 lb. right-hander who’s shown three pitches — 85-91 fastball, curveball, changeup — while the latter is a 6-foot-2, 180 lb. southpaw with an 86-91 mph fastball and sweepy low-70s slider. Both Lail and Diaz need years of development, but they do offer some intriguing long-term potential. That late in the draft, rolling the dice on projectable arms is never a bad move. The Yankees will not lose any draft pool money if these guys don’t sign because they were selected after the tenth round.

Bullpen Arms
Say what you want about their ability (or inability. really) to develop starting pitchers, but the Yankees pump out quality bullpen arms like few others. They continued to replenish that pipeline on Day Three, starting with 16th rounder Stefan Lopez. The right-hander sits anywhere from 91-94 and relies on his fastball heavily, rarely breaking out his slider or changeup. Lopez has a classic bulldog reliever mentality, pitching through a torn ACL at the end of the season for Southeastern Louisiana.

The Yankees liked Maryland’s bullpen so much that they drafted the Terrapins’ closer in Jimmy Reed (21) and setup man in Charlie Haslup (26). Haslup, a right-hander, is actually the better prospect of the two. He’s a big guy (listed at 6-foot-4 and 200 lbs.) with a low-90s fastball and a solid slider that can miss bats. Reed is a tiny little southpaw (listed at 6-foot-0 and 163 lbs.) who relies heavily on his low-80s slider. He has a chance to provide some value as a lefty specialist down the road.

Catching Depth
The Yankees value catching depth and although they selected just one true backstop on Day Three — prepster Dalton Smith (36) — they did grab two interesting conversion candidates. Samford’s Saxon Butler (33) provides power from the left side and although he spent most of his college career at first, he showed off his catching skills in pre-draft workouts. JuCo outfielder Sherman Lacrus (40) has some right-handed pop and experience all over the outfield and behind the plate. He doubled as a reliever and offers a strong arm to help neutralize the running game.

One-Tool Wonders
Once you get this late in the draft, into the double digit rounds, there’s not much more teams can do other than lock in on a guy with one standout tool and hope it carries him up the ladder. Georgia shortstop Kyle Farmer (35) is a standout defender at one of the toughest positions to fill on the diamond. LSU outfielder Raph Rhymes (30) was one of the best pure contact hitters in the entire draft. Butler provides power and Reed a wipeout breaking ball, both from the left side. Doing one thing very well is an advantage these late rounders have over their peers.

Accomplished Players
Rhymes led the nation in hitting with a .469 average this year and won the SEC Player of the Year award. Left-hander Tim Flight (17) was named the Division II Pitcher of the Year at Southern New Hampshire, striking out 140 in 102.2 innings. Lopez led the country in saves this spring with 19. Accolades and individual accomplishments really mean nothing as far as a player’s pro potential in concerned, and frankly every draft class will have its fair share of decorated players. These three deserve some acknowledgement for their excellent seasons.

Nepotism Picks
Every team uses some late-round picks on friends and relatives of former players, current staff, etc. and the Yankees are no different. They took Andy Cannizaro’s younger brother Garrett (32) out of Tulane six years after he briefly wore pinstripes. This doesn’t really qualify as nepotism, but New York drafted Miami southpaw Eric Erickson (34) six years (!) after taking him out of high school in the 43rd round in 2006. Erickson had Tommy John surgery twice in college because the first new ligament didn’t take (missed all of 2009 and 2011) and this pick feels like a bit of a favor after a tough few years. I suppose it’s also worth mentioning that the Yankees drafted right-hander Jose Mesa Jr. in the 24th round, the son of the former big league closer of the same name. That’s not exactly nepotism though, the senior Joe Table never played for the Bombers.

Day Three Overview
The new spending restrictions actually made the third day of the draft more interesting than the second. The Yankees saved some serious draft pool money by going college senior heavy in the top ten rounds and followed up by grabbing a number of high-end prospects yesterday. Jackson, Moore, and Stewart are premium high school talents and prep arms like Lail and Diaz offer upside on the mound as well. Don’t expect New York to sign all of them — they’re all essentially back-up plans for each other — but reeling in even one with the saved draft pool would be win. Signing two would be a minor miracle and the core of a strong draft haul headlined by Hensley, Austin Aune (2), and Pete O’Brien (2).