Jump to content
Brewer Fanatic

Drafting Philosophy Thread


EDIT: Please note that xisxisxis didn't start this thread. I split off some good discussion from the Draft Pick Discussion thread to create a devoted thread for this popular subject.

 

 

I think the brewers would be better off firing the entire scouting department, buying subscriptions to BA and PG and making a combined draft list from them and sinking all the money saved into signing bonuses. They can't, yes CAN'T, do any worse that way then the current plan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

Honestly what more can you do with limited funds? Many of these guys who are actually signable in the later rounds are EXTREMELY unlikely to become above-average players. Those who have great talent, especially high school guys, are expensive. Don't necessarily blame the scouting department. Blame Mark A. for signing Lohse, and then blame Bud Selig for the new CBA.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How exactly would you suggest people discuss the picks? All sunshine and rainbows discussing the various ways they love the picks?

 

There is a tremendous difference in upside between this year's draft thus far and the last year's draft at the same point. Seid certainly had his hands tied in comparison to last year's draft and most everyone seems happy with the first 2 picks.

 

As an organization we still have a gaping LHP hole, so since you brought up the 5th round am I supposed to do cartwheels because Milwaukee drafted a reliever while the Cardinals drafted a HS LHP? It's certainly possible that Uhen will ultimately be a better prospect than McKinney, but if you're a fan who's into upside there wasn't much to be excited about in rounds 3-10, only Diaz appears to have some upside on day 2. We drafted 3 relievers and Williams is just 5' 11" meaning he likely profiles as a reliever as well... 4 likely relievers in those picks, when impact starting pitching is our biggest need.

 

I'm not sure why you went to the Magnifico card? He's a nice enough prospect but he's likely a reliever as well, and if it's because he's a MWL all-star.. well so was Ryan Gibbard and he's not an impact starting pitcher either. I don't think anyone minds drafting higher floor players as long as there is upside sprinkled in around those guys, but that's not what happened for the Brewers. The Pirates, Cards, and Reds all had a nice mix, the Cubs were very college heavy, we had 3 upside players through the first 10 rounds, and only 1 was a pitcher.

 

Can the Brewers really afford to draft a single pitcher with significant upside with our atrocious record developing impact pitching? I don't believe so, I think the Brewers need to 2-3 of those guys every year. We aren't the Giants, we aren't going to be able to just draft 1 high upside HS pitcher and develop him, we need numbers to mitigate what we've lacked in identifying the proper talent.

 

Williams, Uhen, and Astin could maybe all turn out perfectly and be impact starting pitchers, but after reading the scouting reports and taking into account the organization's history, especially Seid's history with college pitching, why should they get the benefit of the doubt by default?

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

- Plato

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."

- Plato

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do think that there are some around here who think that just because a guy is a college player that means he is a low ceiling/high floor player. Using the example mentioned, Magnifico is a guy who threw upper 90's even touching 100+; yes, he was a reliever, but that's a guy who if he can develop two at least average secondary pitches has tremendous upside. That's not a guy I'd call a "low ceiling" pick, especially for the 5th round. Who knows, maybe he hasn't gotten good coaching on how to throw a curve/slider/change and with professional coaching could develop. Uhen regularly worked at 94 (at 6'4" and only 185 lbs) and touched 97; no offense to anyone at UW-M but I highly doubt he is getting the best pitching coaching there.

 

Look back in history at the 4th round on... few draft picks even make the majors, much less turn into impact players. If those guys turn into solid ML relievers I'll be happy because that's a better outcome than 90% of draft picks in those rounds. Guys like Hellickson, Moore, etc., are by far the exception and not the rule; for every one of those guys there are 15 Charlie Fermaints. (Remember when everyone was excited about him because he was "potential" 5-tool player?) In the last 20 years the Cardinals have not drafted one single impact pitcher in rounds 4-8 (the best of the lot - take your pick between Mitchell Boggs and Blake Stein).

 

The rules have changed. You can't give big signing bonuses to HS kids in the 4th round on. You only have $X amount of bonus pool to work with. If you want HS guys you will have to draft college seniors in rounds 7-10 and have pre-draft agreements for them to sign for $25K or less to free up an extra $450K to sign earlier picks. I'll agree with TheCrew that I'm disappointed they didn't go for LHP in round 3, but I can't criticize the picks since then. Maybe Seid's cryptonite is the first round, but he's done pretty well from the 2nd round on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do think that there are some around here who think that just because a guy is a college player that means he is a low ceiling/high floor player. Using the example mentioned, Magnifico is a guy who threw upper 90's even touching 100+; yes, he was a reliever, but that's a guy who if he can develop two at least average secondary pitches has tremendous upside. That's not a guy I'd call a "low ceiling" pick, especially for the 5th round.

 

First of all, round has nothing to do high ceiling or not. D'Vo was plenty high ceiling and wasn't a 1st round draft pick.

 

Second Magnifico had 1 pitch, arm or not, he's not a high upside pick, and how many 1 pitch pitchers have the Brewers actually developed for the starting rotation? What pitcher have we had that developed whom needed not 1 but 2 secondary pitches from their draft day moving forward? Most of our successful pitchers already had a plus secondary pitch, and a guy like Odorizzi really hasn't developed any, and he's a pretty good athlete, even by pro standards. Just because a guy has a big fastball doesn't make him a high ceiling player, there has to be more that goes with it, because everyone at AA can hit even the best FBs or they wouldn't be playing there.

 

I would think that many people who watch Magnifico pitch see mid 90s on the radar gun early and that's about it. I've watched Magnifico pitch 3 times now, his velocity falls off quickly, TLB actually pointed it out to me when we were at a game together and I started paying closer attention. He also starts leaving FBs up in the 4th inning in every start which is a sign that a pitcher is starting to tire. At this point in his career he's simply not shown enough to project as a starter, he's not holding his velocity in a tandem system, if he's not able to maintain velocity he's not a starter secondary pitches or not. Ynoa looked like 3 times the pitcher that Magnifico is, regardless of the boxscore line tonight. Ynoa's FB has really good arm side run and his curve is incredibly tight, yes he's been injured and is on a very low pitch count as the A's ease him into full season ball, but the stuff is electric. I was somewhat skeptical before watching him pitch tonight but he impressed me. Magnifico throws hard early and locates okay, but there's just not any "wow" factor with him.

 

I don't want to go through all of the college picks and point out who was objectively a high ceiling pick and who wasn't, because it's not necessary and should be fairly obvious. Any pitcher who doesn't top out around 95 and have at least 1 plus secondary offering with a league average 3rd pitch isn't a high ceiling pitcher, it's that simple. We've been having this discussion since before Jungmann was drafted and yet people still think he was a high ceiling pitcher because he threw a 4 seam FB hard pre-draft. I've been very consistent on these points for a long time, I've learned many hard lessons about stuff, projection, floor, and ceiling with prospects I've championed. The only guy who remains a mystery to me is Amaury Rivas... good movement on his FB that topped out around 95, a plus change, but couldn't make it as a starter in AAA. What did we miss with him?

 

As far as bats go, I've championed Khris Davis for a long time, but I'm not going to claim he's a yearly 4 WAR player anymore than I jumped on the Casey McGehee bandwagon.

 

When you're watching A ball, a player better stand out head and shoulders above his peers in one way or another, or he's not an MLB player. If he doesn't jump out at you and just kind of looks like everyone else, he's not special. That doesn't mean he won't contribute, it just means he has a very minute chance to be an impact player. Once again, we have plenty of depth, I'm looking to add players to fill out the top of the system and the top of the rotation.

 

I think you've vastly oversimplified your theory to the point where you've taken what's been written about these guys out of context. There is a chance that some of those guys whom we just drafted are much better than their scouting reports would suggest, but MLB.com scouting reports are basically written like each player is family, MLB has a vested interest in making fans feel good about their draft picks. If we had the track record of some other organizations I'd feel comfortable with the notion that our guys saw something that the other guys didn't see, but given the Brewers history from a pitching standpoint I don't think that's a realistic stance to take. If PG and MLB are rating guys as 3-5s or relievers then I'm not going to hold out much hope that they are more than that.

 

A 5' 9" CF prospect no matter how raw doesn't project to hit for much power and the Brewers haven't exactly been known to push athletic development in the weight room. It doesn't matter how toolsy the guy is, if he doesn't hit for power he's not going to be an impact player. It's much easier to project a body type like Tyrone Taylor to develop power than it is any player under 5' 11". That's just the reality of genetics.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

- Plato

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."

- Plato

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do think that there are some around here who think that just because a guy is a college player that means he is a low ceiling/high floor player. Using the example mentioned, Magnifico is a guy who threw upper 90's even touching 100+; yes, he was a reliever, but that's a guy who if he can develop two at least average secondary pitches has tremendous upside. That's not a guy I'd call a "low ceiling" pick, especially for the 5th round. Who knows, maybe he hasn't gotten good coaching on how to throw a curve/slider/change and with professional coaching could develop. Uhen regularly worked at 94 (at 6'4" and only 185 lbs) and touched 97; no offense to anyone at UW-M but I highly doubt he is getting the best pitching coaching there.

 

Look back in history at the 4th round on... few draft picks even make the majors, much less turn into impact players. If those guys turn into solid ML relievers I'll be happy because that's a better outcome than 90% of draft picks in those rounds. Guys like Hellickson, Moore, etc., are by far the exception and not the rule; for every one of those guys there are 15 Charlie Fermaints. (Remember when everyone was excited about him because he was "potential" 5-tool player?) In the last 20 years the Cardinals have not drafted one single impact pitcher in rounds 4-8 (the best of the lot - take your pick between Mitchell Boggs and Blake Stein).

The rules have changed. You can't give big signing bonuses to HS kids in the 4th round on. You only have $X amount of bonus pool to work with. If you want HS guys you will have to draft college seniors in rounds 7-10 and have pre-draft agreements for them to sign for $25K or less to free up an extra $450K to sign earlier picks. I'll agree with TheCrew that I'm disappointed they didn't go for LHP in round 3, but I can't criticize the picks since then. Maybe Seid's cryptonite is the first round, but he's done pretty well from the 2nd round on.

 

I don't follow the pre-draft stuff much at all, but with the new CBA and the bonus pools, do you think this will lead to more high school kids drafted after the first few rounds to choose going to college vs signing for lesser amounts than in the past?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can name a 5'9" CF who didn't put much time in the weight room (or on the treadmill) and became a Hall of Famer with a career .837 OPS and barely cracked 200 career HRs. I can name another 5'11" outfielder who finished his career with 135 HR and is in the HOF with a career .847 OPS and over 3000 hits (and probably didn't spend much time on the treadmill either). Power isn't the only important tool to have.

 

Needles in the haystack. Almost all of these guys end up being offensive liabilities. By power, it doesn't even have to be a guy with 15-20 HR potential. Hitting 5-10 with a bunch of gappers is alright.

 

I feel like the benchmark is to be able to slug .400 in the majors. If you can't do that, you had better be a track star with pinpoint bat control (which probably gets you up to .400 anyways).

 

That "hit tool" that was dominating the minors suddenly turns into .270/.315/.345/.660 in the majors when the pitchers throw right at you and defenses move in.

 

Moreover, if I'm drafting these guys, I'd like to be playing in Petco Park or San Francisco. These guys have a bit more value there.

 

I'd rather use all my picks drafting guys that have a projectable bat and size. Taking a needle in the haystack HoF projection out of the equation, guys like Omar Garcia project to Ben Revere or Nyjer Morgan. Brett Gardner and Bourn are the "home run" (no pun intended) projection.

 

I'd rather draft a guy like Allen Craig in these rounds. Somebody that has a bat that projects to the majors. We have Khris Davis for that but unfortunately, that's about all we have and he's a decent impact bat. I'd like to load my minor league system with guys that could be that. Some miss and never pass AA. Some turn into Craig. A few needles turn into perennial All Stars. That's a better alternative than using picks on guys that have a very likely "best case" as turning into Ben Revere, a defensive guy with no bat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brewer Fanatic Contributor

I can name a 5'9" CF who didn't put much time in the weight room (or on the treadmill) and became a Hall of Famer with a career .837 OPS and barely cracked 200 career HRs. I can name another 5'11" outfielder who finished his career with 135 HR and is in the HOF with a career .847 OPS and over 3000 hits (and probably didn't spend much time on the treadmill either). Power isn't the only important tool to have.

 

Needles in the haystack. Almost all of these guys end up being offensive liabilities. By power, it doesn't even have to be a guy with 15-20 HR potential. Hitting 5-10 with a bunch of gappers is alright.

 

I feel like the benchmark is to be able to slug .400 in the majors. If you can't do that, you had better be a track star with pinpoint bat control (which probably gets you up to .400 anyways).

 

That "hit tool" that was dominating the minors suddenly turns into .270/.315/.345/.660 in the majors when the pitchers throw right at you and defenses move in.

 

Moreover, if I'm drafting these guys, I'd like to be playing in Petco Park or San Francisco. These guys have a bit more value there.

 

I'd rather use all my picks drafting guys that have a projectable bat and size. Taking a needle in the haystack HoF projection out of the equation, guys like Omar Garcia project to Ben Revere or Nyjer Morgan. Brett Gardner and Bourn are the "home run" (no pun intended) projection.

 

I'd rather draft a guy like Allen Craig in these rounds. Somebody that has a bat that projects to the majors. We have Khris Davis for that but unfortunately, that's about all we have and he's a decent impact bat. I'd like to load my minor league system with guys that could be that. Some miss and never pass AA. Some turn into Craig. A few needles turn into perennial All Stars. That's a better alternative than using picks on guys that have a very likely "best case" as turning into Ben Revere, a defensive guy with no bat.

 

 

I don't claim to know anything about drafting baseball players but it seems to me that bats are more projectable than arms.

"Dustin Pedroia doesn't have the strength or bat speed to hit major-league pitching consistently, and he has no power......He probably has a future as a backup infielder if he can stop rolling over to third base and shortstop." Keith Law, 2006
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't claim to know anything about drafting baseball players but it seems to me that bats are more projectable than arms.

 

I'm not sure what you're saying here but I'm saying that guys like Garcia don't project to be plus hitters no matter how much speed they have.

 

It's like drafting a really small PG or undersized PF in the NBA. Not completely apples to apples in this comparison but it's really hard to "teach" what they'll need to become everyday starting, impact players. There's an Iverson or Barkley in those haystacks but you normally end up with guys that just aren't big or strong enough to put up productive numbers in the pros.

 

I'd rather draft a 6'8" small forward that doesn't have the strength or touch on his shot yet.

 

Maybe drafting a tiny guard gets you a useful one-tool guy like Nate Robinson (bulk, sometimes inefficient scorer) but it's almost impossible to become a complete player or guy that is VERY good at a useful tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Needles in the haystack.

Exactly how I'd describe guys drafted in the 5th round or later who became impact players in the majors. We're talking about the 7th round here.

 

Guys like Allan Craig and Khris Davis are nice, but they are also very limited defensively and to an extent defensive liabilities. You can load up on those guys in the draft but someone has to play CF and those guys can't. Guys with speed and a strong arm (like Garcia) who have plus range in CF can save almost as many runs as guys like Craig and Davis can create with their bat. I can't tell you how many times I've been wowed by Gomez's ability to track down balls in the OF that I did not think would be caught. The best thing you can do for pitching is to put plus defenders in premium defensive positions (CF, SS, C) behind them. If Garcia can develop into a backup OF/defensive replacement/pinch-runner at the major league level, that's a win for a 7th round pick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Needles in the haystack.

Exactly how I'd describe guys drafted in the 5th round or later who became impact players in the majors. We're talking about the 7th round here.

 

Guys like Allan Craig and Khris Davis are nice, but they are also very limited defensively and to an extent defensive liabilities. You can load up on those guys in the draft but someone has to play CF and those guys can't. Guys with speed and a strong arm (like Garcia) who have plus range in CF can save almost as many runs as guys like Craig and Davis can create with their bat. I can't tell you how many times I've been wowed by Gomez's ability to track down balls in the OF that I did not think would be caught. The best thing you can do for pitching is to put plus defenders in premium defensive positions (CF, SS, C) behind them. If Garcia can develop into a backup OF/defensive replacement/pinch-runner at the major league level, that's a win for a 7th round pick.

 

I can buy a defensive specialist for 500K and a bag of balls. I'd have to actually trade something for Allen Craig.

 

Guys with plus speed and arm are always available (unless they are absolutely elite at it) but hitters, even decent corner hitters, are very hard to come by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LE you are still coming at this issue from entirely different perspective.

 

No one is saying these guys don't have value, we all know the odds. What we are saying is that it was disappointing to get 3 upside picks out of the first 10 given the state of the system.

 

I also wish when talking about this stuff people would stay out of the extremes both positive and negative. Every soft tosser doesn't have the potential to be Greg Maddux nor does every short CF have the potential to be Kirby Puckett. Certainly every prospect isn't going to fail.

 

I would never argue that defense isn't important, but given the state of the farm we need to take some risks on young impact pitching and impact position players. I like both HS kids taken here on day 3 so far, they both look intriguing. We have a system loaded with depth, we have lots of 4th OFs types, we have legit OF depth in WI and with Haniger in BC. We don't have much on the IF, we have no impact LHP, and we're very thin on impact RHP pitching below AA even giving Lopez the benefit of the doubt.

 

With the slotting system the senior signs are what they are, signing Lohse really hurt Seid's ability to be more aggressive from a talent standpoint. 1st round picks are a long shot to be impact MLB players as well, the round here isn't the issue, it's the amount of risk an organization is willing to take. Without the risk there's no reward, and you can't have a well balanced system if you don't have the legit talent at the top, that's why I maintain we need to sprinkle as many high upside picks as we can through the draft. Of course not every 4th round pick is going to be Hellickson or even Archer but TB has proven that if you keep at it you can continually hit on impact HS talent later in the draft, Matt Moore was a 8th, Desmond Jennings was a 10th, and James Shields was a 16th round pick. Jennings certainly hasn't hit in MLB like TB would have hoped, I also would have thought him to be an .800+ OPS guy but that's just the way it goes with some players. He has the potential to be a double digit HR guy and I think it's far too soon to write him off. I had written off Gomez 3 years ago, he's making me look pretty stupid right now.

 

I don't want to do this for every pick we've made, but the area scout who signed Yovani Gallardo was Jim Stevenson, he was also the scout that identified Dava Eveland. Jim was no longer with the organization by 2008, he took a job in Houston. If we don't have the scouts to identify pitching, then we better draft impact hitting and flip those guys for the young impact pitching we need. Without the impact hitting you can't possibly hope to acquire impact pitching, so either way we need more impact talent. The Cubs went high floor for most of the first 2 days of the draft, but they are linked to 3 of the biggest talents out of Latin America for July 2. I would love if the Brewers were going to be serious players internationally this year to make up for the limited options they had with the draft, but so far the Brewers haven't been linked to a single player of note.

 

Right now to acquire the pitching we need all we have is the draft and MLB trades so it's disappointing to draft 1 legit arm with significant upside in the first 2 days of the draft. The intention isn't to slam the players taken, rather to point out that the Brewers need to do a better job spreading risk across multiple prospects than pointing to Mark Rogers and Mike Jones getting hurt when the organization doesn't have the pitching. Pitching injuries are part of baseball and should be expected.

 

The Giants can pick 1 HS kid and hit on that player nearly every time, it's irritating to watch from afar, the Brewers haven't even been close to that with college players. There's just a wide gulf between the Brewers and the top 4-5 pitching organizations. I hate to keep going to back to TB but they aren't all that good at identifying 1 player, in fact they are as bad as the Brewers in that regard. However they keep at it and make up for in volume what they lack in precision, I think that's a realistic goal for the Brewers as well. The Brewers could make up for a lack precision in the scouting process by taking a greater volume of high ceiling players and spreading the risk amongst all of the players instead of relying on 1 pitcher from each draft to be "the guy".

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

- Plato

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."

- Plato

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LE you are still coming at this issue from entirely different perspective.

That's the point of this forum - for people to express their own perspective. Like I said, I agree with you that the Brewers should have gone LHP in round 3 or 4, but neither of us knows what the signing demands were/are for the higher upside pitching available then and what Williams and Neuhaus signing demands are and what that will likely leave remaining in the Brewers signing bonus pool. Who's to say that these college pitchers aren't going to develop into the next Doug Fister, Daniel Hudson, Brandon Webb, Jonathan Papelbon, or Tony Cingrani?

 

Hillis sounds nasty, put up HS-like numbers (37 IP, 15 H, 66 K). Hopefully better coaching at the professional level can help him develop his offspeed pitches.

 

Command is a bit of a concern for Johnson, but only gave up 52 H in 77 IP and zero HR in 275 ABs.

 

Mankato's website says Matheson is a redshirt freshman (?) - are DII players eligible after two years? Wonder if he was hurt or a medical redshirt last year given how few innings he pitched (17.2), but the results were good (6 H, 21 K). In his only start gave up 1 H in 6 IP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't follow the pre-draft stuff much at all, but with the new CBA and the bonus pools, do you think this will lead to more high school kids drafted after the first few rounds to choose going to college vs signing for lesser amounts than in the past?

Not really. A high 3rd round slot is >$700K, the Brewers 3rd round slot was $584K, and a late 3rd round is almost $500K. That's not peanuts; I'd find it hard to pass that up for college.

 

The purpose of the new rules is to level the playing field for teams; the MLBPA agreed to it because their thought was that if teams give big signing bonuses to draft picks it will lessen the amount they will spend on major league players and payroll. The MLBPA doesn't give a hoot about draft picks or minor leaguers, they care about the members of their union and trying to get them as much money as possible.

 

I think the new rules are mostly good, but if they want to make it about truly selecting the best players available I'd make two changes:

1) Allow one round 1-10 draft pick "exemption" where teams can spend up to $500K over slot and the overage does not count towards the bonus pool. This should help reduce the number of players who don't get drafted in the first 10 rounds due to "signability".

 

2)Require a minimum offer of 40% of slot value for round 1-10 draft picks. This should remove the farce that some teams have made of rounds 6-10 picks where they select college seniors who will sign for virtually nothing to have more bonus pool money to spend on earlier picks. If a team has to offer at least $50K to a 9th/10th round draft pick they aren't going to waste it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Switching gears just a little bit here, they only drafted four shortstops in 40 rounds. Really? The first one drafted, is already expected to move off of there, which is okay in this situation, I like that pick a lot. Outside of your elite centerfielders that's the best athlete in the field more times than not. The Brewers should be drafting as many shortstops as they can in my opinion, unless they find elite potential talent at a different position. I don't understand this group's drafting strategy....that does assume they have one.
This guy threw at his own son in a father son game
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I get where everyone is coming from on this, but feel free to shoot my "Rainbows and Unicorns" attitude full of holes.

 

It appears as though we already have most of the guys that we wanted to sign, signed at this point. While I agree the drafting of bullpen arms early in the draft is crazy, it appears that it may have allowed us to sign Denson who might be a huge get along with the catcher a couple rounds before. I almost wish they would have done this same thing last year (or year before) when we couldn't sign Rendon. I understand the "just think what else we could have got" opinion, but I'm trying to appear positive...for now.

 

Also, the drafting of big durable pitchers seems to be working out so far also. I understand we don't have any world beaters out there, but having half a dozen #2's and #3's who haven't had any major injuries (knock on wood! knock on wood!) has been a nice change from previous years. Hopefully some of them are solid contributors to the major league rotation soon and for a long a time.

Formerly Uecker Quit Usingers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe with the current draft settings you are going to see more signable guys being drafted from rounds 5-10 and guys that are going to be tough signs drafted after round 10. This is a little bit different than it was in the past but it is going down the same road. For example next year if the Brewers get a top 10 pick and instead of drafting a player slotted in that range they go with a player and negotiate with that player to sign for a pick in the 20-25 range. That saved money will then be able to be applied to later rounds. For example the Brewers could get a HS player who has a strong commitment to a college and throw money at the player basically giving him a 1st round signing bonus and being under the draft pool.

 

This is basically what the Brewers did this year in drafting players earlier than they should have been drafted and thus giving them a rather large signing bonus pool for late round players. The Royals also did this with their first pick they took a player who was thought of as being a late 1st round or early 2nd round pick and paying him basically a late 1st round signing bonus. Doing this can help a team draft and sign players in the later rounds for guys who are tough signs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Nate, that's right. The system is weird right now, so teams are taking signable guys in rounds 6-10, a lot of college seniors...then they're paying guys who were tougher signs, in round 15, etc.

 

This is going to make for some funny looking stuff when 7th rounders are cut and 18th rounders play in the majors for ten seasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
I believe with the current draft settings you are going to see more signable guys being drafted from rounds 5-10 and guys that are going to be tough signs drafted after round 10. This is a little bit different than it was in the past but it is going down the same road. For example next year if the Brewers get a top 10 pick and instead of drafting a player slotted in that range they go with a player and negotiate with that player to sign for a pick in the 20-25 range. That saved money will then be able to be applied to later rounds. For example the Brewers could get a HS player who has a strong commitment to a college and throw money at the player basically giving him a 1st round signing bonus and being under the draft pool.

 

This is basically what the Brewers did this year in drafting players earlier than they should have been drafted and thus giving them a rather large signing bonus pool for late round players. The Royals also did this with their first pick they took a player who was thought of as being a late 1st round or early 2nd round pick and paying him basically a late 1st round signing bonus. Doing this can help a team draft and sign players in the later rounds for guys who are tough signs.

[sarcasm]Wow...you were WAAAY off. They picked 12th...[/sarcasm]

Icbj86c-"I'm not that enamored with Aaron Donald either."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

Riddle me this...

 

This year's draft has an unusually high number of players who have a first round grade, but who are currently injured.

 

So, GM, would you rather the Brewers take the risk-reward guy, or bypass the medical issue, and take the guy they are more comfortable with as of today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Splitter, I thought the overall talent wasn't that high. If it's Unusually high then by the time the Crew picks at 15, wouldn't they be getting one of those first round grade talents? I was of the belief that the draft was weaker and didn't really have much in the way of top 10 type players and then a bunch of end of 1st rd early 2nd round talent?

 

Now, if that's the case, I'd willingly pick the risk-reward guy netting a top 10 talent over a late 1st round talent at best.

 

If the draft is filled with 1st rd talent, then you just take who you're most comfortable with and likely not the injured pick.

 

I thought the injured group had separated themselves as being around top 5 worthy certainly top 10 over the teens and later rankings. If the group is pretty much awash with equal talent whomever you're picking. It doesn't really matter. You just hope your scouting picks the one that progresses the best of that group through their intuition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
The Brewer Fanatic Caretaker Fund

You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Brewers community on the internet. Included with caretaking is ad-free browsing of Brewer Fanatic.

×
×
  • Create New...