Saturday, June 10, 2006

THIS Is Why We Don't Get Involved In Pre/Post Draft Hype!!!

Allan Simpson, at PG Cross Checker, rated the Mets as having the worst draft this year, and the D-Backs as having the strongest. He cites an unnamed scouting director:

“We normally just move around the name plates on our board as players are drafted, but with Mets we had to write in a lot of names,” a scouting director said. “They drafted a lot of players we didn’t know anything about.”

Simpson felt we blew it by not signing Beato; Kevin Mulvey is over-rated and was dropped half-way through the season as the #1 starter @ Villanova; John Holdzkom, who we drafted 2 rounds later, is listed as a potential malcontent, although he stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall and has been clocked at 98 mph- he is labelled a malcontent because he quit in the middle of a game after a spat with his coach (shades of Brad Penny). Simpson believes we might have one saving grace in the draft, as we drafted supposedly unsignable Mississippi lefthander-outfielder Justin Woodall in the 19th round. Woodall is a top-ranked defensive back commited to playing college ball at Alabama, and made it clear that whoever drafted him would have to make a big financial commitment to him. Simpson speculated it would take in the neighborhood north of one million dollars.

What Simpson does NOT discuss is the drafting (and signing) of Daniel Stegall, nor the drafting of Jeremy Barfield. What Simpson ALSO does not discuss is the Mets signings of Fernando Martinez & Deolis Guerra, whom we consider our first round draft picks this year, nor the fact that, although we lost our first round pick this year, it was a result of signing the most sought-after closer on the free agent market this off-season, Billy Wagner.

We understand that there is a cottage industry in the evaluation of draft picks & drafts in sports; however, since we have been told that the likes of Shawn Abner, Terry Blocker, Billy Beane, Alex Escobar, Paul Wilson, et al, would be superstars and fell far short, while someone like Mike Piazza can be drafted in the 62nd round and become a hall-of-famer, we refuse to put our faith into these evaluations, one way or the other. We know that Omar knows what he is doing, and we have to trust that this draft will result in one or more major leaguers eventually promoted to our major league roster.

If you'd like to read Simpson's article, click here.

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