Hey Colby, a question about how the Brewers handle the draft

[danzig6767]

Me and Toolive were debating a bit on how much credit Melvin deserves in the large amount of young talent the Brewers have been able to draft beyond retaining Jack Z, compared to the credit for Zduriencik himself. Obviously some of the guys like Hardy/Prince/Parra/Hart were already in the system before Doug got here, but others like Weeks/Braun/Gallardo were drafted while Melvin was the GM, same with great prospects like Gammel/LaPorta.

 

If i remember correctly what i've read, i thought Melvin as said that he stays informed of who Zduriencik is targeting with high picks, but that he pretty much leaves the choice to Jack on who to draft, outside of maybe Boras clients that will demand over slot money. Is that how you know things work? Do you know if Doug and Jack ever didn't share the same high opinion of say a first/second round player and then if so, did Melvin overrule Zduriencik? If Jack had liked Braun more than Melvin did, would Doug still let Zduriencik draft Ryan?

 

I'm curious because with the Packers, there is no question that in the draft, nobody is picked without Thompson first agreeing to it. Obviously Ted takes input from his scouts, but he makes the final call. I'm curious if in the Brewers draft room, Melvin gives Zduriencik the power to make the final call on even the high picks? I doubt Doug knows enough about the huge number of prospects available, that he'd get involved with say who the 12th or 18th round pick is, but i wonder how much input he has with the early picks?

[colbyjack]

If i remember correctly what i've read, i thought Melvin as said that he stays informed of who Zduriencik is targeting with high picks, but that he pretty much leaves the choice to Jack on who to draft, outside of maybe Boras clients that will demand over slot money. Is that how you know things work?

 

You've got it right danzig. Melvin leaves the pick up to Jack Z., but Melvin definitely is kept in the loop with the entire process, and similar to scouts bringing in crosscheckers who bring in the scouting director, the scouting director will often bring in the general manager to give them an idea of which players the team is considering drafting with their early pick(s).

 

I'm unaware of any situation where Melvin has dictated what players the team should take, but I don't doubt that he has given some overall direction that the scouting dep't. should take. I think it was around 2005 when the organization started to take more college players early, and last year they came out and expressed why they took so many college guys early, not only to get them to the big-leagues more quickly, but also to give the organization more bargaining chips to work with when it comes to trades.

 

Most of the player-by-player arguments at certain slots are debated among the crosscheckers and scouts. I do know there was a big debate in the war room between Ryan Sweeney and Tony Gwynn Jr. in 2003, and between Yovani Gallardo and Erik Cordier in 2004, but again, that wasn't because of any involvement of Doug Melvin as far as I know.

[Gopher74]

and between Yovani Gallardo and Erik Cordier in 2004, but again, that wasn't because of any involvement of Doug Melvin as far as I know.

You're telling me we could have had Cordier over Gallardo? Dang..sure missed out on that one!