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EHCC Fact or Fiction
Minor League Draft Edition
By Pedro Gammo and Pop Cickels / EHSPN.com
Fact or Fiction: Adam Miller was the right choice as the Number 1 overall pick.
Gammo: Fact
Adam Miller was a good pick at #1. He's a quality pitcher and I think he'll do very well when he's called up to help his new EHCC team. With his recent injury though I think he might have fallen to a lower pick, perhaps #4 which also ended up being the Quebec City pick. Since both Ian Stewart and Miller were the top two guys on the Piglet's draft boards, it's really a moot point with which pick they drafted each since they got both of them. Neither would have made it past the 4th slot however. Miller's long term potential is good and thus I do feel he was worth a #1 overall pick. At least he better be, seeing as how the Piglets traded Barry Zito, a former Cy Young winner, for the pick.
Cickels: Fiction
He was a terrible choice. History will look back on this draft as the worst in EHCC history, solely because Miller was taken first overall. Pitchers should never be taken first unless they are the next coming of Mark Prior. Miller is far from that. The injured fire-baller is inexperienced and immature, only showing signs of his ability this season. He is a pitcher that could have easily been exchanged with several other pitchers in the draft, and could have even slipped to the second round. The inability for Quebec City to target a position player for that pick, or to trade down and get more value is disappointing.
Fact or Fiction: Tokyo had too many draft picks.
Gammo: Fact
It's one thing to go young, and it's another to go TOO young. The Tokyo Oogoogagas have drafted six prospects to go along with two minor leaguers on their minor league affiliate roster and 3 minor leaguers currently on their major league roster. (Not to mention the multiple players on their roster who were currently called up in the past 2 months.) They are going to have to pick and choose which prospects are worth calling up because the bulk of them are going to get the call to join the major league squad at the same time. Unless they plan on trading away some of their youngsters, they are going to have trouble organizing who's worth getting the call and who's not worth the roster slot.
Cickels: Fiction
Tokyo has put themselves in an excellent position. They now have the flexibility to build their team in any image they want. With a plethora of young talent protected, they can be more patient with their triple EH guys than the ones sitting on their 25-man roster. They are taking a lot of the guessing out of the prospect game and, rather, sitting back and seeing who develops.
Fact or Fiction: Weymouth can't hitch its wagon to the Diamondbacks and expect to do well.
Gammo: Fiction
MLB teams bounce around from good to bad all the time. Look at the Nationals, White Sox, and Orioles. They were all suggested to finish 3rd or worse in their respective divisions, and while the Orioles are currently in 3rd place, they all led their division for a strong period of the first half. The Diamondbacks have some quality prospects in their system and Weymouth is banking on this with their draft. Drew is reportedly one of the best SS prospects out there, and Jackson and Quentin are regarded as two of the best OF prospects (though Jackson faces a move to 1B) in the game. To be honest, I feel it was a coincidence that all the picks made by the islanders happen to be from Arizona, but nonetheless, I don't feel they were poor decisions.
Cickels: Fact
Yukon is retarded.
Fact or Fiction: Quebec City had the best draft.
Gammo: Fact
But just barely. Based solely on the fact that they had five picks and got 4 of their top 5 guys on their board (they missed out on Jeff Niemann to Tokyo), I'd say the Piglets made out the best in the draft. They didn't blow the 1st overall pick and Stewart is by far one of the top 5 hitters in the minor leagues, independent of the fact that he will be playing in Colorado. With Scott Rolen aging quickly and the recent trade of Morgan Ensberg, Quebec City needed a replacement at 3B, and Stewart is the answer. Hermida will add speed and depth to the Piglet's somewhat aging outfield when he gets the call, while Milledge will come up after Hermida, perhaps in 2007 and add an extra option for pop in the long term (along with rookie of the year possibility Nick Swisher, already on the Piglet's major league roster). Brian Dopirak was probably the best pick for the Piglets. With Derek Lee holding Dopirak back on both the MLB and EHCC side of things, the Piglets are in a good situation. Handcuffing the two was a good choice in my book.
Cickels: Fiction
The value of their picks and the position they were drafting are not even close. Of all their picks, Ian Stewart is the only one selected appropriately. They drafted two mid-level outfielders, one with a first round pick. By taking Hermida in the first round, they missed out on Daric Barton when they were obviously in the market for a first baseman. Brian Dopirak is a good second round pick, but in light of what they missed, I don't feel Quebec City understood the philosophy behind the other teams drafting and forced picks that were of less value.
Fact or Fiction: Hanley Ramirez was the steal of the draft.
Gammo: Fact
And he might have saved the Green Monster's draft single handedly. Ramirez dropped on many team's boards due to rumors of an attitude problem from an inside source. There had also been sightings of him partying with current major league SS Edgar Renteria in a Weymouth bar by visiting GM Pat Renaud. "He didn't seem to have a good head on his shoulders," Renaud told me recently. It wasn't thought that he would go as high as some previously expected, but I never thought he'd drop all the way to the second round. Many GM's thought that the Rakeville Rockets would take him with the 7th overall pick as part of their search for the next great Rocket shortstop. Those theories were dismissed when, prior to the draft, Rakeville GM Jack Reed made comments regarding his feelings toward Ramirez. "Never draft a player that hangs out with [Edgar] Renteria." Reed's feelings toward the Weymouth shortstop have long been known, so it is not a surprise that he would have little to no interest in him after word of him hanging out with the 'enemy' spread.
Still, Ramirez is thought to be a great hitting prospect, especially if he stays at the shortstop position. He may face a move to the outfield if called up or traded to another team with a good SS situation. Either or, I feel he's a good addition to Winston-Salem's offense and a steal in the second round.
Cickels: Fiction
A good pick at the top of the second round, but Thomas Diamond was the real steal. Falling to Tokyo in the middle of the second, he was a legitimate first round pitcher.
Pedro Gammo and Pop Cickels write for EHSPN.com. Jayson Snark was too busy with the "Adam Miller for President" World Tour to write his half of Fact or Fiction this week.
