GREETINGS! -- aka: the draft thread 2013

[A Boy Named Seo]

MLB is telling me round 8 (pick 236) is actually Ricky Knapp, pitcher from Florida Gulf Coast University. His old man, Rick, is a pitching coordinator for the Dodgers.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy MD wrote: Sheesh, it's like tax law. You claim it's designed to help the poor, but all it does is encourage the rich to come up with ever-more-sophisticated dodges.

Isn't it a little more even-handed? The real trick seems to be to draft someone who'll sign for, say, a million or two under slot in the first*, then use that million to tempt a couple more iffy-signability types from their verbal commitments in the middle rounds. Expand the middle-class! Hand up, not hand out!



*Assuming there's no once-in-a-generation type up when your team is scheduled to pick

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Hrm... Rubin tweeted it, then deleted it.

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Sheesh, it's like tax law. You claim it's designed to help the poor, but all it does is encourage the rich to come up with ever-more-sophisticated dodges. Isn't it a little more even-handed? The real trick seems to be to draft someone who'll sign for, say, a million or two under slot in the first*, then use that million to tempt a couple more iffy-signability types from their verbal commitments in the middle rounds. Expand the middle-class! Hand up, not hand out! *Assuming there's no once-in-a-generation type up when your team is scheduled to pick

_That_ is what the Astros did. Basically got two first round picks that way .

[batmagadanleadoff]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Sheesh, it's like tax law. You claim it's designed to help the poor, but all it does is encourage the rich to come up with ever-more-sophisticated dodges. Isn't it a little more even-handed? The real trick seems to be to draft someone who'll sign for, say, a million or two under slot in the first*, then use that million to tempt a couple more iffy-signability types from their verbal commitments in the middle rounds. Expand the middle-class! Hand up, not hand out! *Assuming there's no once-in-a-generation type up when your team is scheduled to pick

Plus, the better teams (and likely, or at least presumably, wealthier) have less total money to spend on the entire draft. So whatever the better teams can do, the worsers can do better than the betters.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Instead of Iffy-Signability Ivan in the early third, we could have had 1A-ranked prep catcher-with-a-bat/consensus mid-first-rounder this guy.

I realize fully how pointless the who-we-could-have-had exercise is, but... man, can you EVER have too much catching depth?

[A Boy Named Seo]

I think signability is part of the reason Denny slipped so much, though.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Round 9, 266 Mets go college outfielder again and take Patrick Biondi, from U. of Michigan. "Tremendous pick" sez MLB.com guy.

[Zvon]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Round 9, 266 Mets go college outfielder again and take Patrick Biondi, from U. of Michigan. "Tremendous pick" sez MLB.com guy.

I love the glove TM

[A Boy Named Seo]

Round 10, pick 296, Mets grab shortshop Luis Guillorme from Coral Springs Charter High School in Florida. MLB.com bros say he's all glove and even dropped the name 'Omar Vizquel'.

[Zvon]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Round 10, pick 296, Mets grab shortshop Luis Guillorme from Coral Springs Charter High School in Florida. MLB.com bros say he's all glove and even dropped the name 'Omar Vizquel'.

All glove? Bummer. I love the glove TM when a player is in the field. When he's at the plate I love the bat.

[Frayed Knot]

"Tremendous pick" sez MLB.com guy.

Just once I'd like to hear somebody say of a newly picked guy:
'Yeah this guy is almost certain to suck. Bad kid too; even for a product of his dysfunctional, trailer-park, white-trash family this dude is a real asshole'

[Frayed Knot]

Love this tweet from BA's John Manual: Paul O'Neill's nephew goes to the Yankees, Michigan OF Michael O'Neill. Uncle throws helmet in celebration

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Holy fuck!! LJ Mazzilli!!

"I'm so grateful for this opportunity from the New York Mets and from Jeff Wilpon," L.J. said on a conference call. "I'm so excited to start, whenever I do start, and work hard and try to bring another Mazzilli to the Mets. It's a cool opportunity to be drafted by the same team as my dad, who was picked 40 years [ago]."

[seawolf17]

I remember LJ walking around the college fair with his dad at Greenwich HS several years ago. (I do not, however, remember seeing Matt Harvey at Fitch.)

[Frayed Knot]

Rounds 11 through the end -- what do they go now, 40? -- resume today.

The most interesting part about this day is that the money cap situation disappears after ten rounds so you may see some teams take flyers on HS kids who are thought to be committed to colleges. I notice that Biggio's kid, for instance, hasn't been selected at all so far despite being listed as having Top-100 talent. He's supposedly headed to college (forget where) but somebody will probably spend a pick today in order to throw a wad of money at him now that that amount won't affect what they can pay to anybody else and see if they can talk him out of college and into uniform NOW!!!!

[Edgy MD]

Problem with that one in particular is that if he's Biggio's kid, he's probably not hurting for a new car.

I imagine that most of the legacies do at least a few years of college these days.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Reading up on the draft sounds as though the geekosphere highly approves of a Mets draft for the first time in years.

Smith -- potential superstar
Church -- throws 95
Wilson -- Raw but already a serious power hitter
Meisner -- 6-foot-7 "Projectable" curveballer
Mazzilli -- college senior, scrappy 2Bman with weak glove but a wonderful Met legacy
King - switch-hitting OF
Stuart -- world-class speep
Oberste -- college power/contact guy
Knapp -- polished 4-pitch guy, son of MLB pitching coach
Biondi -- serious CF leather, leadoff guy
Guillorme -- Best SS glove there was

Looks as though most of them have good potential to be MLB players and the longer shots possess rare abilities. And the ones with less star potential have bloodlines. These fuckers can hit.

[Frayed Knot]

Problem with that one in particular is that if he's Biggio's kid, he's probably not hurting for a new car. I imagine that most of the legacies do at least a few years of college these days.

All true, but someone might still try unless papa Bidge has sent word out not to even bother. And, even if not him, there will still be others who'll get big bucks thrown at them for similar reasons.
The way things are set up now, the high-talent kid who swears he's going to college in order to get his price up gets passed over in the 1st & 2nd rounds because teams want a surer thing there; he then gets passed over in Rounds 3-10 because teams can't spend what he wants there without blowing up their entire draft on account of the money allotted getting smaller with each round and pick. That leaves Round 11 on beyond for those kind of chances.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets wasted a draft pick on Glen Johnson who up and went to college. You'd figure if anybody's going to be square with you about what'd it take to sign their kid, it'd be your major league batting coach.

As for Mazzilli Junior, the next move the Mets need to make after signing him is to convince his dad to abdure his sinful ways and take their offer to manage the Cyclones (and LJ) this summer.

[A Boy Named Seo]

5 picks so far today, 5 college players.

326 - Tyler Bashlor, RHP South Georgia College
356 - Jeff McNeil, SS Cal St. Long Beach
386 - Kevin McGowan, RHP Franklin Pierce University
416 - JD Leckenby, RHP Washington St.
446 - Colton Plaia, C Loyola Marymount University

[A Boy Named Seo]

Tyler Bashlor:



MLB.com calls him a 'sturdy right hander'. This is Tyler's FB cover photo. His pet deer looks really sleepy.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Jeff McNeil, Long Beach St.

Started every game and struck out only 11 times in 221 AB's. Played 4 positions and was pretty good apparently... named first team all conference as utility player.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Kevin McGowan 6'6", 215 pounds. Bet he's projectable.

[Zvon]

Hey mom, don't forget to turn on the dead eye filter!

[A Boy Named Seo]

JD Leckenby. Sidewinder runs it up in the high 80's apparently. #EddieKunz2.0

MLB Scouting Vid

He's a Christian and fisherman. He and Tyler Bashlor are gonna best bros.

From JD's twitter: "Philippians 4:13 - live4him brothers in crist - Cougs Baseball and Criminal Law, Blessed to be a Coug and to be where i am today. Go Cougs!"

[A Boy Named Seo]

Colton Plaia. Another bruiser at 6'3", 225.

WCC all conference team, including defensive player of the year.

[Frayed Knot]

Local kid alert -- 29th round pick: Anthony Ray, LHP from Ward Melville HS out in East Setauket (L.I.)

And if this sounds slightly familiar it may be because the Mets spent their top pick (#78 overall) four years ago for a LHP from the same town/same HS - Steven Matz
And Matz is actually pitching regularly this season for the first time since injuring himself while signing his contract.
Results have been mixed: 10 starts, 2-3, 3.22, 1.30 WHiP at Savannah, but it's a (re)beginning.

[Frayed Knot]

Cavan Biggio - 29th round to the Phillies
Enjoy campus life son.

[Edgy MD]

Basically Everyone Related To An MLB Player Was Drafted We've gone over this before, but there's no sport that can match baseball for pure draft nepotism. Some of them are legit prospects: Colin Moran, J.P Crawford, and Hunter Harvey went in the first round. But most won't amount to anything, despite their superior baseball genetics. It's still understandable: the PR of taking a legend's son, or even a great-grandnephew more than outweighs the value available the 35th round. Now that the 2013 draft is in the books, let's run down the bloodlines. Sons and grandsons: Craig Biggio's son Roger Clemens's son Andy Pettitte's son Torii Hunter's son Bucky Dent's son Clay Bellinger's son Edwin Diaz's son Ned Eades's son Mike Benjamin's son Bryan Harvey's son Paul Quantrill's son Calvin Schiraldi's son Kirt Manwaring's son Jamie Moyer's son Scott Nielsen's son Lee Mazzilli's son Tim Wallach's son Walt Weiss's son John Farrell's son Tim Unroe's son Ed Williams's son Frank Wren's son Mark Leiter's son (and Al Leiter's nephew) Vance Law's son (and Vern Law's grandson) Lee May's grandson Carl Yastrzemski's grandson Brothers: Jason Heyward's brother Justin Verlander's brother Rex Brothers's brother Kyle Seager's brother A.J. Griffin's brother Nolan Arenado's brother Other: Carl Crawford's cousin Brad Lidge's cousin B.J. Surhoff's nephew Paul O'Neill's nephew Gary Sheffield's nephew Robin Yount's nephew Chris Speier's nephew "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's great-grandnephew Undrafted: Manny Ramirez's son Kurt Bevacqua's son Rafael Palmeiro's son Pat Borders's son Jay Buhner's son John Cangelosi's son John Franco's son Bob Geren's son Frank Wren's other son Harmon Killebrew's grandson Willie Stargell's grandson Alex Rodriguez's nephew Dan Plesac's nephew Ruben Amaro's nephew