Grading Zduriencik's drafts

[mothershipconnection]

Morgan Ensberg, Ryan Howard, Adrian Beltre and Javy Lopez all finished top 5 in the MVP balloting as well. Hows that working out for all of them? Worse players have actually won the award that were more important than Fielder is.

 

I would have greedily taken anyone of those players the offseason following those years. Howard was great the year after his MVP (then started crappy this year), Ensberg put up an .859 OPS the next year, and Lopez was at .873. Only Beltre fell apart, but he had a career record of suckiness before his huge year.

 

I'll give you Kazmir, but I'd call it a no-brainer between Prince and the others listed, especially Francis and the sub-100 OPS+ Francouer.

[RightFieldCoder]

Average major leaguers: TGJ (2)

Gwynn has a projected .262/.338/.372 and a 0.8 WARP his your best projectection. Hardy hit .278/.329/.475 and a 6.2 WARP last year. Hart had a .299/.357/.588 and a 7.4 WARP last year. How is Hart ranked barely above Gwynn and lower than Hardy?

[clancyphile]

Well, the 2005 draft grade gets lowered with Weeks going to Oakland in the `08 draft.

[LouisEly]

Average major leaguers: TGJ (2)

Gwynn has a projected .262/.338/.372 and a 0.8 WARP his your best projectection. Hardy hit .278/.329/.475 and a 6.2 WARP last year. Hart had a .299/.357/.588 and a 7.4 WARP last year. How is Hart ranked barely above Gwynn and lower than Hardy?

As mentioned before (and now for the third time), All-Star was based on technical definition - whether or not they had been named to an All-Star team or not. Thus Hart is on the high end of Solid Major leaguer (call it a B+). To answer your question:

1) I think if Gwynn got more than 2 ABs a week his numbers would be better. I will say that he is on the lower end of average (call it a C-), but I think he is a solid #4/#5 OF and has a definite role on a balanced team.

B) I value speed and defense more than you do. The game ain't all about hitting (exhibit A - todays game, Cameron misplaying Berkman's line drive which lead to three runs). And no matter what stats you throw at me I will not change my stance on that. My opinion.

 

[pogokat]

Clancy...even if the brewers had redrafted him, he would have been an 08 pick, not an 05...so how does his selection by the a's change anything...the brewers lost him years ago..

[Bambis Bombers]

I think the D+ grade on the 2000 draft is a bit harsh, considering how poor the 2000 draft class was. In a pre draft blog entry by Peter Gammons, he mentioned that only seven first rounders from the 2000 draft class are still in the majors, the poorest showing of any draft between 1995 to 2003. Baseball Analysts reviewed the drafts from 2000 to 2004 and called the 2000 class the worst of the bunch.

 

To get an all-star caliber OF in Corey Hart probably gives the Brewers a better return than most clubs from that draft. Looking back at the prospect rankings from that draft, it was not like the Krynzel pick was a reach for the Brewers. He was rated the 18th best prospect by Baseball America (Utley was rated 25th, Adam Wainwright 50th and the immortal Boof Bonser 86th). Other notable players from the 2000 draft include (courtesy of Wikipedia):

 

• Xavier Nady, 2nd round, 49th overall
• Manny Delcarmen, 2nd round, 62nd overall
• Grady Sizemore, 3rd round, 75th overall
• David DeJesus, 4th round, 104th overall
• Cliff Lee, 4th round, 105th overall
• Bobby Jenks, 5th round, 140th overall
• Dontrelle Willis, 8th round, 223rd overall
• Brandon Webb, 8th round, 249th overall
• Ryan Church, 14th round, 426h overall
• James Shields, 16th round, 466th overall
• Rich Harden, 17th round, 510th overall
• Jason Bay, 22nd round, 645th overall
• Nate McClouth, 25th round, 749th overall
• Adam LaRoche, 29th round, 880th overall

Quick side note: The Brewers were going to pick Bobby Jenks in the 6th round, but the Angels picked him right before the Brewers. (Note to Tom "Mr. Fact Check" Haudricourt - Jenks was picked by the Angels, not the White Sox as you mistakenly mentioned in your draft column on June 2.)

 

To get one above average starter from the 2000 draft class warrants a C grade at worst.

[LouisEly]

Time to pick up where I left off:

 

2003 Draft - Grade: B

All-Stars: none (yet)

Solid Major Leaguers (starters): Gallardo (2)

Average major leaguers (bench):

Top prospects: Salome (5), Cain (17)

Still developing: Rogers (1 - #5 overall), David Johnson (15), Periard (16)

Those who got away... and came back: Dabroweicki (34), McCraw (37)

 

A lot of the grade of this draft depends on how Cain, Salome, and Periard develop. If they do turn into solid major leaguers then it will grade higher, possibly an A-. For all we complain about Rogers, the rest of the first round wasn't that great either except for the pick seven spots later - Jared Weaver.

 

2005 Draft - Grade: A+

I'm not going to do the usual All-Stars/Top major leaguers/etc., because it still is too early for that, but let's just say that even though 2005 was a great draft overall, possibly one of the best ever for baseball, the Brewers draft that year could be one of the best drafts in the history of the game. Getting Braun alone is worthy of at least a B+, but take a look at the rest of this list:

 

Ryan Braun (1 - #5 overall), Will Inman (3rd - no 2nd round pick), Mat Gamel (4th), Steve Hammond (6th), Michael Brantley (7th), Jemile Weeks (8th), Steve Garrison (10th), William "Zach" Braddock (18th), David Welch (20th), Taylor Green (25th), Omar Aguilar (30th).

 

Good Lord. From that list they were able to trade Inman, Hammond, Brantley, and Garrison and not sign Weeks, but still have a ton of talent. And from those trades they were able to get Frederickson/Dykstra (for Inman/Garrison), and two more picks this year in the top two rounds (Brantley via Sabathia). This is the draft that will be the cornerstone of the team for possibly the next decade.

[Brily0204]

2005 Draft - Grade: A+

I'm not going to do the usual All-Stars/Top major leaguers/etc., because it still is too early for that, but let's just say that even though 2005 was a great draft overall, possibly one of the best ever for baseball, the Brewers draft that year could be one of the best drafts in the history of the game. Getting Braun alone is worthy of at least a B+, but take a look at the rest of this list:

 

Ryan Braun (1 - #5 overall), Will Inman (3rd - no 2nd round pick), Mat Gamel (4th), Steve Hammond (6th), Michael Brantley (7th), Jemile Weeks (8th), Steve Garrison (10th), William "Zach" Braddock (18th), David Welch (20th), Taylor Green (25th), Omar Aguilar (30th).

You could even add #5 pick Kevin Roberts, who was one-half the cost of Salomon Torres.