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EHSPN Draft Review
A recap of the 2006 EHCC draft
By Pop Cickels and Pedro Gammo / EHSPN.com
Quebec City
Gammo (B+) - The grade is this high only because it fits what he seems to be doing with his team. For a team that's decided to disband and bring in all youth, this was a good draft for the Piglets. Pie, Hansen, McGowan, Pen won't be ready until the late 2006 or probably even 2007.
Verlander was an obvious pick at #1. I think just about any team in any situation would have selected him 1st overall. Wilkerson, Barajas, Penn, and Anderson probably won't make the QC's opening day roster. For many teams in the draft this would have been a C or C+ draft at best, but since all the players fit the Piglet's new "mold" they're creating I think they did a pretty good job.
Cickels (D+) – Though the Piglets have had a history of missing on can’t-miss picks, the first overall selection proved to be a good one. Verlander finds himself in the rotation of a young, upstart team in Detroit, and should put up adequate numbers for the next few seasons as he hopefully blossoms into an ace.
That good pick is sullied by the absurd “Felix Pie” sweepstakes at the 8th overall pick. It astounds me at how hard the Piglets have worked to destroy one of the elite franchises in the league. Pie, avoided in two minor league drafts, is now the savior of the Piglets outfield already made up of two Pie clones. In front of him sits a more promising prospect in Jeremy Hermida and Lastings Milledge is in their minor league system. For a player who won’t get substantial playing time until 2007 or 2008 it is silly for any team to sit on a player who brings them close to nothing for two years in the hope that he will be able to hit double-digit homeruns on top of his 50+ stolen bases in the majors. The Pie selection is a perfect example at how the EHCC has gone overboard for unproven youth and hopefully it will cost the Piglets down the road.
Quebec City rounded out their draft nicely with Hansen and Willingham, but it doesn’t overshadow the complete lack of value they got in the first round.
Golden
Gammo (A-) - It's hard to do all that poorly when you have your first 3 picks in the 1st round and your fourth pick at the top of the 2nd. GLD's main problem was youth, or lack there of. Kinsler, Zimmerman, and Murton give that youth (and power and other attributes) to his aging line up and gives stability at key positions with the long term health of Griffey and Glaus always in question. Murton was the third, arguably 2nd, best young OF in the draft and if LV hadn't needed a catcher so badly it was suspected they would have targeting him before GLD's pick.
Their late round picks were littered with some middle of the road starters in Robertson, Tomko, and Marquis and it'll be interesting to see who actually make's their opening day roster (if any of them do). The trade for Dan Johnson gives them a good back up at 1B in case Giambi goes down for now. He's young but I'm not sure how high his ceiling actually is.
Golden needed some more pitching depth going into the draft. Kinsler and Zimmerman were good picks at the position they were taken, but after that the gryphons needed to focus on pitching and they failed to do so. Marquis, Robertson, and Tomko probably won't even make the team with the acquisition of Johnson, which is a shame. One of them having a guaranteed sot on the Gryphons’ staff might bump up their draft grade to an A.
Cickels (B-) – I grade teams on the value of their picks and where they picked them, and while Kinsler and Zimmerman were good picks, at 2nd and 4th overall they should be good picks. As I didn’t up Quebec City’s grade for picking the obvious choice in Verlander, I can’t do the same for Golden.
Matt Murton at the end of the first round is very suspect. I don’t believe he is a strong enough prospect to warrant the first round pick, but considering Golden didn’t pick again until the 5th round and the unholy rush to draft anyone who hadn’t played a full Major League season yet, it was a decent pick.
Chris Ray to lead off the second round was a nice with Bobby Jenks off the board. Ray probably has the most secure closing job of the players available, and should put up good numbers for Golden through the year.
Weymouth
Gammo (B-) - Weymouth didn't do bad, but he didn't excite anyone either. Madson and Heilman are risky picks at the top. Madson, who should start in the rotation this year, could excel or fall right back into the bullpen.
Heilman is 27, not exactly old. The question is that was 2005 a sign that he's improving (great K rate) or a sign that he's plateauing considering his late blossom as a "prospect". Good pitcher but not sure he wouldn't have fallen to the 2nd round. WEY also picked up a few middle of the road pitchers in Byrd, Small, and Lilly (all of which will fight for a spot on the WEY staff come opening day).
Boyer should take over the closing roll in Florida, if not on opening day, than soon down the road. He could get a few more saves added on to Huston Street and Joe Nathan's numbers for Shaddupu.
The last three picks were kind of desperation. Belliard, Valentin, and Linebrink probably won't make the team, though Linebrink has the best shot of the 3. Since they didn't have any real problems on offense they're plan of going pitching all the way was their best course of action, though I feel there may have been some steals in there they could have picked that probably will have panned out better.
Cickels (C-) – Two young guns like Ryan Madson and Aaron Heilman would have been a nice boost to Shaddupu’s rotation, even if they are both high K, High era style players that already make up a good part of Weymouth’s ranks. They were risky picks for a Shaddupu team with their sights set on another championship and now that both projected to pitch from the bullpen, it is a tough blow. Weymouth can only hope that they eventually find their way into the rotation, but until they do their value is minimal to the league powerhouse.
Weymouth backed up their two earlier picks with Paul Byrd and Ted Lilly, both high on their scouting reports, so it wasn’t a complete bust, but clearly starting pitching is a need for them this season. With 11 starting pitchers taken before they chose again in the 6th round, there is no doubt that the drop off from Madson or Heilman to Aaron Small is a big one.
Bizton
Cickels (A-) – While it is shocking for someone who actually proved themselves last season being taken so high, the Tadahito Iguchi pick is a good one. He is in a packed lineup and should put up actual stats over potential stats, something a team who needs to fill 10 positions should enjoy. Iguchi is older, but if Matsui and Ichiro are any example, expect him to meet or exceed his 2005 numbers.
Bizton clearly took advantage of the plethora of veteran talent available, drafting Magglio Ordonez, Jose Guillen and Preston Wilson. While it is an overload to their outfield, all three should put up better numbers than both Granderson and Murton over the next two years.
Ramon Hernandez in the second round could be one of the better picks in the draft. Had team officials not been so lax, Bizton would have easily owned a playoff spot this year. Now, with quality picks, they will be in the thick of the battle.
Gammo (C) - I'm not sure if he picked Iguchi because he was the first offensive player listed when you opened the yahoo rankings or if it was because it was the player he was "projected" to take in the mock draft. Whichever the case, this was not the best pick for the #6 overall pick.
With players like Murton, Granderson, Jojima, and Pie still available, Bizton could have had their pick of a young stud OF or the best C in the draft. Instead they went the route of a 30+ second baseman who had an above average year in 2005. Middle infield was not their biggest whole since they have Ellis to play 2B and Upton to play SS (in the future). Hernandez was prob one of the better C after Jojima, but with not many teams looking for that position he may have waited a few rounds. Bizton had stated they wanted to get younger in the OF so excuse me if I'm a little confused with their OF selections (Wilson, Ordonez, Guillen, Alou). All of them are over the age of 30. Ordonez and Wilson are both injury prone and Alou, well, he's like 50.
Orlando Cabrera shouldn't have even been on his radar and the same goes with the recently deceased Brian Lawrence. Corey Lidle and Sidney Ponson round out their pitching staff, not terrible picks. Instead of getting all the pieces they needed to fill the holes they had, they opened up some new holes and created some new logjams in the middle infield. Watch for them to do some dropping and adding before the opener.
Winston-Salem
Cickels (B) – The Green Monsters draft was nothing to write home about, but they did solidify their bullpen with Jenks and Orvella. Two picks that were taken in the proper rounds as neither would have reached the team’s next pick. While some may argue over the stability of Jenks’ job, he was the most proven closer available and Orvella is very promising.
Picks three and four were far from pretty. By taking Kevin Mench in the third round they missed out on Josh Willingham, a better prospect than Jeff Mathis. Though Mathis is no slouch, and he may have been preferred over Willingham to Monster management, they could have given themselves the option if they decided to wait on Mench.
Gammo (B-) - When this team knows what it wants it knows and doesn't question itself. As they did last year, the WS team picked 5 players and than booked it out of the draft room. They were one of only two teams that did not pick at least 1 starting pitcher in the draft.
The focuses on one of their major holes (RP) and stuck with it for the first two rounds. Though they might not have selected the best available at that position. If he selected Jenks with his 7th overall pick back in November no one would have questioned him. But as it stands there's speculation whether or not he'll keep his job and his ability. Orvella is competing for the closer roll as well. Ray in Baltimore and Gordon in Philly might have been better solid picks for the Monsters.
Mench and Rowand are oh-hum picks. Their OF was pretty solid going into the draft, and I don't feel they needed any help in that department (Crawford, Sizemore, Baldelli, Pena).
Mathis gives them a back up in case Pudge goes down, but I'm not sure he should have been taken over Barrett, Barajas, or even LoDuca. Not terrible, but could have been much, much better.
Toyko
Gammo (B+) - For the picks they had and the needs they had TKO did a great job at this year's draft. Some of the lesser picks are moot points because they wont (or shouldn't at least) make the team, namely German, Bautista, and Bagwell.
Granderson, as stated by TKO's spokesperson at the draft, was a nice conciliation prize to losing out on the apparent "Felix Pie Sweepstake" to QC.
Kotchman made Dan Johnson expendable and Hardy is a decent young SS just in case Barnes doesn't pan out. TKO loves having many options at every position, except 2B for some reason. 2B was TKO's biggest hole going into the draft, and after the draft it still is. This is the one thing holding TKO’s grade below an A type grade.
Cickels (C) – With their only pick in the first three rounds, Tokyo took Curtis Granderson. With Granderson, I am only projecting him to be an above-average fantasy player over the course of his career, it is surprising especially considering the number of talented young outfielders they already had on their team. I would think Craig Hansen, Kameron Loe or even Josh Willingham would be a more fitting pick for the team whose pitching staff is blotchy, but Granderson it is.
Casey Kotchman and Dewon Brazelton, taken in the 4th and 5th rounds respectively, could be nice little surprises for Toyko, but overall it was a ho hum draft for the foreigners.
Rakeville
Gammo (B+) - The opposite of WS, the Rockets' drafting team used their first 9 picks on pitching (5 of which being starters). Now the off-season was very helpful to the Rockets, giving them arguably they best offense in the league, so bats were the furthest thing on Jack Reed's mind I'm sure. He did a great job of realizing it, though it shouldn't have taken much effort to do so. They did pick all pitchers (Hall and Quintanilla shouldn't make the opening day roster, not as players anyway).
I just feel they didn't pick the best available pitchers at the time of each pick. Bruce Chen was a good pick, considering he's put up decent numbers for a middle of the road starter and that he now has Leo Mazzone in Baltimore to help him out but Ian Snell is risky, as he's proven in the past, Arroyo, though moving to the NL, is going to see his ERA and WHIP rise in Cincy (plus he's their #1 starter, going up against other #1 starters...if RAK was looking for wins there were better options).
All in all the picks weren't bad, but not good enough for an A rating. The again, their pitching staff isn't all that bad to begin with.
Cickels (C) – Clearly looking for starting pitching, the talent pool was full of average starters. Rakeville took three veterans with their first five picks, though all are still in their twenties. While none are expected to break out and be an ace, they should be consistently good starters for the playoff bound Rockets.
Jose Capellan and Neal Cotts are setup men for two struggling closers, and both may get an opportunity to close this season, but it is hard to believe Rakeville will hold on to both of them until they have that chance.
Bridgewater
Gammo (B) - If Clemens comes back and Gagne falters then BRW's grade would go up to at least a B+, if not an A. But as it stands Clemens is leaning toward retirement and Gagne has been doing great in Spring Training, holding Baez to a set-up man position. Not sure if these picks would have stood if BRW management wasn't asleep at the wheel, but as it stands two VERY risky picks. Benson should also benefit from Mazzone's tutoring in Baltimore and the lack of attention given to him and his wife in NY (since Anna has actually decided to stay in NY and take on all the "burden" of the attention by herself.
Reitsma seems to have the nod at the closer position in Atlanta, though saves wasn't going to be a problem for the BRW staff with Gonzalez, Ryan, and Hoffman on their staff. Chacon and Wang, two new Yankee starters, were brought in. Not sure if they'll both make the roster, but one of them should.
For some reason BRW thought they needed OF help so they picked up Lane from Houston. I figured their current line-up of Berkman, Gomes, Tracy, Giles was fine.
Freel was probably their best pick, taking into consideration the round he was taken in. Freel was taken with the 2nd to last pick of the 5th round. It's still a question if Freel has the speed he had before his injury in 2005, but he plays 2B and 3B and if he has his speed back he's a great option off the bench for a few stolen bags.
Cickels (C+) – Clemens may be a bust in the first round, but he was on many draft boards in the later rounds and could be a blessing for the Weasels pitching rotation if he returns.
Bridgewater was looking pitching, and Kris Benson and Shawn Chacon will provide more veteran leadership to a very veteran team. Wang was good grab for them in the fourth round, while Denny Baez and Chris Retisma should give them plenty of solid innings in the bullpen.
Despite their absence early, the rest of their draft shaped up fairly well and it will be interesting to see who makes the club.
Las Vegas
Cickels (F) – The Doggs started out well, taking the Japanese catcher Kenji Johjima at the back end of the first round. That is when the success ended.
Las Vegas picked again in the third round, taking Scot Shields, a player who could have easily been replaced by another reliever in the fifth round or beyond. They then followed the pick with Carl Pavano, the injured pitcher who was abysmal in the American League last season.
On a team that needs absolutely no help stealing bases, the Doggs picked Joey Gathright in the fourth round, leaving Ryan Freel, a much needed utility man to fall to Bridgewater in the 5th round. Without Freel, they ended up taking Luis Gonzalez late. While he fills the utility need for Las Vegas, he does it by sucking. Hardly optimal on a team shooting for a title.
David Wells was a nice pick in the 5th round, but the Doggs should have addressed their end of the rotation pitching early when they had more to choose from. Wells is a conciliation prize.
Gammo (A) - The Doggs had very little holes going into the draft. They filled their main concern with the best catcher on the market in Kenji Johjima from Seattle. Though there were a few players they probably would have liked to have taken over Kenji, none of them would help that hole and the Doggs didn't have another pick until the 3rd round.
Scott Shields may seem like a high pick to some in the 3rd round, especially since he's not a closer (yet) but with the health of K-Rod always in question in Anaheim, and the amount of vulture wins he's gotten over the past few years Shields is a good pick here (he was also the 3rd best available player on the yahoo list so more than likely LV wouldn't have had another chance to grab him over the newly established Bye Week).
The Doggs only selected 2 starting pitchers in the draft, and since they have arguably the best rotation in the EHCC going into the draft as it was this wasn't such a bad thing. Carl Pavano, who will start the year on the DL, doesn't help (yet) or hurt, since he won't take up a roster spot and David Wells playing in Boston should get the Doggs 13-15 wins as long as he stays healthy.
The bench of the Doggs was also a question going into he draft so Joey Gathright, who will have a starting job with Tampa Bay while Rocco Baldelli is healing who would probably only be put in if they're desperate for a few more runs and stolen bases and Luis Gonzalez, who is starting 2B in Colorado this year and is eligible at every offensive position except C was brought onto the squad.
Three set up men were drafted at the end of their draft. It's questionable move for sure, but really at the end of the draft the best set up men in the game are going to be more valuable (in ERA and WHIP) than any of the starters still left on the board. Benoit might make the roster when Ben Sheets goes on the DL and the other two may fight it out with themselves or a free agent for the spot that opens up when Mark Prior hits the DL.
The Doggs filled all their holes without setting up log jams. Not at all a bad draft.
Peoria
Gammo (C+) - For a new team that feels they "aren't going anywhere this year" they sure did have a terrible draft for the future. Maybe they're hoping Bill Hall gets traded to a team that will give him a starting job. Maybe he's hoping Kearns brings up the average and starts hitting like Cincy thought he would. Maybe he though Milton Bradley would stop being such a head case. And maybe he thought it was 2004 and Corey Patterson still had potential. Not sure why he thought MacDougal would pan out, considering every year someone thinks he will and every year he disappoints. If Burgos makes the team the MacDougal pick is moot, but there were other closers out there worth looking at. Doumit won't ever put up the numbers Barrett already does and Todd Coffey was just a home town favorite. Let's hope PEO does better in the minor league draft...wait a second.
Cickels (F) – By drafting Abrioux Burgos in the sixth round, Peoria put themselves on the map as the team to beat.
They took a lot of risks in this draft, the least of which was Bill Hall. Selected a round too high, Hall should get enough playing time around the infield to produce decent numbers. Bradley, coming off a DL hampered season, could also put up nice numbers.
Beyond that, Kearns and McDougal were dreadful picks. Patterson has struggled, but in the seventh round, he is worth a shot. He will most certainly get more playing time than Felix Pie.
Tijuana
Cickels (A) – They had traded many of their picks away prior to the draft, but they made the most of what they had left. Kameron Loe in the top of the 3rd round was a nice steal for the Hispanics, who an upside pitcher for half the price it cost Weymouth for Madson and Heilman.
Tijuana followed it up by getting Geoff Jenkins in the Fifth round. He is a quality bat that should round out the Hispanics lineup nicely from the utility spot.
The best pick in the entire draft may be Tom Gordon in the sixth round. Believed to be the closer in Philadelphia, he should be a saves generator for the Hispanics. Even if they can only get a handful of saves out of him, the risk is no worse than Bobby Jenks who was taken in the first round. While it would have been nice to get Kinsler, a pick they traded away, they easily made the most of the picks they had.
Gammo (B+) - For the picks he had and the pick they acquired they did a pretty good job. Their first pick didn't come until the top of the 3rd round, which they actually had to trade for by giving up Jake Westbrook and receiving aging Mike Sweeny. They made up for it by picking up 9 game winner Kameron Loe from Texas, who could be this year's Chris Young. I'm surprised this guy fell this far actually, but TIJ noticed and pounced on him when they could.
Jenkins, Dellucci, and Clark give the Hispanics some flexibility in the OF. Since they traded for Sweeney I'm not sure why they needed Overbay however, and Claussen will have to fight for an opening day job.
Betancourt, picked in the supplemental rounds could be a nice pick up at the SS position if Lugo falters. If these picks were made any higher than they actually were I'd lower the grade, but considering what TIJ had to work with and what they needed they did a pretty good job. A different type of B+ than the ones given to other teams.
Pop Cickels and Pedro Gammo are contributors to EHSPN.com. Gammo has his own blog, while Cickels is forced to beg for work each week.
