2008 Yankees Draft

[26 to 6]

Bill what crawled up you? It isn't that serious. There are 50 rounds, why are you so hung up on this one pick? Secondly, you're not a scout so I dont understand your strongly stated opinion regarding this kid. The Yankees drafted him last year too, so obviously there's something they like. Even if his ceiling isn't that high, does it hurt to take a shot on a guy who can throw with both arms? I also want to point out that most drafted pitchers don't throw upwards of 95. 86 to 89, while not overpowering is fine. I interned with a NY-Penn League team last summer and got to see a lot of draftees in their first year of pro ball, and guess what; most of them don't throw 94, 95, 96+. Success isn't based solely on how hard you throw the ball, more importantly is how you can control it and what you can do with your pitches. None of us have even seen this dude pitch yet, so lets save our critique.

 

I also don't understand your point in trying to compare picks from a particular round. It's so insignificant, it hardly matters. Theres 50 picks. Believe it or not a few 1st rounders from this draft wont make it, and in all likelihood a few 35-50th rounders will. The draft is a crapshoot in baseball.

[jacksonianmarch]

OK, with you so far.

 

 

 

We'll see. Meyer is being advised by Boras, and the Red Sox FO appears to have a "special relationship" with Boras at times. :thumbsup:

 

well, there is a problem. Typically, outside of the first round, it is frowned upon to offer late round picks more than a million. Now the sox wouldnt be the first team to break that unspoken rule, but even the yankees havent strayed past it recently (Angelini, Betances, Jackson, etc have all gotten 1 mil or less in rounds 8-10). Meyer is asking for top 5-10 pick money, ie 7-10 mil. AND, Boras loves to have his kids go to college if they dont get exactly what they want. IE, if the sox sign him, they will catch hell from the commish. But then again, if the commish really wanted to fix it, he'd force the players union to agree to slotting.

[jacksonianmarch]

Cut the crap, Yankees fan.

 

 

 

You're a self-stated intern. Does that put you in a position to disrespect a Red Sox fan's opinion on a Red Sox board?

 

 

 

I believe them to be incorrect.

 

 

 

Can he throw with both arms to the same batter?

 

 

 

How many post-college draftees lack a 90 mph fastball?

 

I never asserted that "upwards of 95" was the norm. I asserted that 86-89 was low. Challenge that. Show some f***ing evidence. You had the balls to challenge me and to fabricate a position for me--support a challenge to my actual position, admit that you were wrong, or shut the f*** up.

 

Righties maxing out at 89-90 get drafted typically in the late rounds if they had solid college numbers and proved to have solid off speed stuff. Venditte has ridiculous K numbers in a minor conference league, but he doesnt have the dynamite breaking pitch from the right side like he does from the left. IE, if he didnt have the added bonus of throwing left handed, he would not have been drafted IMO. Regardless, it doesnt matter where you take your fillers. The late rounds for the big market clubs typically have 3-5 signability guys, multiple filler picks and then a ton of projects. Venditte from either side alone screams filler. If he can become serviceable from both sides, then he could be a MR at best. He certainly doesnt seem likely to be a MLBer

[26 to 6]

did a bunch of these posts get deleted?

[yeszir]

did a bunch of these posts get deleted?

 

I moved them to fights and crap and then removed the thread. Carry on.

[26 to 6]

So they're not even in fights and crap or anything??

[a700hitter]

Everyone on this thread retired at age 40 or so? I'm 49 and still working. I need to get forced into early retirement. I think I'll start sleeping at my desk. Maybe management will look to retire me.

[26 Reasons to Hate Us]

In addition to OF Chris Smith (5th round) and OF Tommy Baldridge (33rd round), the Yankees have signed these picks over the last few days:

 

8. Dan Brewer, OF, Bradley

 

14. David Phelps, RHP, Notre Dame

 

19. Mitch Abieta, C, Nebraska

 

21. Mitch Delaney, 1B, Western Texas JC

 

Of the 51 picks, 24 have signed. Teams have until Aug. 15 to sign their picks. Otherwise they go back in the pool for next season.

 

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/06/19/more-draft-news-four-picks-sign/

[jacksonianmarch]

Chris Smith is one hell of a pick. He batted .708 in HS this past yr coming out of Comptom, grades out as having plus power and plus plate discipline for an 18 yr old. I am surprised we signed him for slot. I would have expected to see him sign for over slot, but then again he is a poor kid so the 90K or so he will get should help.

[jacksonianmarch]

The first signability domino has fallen.

 

Matt Richardson, our 15th round pick has signed per lohud and nomaas. He is a 6'3" high schooler who pitched for the first time this season. He was clocked as high as 93 mph and is considered a very projectable pitcher. With his frame and live arm, he should be expected to add a few ticks to the radar, but he is very raw and likely will go slowly through the system.

[Gom]

Everyone on this thread retired at age 40 or so? I'm 49 and still working. I need to get forced into early retirement. I think I'll start sleeping at my desk. Maybe management will look to retire me.

Im 35 and still working. I plan to, but who knows these days?

[26 Reasons to Hate Us]

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/06/24/yankees-sign-fsus-rye/

 

The Yankees (according to the Florida State War Chant message board folks) have signed OF Jack Rye and sent him to Staten Island.

 

Rye, you will recall, played for the only high school team that ever beat Phil Hughes.

[26 Reasons to Hate Us]

Former Hidden Valley pitcher Mikey O’Brien has signed with the Yankees, bypassing a college career, his father said Thursday.

 

Jim O’Brien said the 18-year-old right-hander – selected by New York in the ninth round of the amateur draft on June 6 -- took a flight to the Yankees offices in Tampa, Fla., and signed the paperwork Wednesday. Mikey O’Brien was expected to return to Roanoke on Thursday evening with his older brother, Eric, who traveled with him.

 

 

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/breaking/wb/167163

[jacksonianmarch]

O'Brien and Richardson constitute two of the high end HSers that the yankees drafted in the higher rounds. There are still a ton to go with Monar and Dwyer likely being the most coveted of them. But O'Brien is a small framed pitcher who can get the ball to 96 mph as an 18 yr old. Very projectable breaking ball and crude change. He is a project just like Richardson, but he is a bit more refined at this point in his career.

[jacksonianmarch]

First of all, you will be hearing a lot of "rumors" about signings. Since Selig's edict about paying slot, many teams are waiting to announce their over slot signings until the Aug 15th deadline so over slot signings dont mess with other teams negotiations.

 

As is Boras' style, the Yankees and Cole havent had much of any discussion on money. He typically starts negotiating Aug 1st.

 

As for the rest, Jeremy Bleich is rumored to have agreed to a 1 mil bonus.

 

Scott Bittle and the Yankees are pretty far apart. Bittle wants close to a mil, and the yankees are offering in the mid 6 figures range after a physical showed some laxity in his rotator cuff.

 

7th round HS power hitting catcher Kyle Higashioka is rumored to have agreed to a 750K bonus

 

6th round HS power pitcher Brett Marshall is rumored to have accepted 750K

 

and another difficult signee, 10th round pitcher from Clemson, DJ Mitchell and the Yankees are rumored to have agreed to a 500K bonus.

 

No work on the late round difficult signees Monar, Dwyer and others.

[jacksonianmarch]

Kyle Higashioka, the prep catcher who was commited to Cal has signed with the yankees. Lefty catcher with an advanced power stroke, rumored to have signed for 600-750K

 

Also signing was the yankees 50th round draft pick Nick Turley. Not your typical 50th round pick. He is a HS lefty who sits 88-91 mph. he was commited to UW and was a big bonus signee.

 

Of note, the yankees likely will not be signing Blake Monar, the big bonus requesting prep lefty. In his summer league, he is topping out at 84mph.

[jacksonianmarch]

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080806&content_id=3265682&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

 

Brett Marshall, the Texas HSer who fell due to bonus demands has signed with the yankees. He was signed in the 6th round, but he received supplemental pick money (as well as being the highest paid 6th rounder ever). Marshall sits mid 90s as an 18 yr old and already has a plus slider.

[jacksonianmarch]

DJ Mitchell, the yankees 10th round pick and another tough sign will be in to take his physical tomorrow and will sign his contract. Bonus speculation is in the neighborhood of 500K, or 2nd round money. He is a tall wiry pitcher out of Clemson who was taken late due to his bonus demands. He doesnt throw overly hard, but he has good location of a solid 4 pitch arsenal and his fastball has natural sink, sitting in the 90-92 range

[TheKilo]

Cole opts for college

[TheKilo]

NoMaas regarding Cole's signability:

 

1st round pick, Gerrit Cole (RHP) - Cole is as much of a lock as a Boras client can be. There’s no way he’s not signing.

[jacksonianmarch]

Bad, bad news.

[jacksonianmarch]

Losing Cole hurts. If this truly isnt a numbers issue then Cole is an idiot. He was looking at a 5-7 mil payday and he would have had a chance to play for the team he grew up loving. That being said, I am pretty upset he isnt signing. Not that we lost Cole, who I would have loved to have. But because of the other guys we could easily have had in that spot. Lobstein, Melville and Hunt would have been easy signs for us in that spot and passing on them for this kid will hurt. That being said, having another pick next yr will ease the pain a bit. But we lose a yr of development AND we lose a guy who was well better than where we selected him. I hope his arm explodes, the f***.

[TheKilo]

Real nice, Jacko. He's a frigging kid for chrissakes.

[ORS]

Yeah, really. Nice perspective, doc.

[jacksonianmarch]

The sox outspent the yankees by nearly 5X on this draft (10mil to a bit over 2 mil). Someone has to pay for this. If the message to the fans is to rebuld from within, we sure are doing a poor job proving it. Time to fire someone. Damon Oppenheimer, the VP of Yankee scouting might be the place to start.

[jacksonianmarch]

and this is an offense that I could conceivably waive my Cashman allegiance for. This is a massive debachle. The 08 draft was a deep draft and we come away counting pennies while our chief rival splurges on top talent.

[Gom]

No, no. Cashman is awesome. Rebuilding the team from within. We should keep him because his direction is the right one. He knows what he's doing. Of course, we should blame Oppenheimer. After all, it's the scouting director who signs the players.

 

Finally, Doc. Nice to see you get your head out of you ass. Only took you almost 12,000 posts.

 

FIRE CASHMAN.

[jacksonianmarch]

Now that the booze is out of my system, I can think like a level headed individual. I just cannot seem to shake the thought of having Shooter Hunt, Tim Melville, Lobstein, or some of the other high end talents at that 1 spot. Regardless, having another first rounder next yr cannot hurt.

 

I do like the majority of this draft.

 

Just not signing your 1st and 2nd rounder hurts for this yr. Hopefully we draft right next yr. We'll have a ton of picks.

 

The supplemental pick, Bleich is a solid lefty starter. Problem is, he may need TJS, hence why he accepted below slot.

 

The third rounder, Dave Adams is a solid, Pedroia type 2b.

 

The fourth rounder, Corban Joseph, is killing the ball right now.

 

The fifth rounder, Chris Smith, has a lot of potential.

 

The sixth rounder, Brett Marshall, is a first round talent with high upside.

 

The seventh rounder, Kyle Higashioka, is a solid HS lefty swinging catcher with power

 

I like our 9th rounder, Mikey Obrien, a power armed HSer capable of sitting mid 90s

 

I like our 10th rounder, DJ Mitchell, who will run through the system quickly.

 

I also like some of the later picks in Lassiter and Richardson, both signability HSers.

 

What I dont like is the fact that we didnt take Cole's money and distribute it to some of our other signability cases. No Suiter, Dwyer, Monar, McMahon, Summers, etc. This is the travesty of the draft. We do have a ton of picks next yr and we should restock appropriately. At least we get the picks for next yr. Regardless, I dont think anyone should be fired. I just hope they know that they are a bit less secure than they had been.

[Gom]

You're smarter when you're drunk. Thought you'd finally made it to he land of sanity.

 

Seriously Jacko, at this point, you're just plain ignorant. Your defense of a GM that espouses trading youth for veterans, when coupled with an inability to sign the very young players he touts, when added to the knowledge of poor talent evaluation, is indefensible.

 

For some guy who does show a level of intelligence on most baseball matters [i thank you again for the primer on the young players in the system, many of which I'd never even heard of], you do not show the same objectivity towards your own. My rip on Cashman is that he is not that good. His track record is poor, given the advantage he was given and has, he is poor in talent evaluation, he is poor at signing free agent pitchers, and his supposed strength, player development, is now grossly inadequete. I fail to see anything this guy deserves accolades for with the exception of deadline deals.

 

The sad thing is, put me against this guy in any baseball management setting, and I'll have him for lunch. I'm also not a baseball guy, at least not for a living. I don't have the resources he has, and I out-think him. That's like me diagnosing patients better than you. It's more a knock on you being a s***** doctor than me being some sort of medicinal savant. Samt thing here. [i am not making a correlation at your abilities as a medical professional, I believe you are very good at your job].

 

There is no reason to retain a guy of this ability.

 

Let me go on record saying I like what he's trying to do. For both financial gains and long-term goals, building from within is the best way to do things. However, his methods are terrible. What he's saying is like when someone says "I want to work hard at my job to get promoted". Ok..but if you don't do it, you wouldn't get promoted. He talks a good game. In fact, that's about the only thing good about his game. Talking.

 

I fail to see a reason to support him. He doesn't sign players well. He doesn't trade well if it isn't a salary dump [although he isn't bad either]. He's poor at talent evaluation [we get a player who misses two seasons for Sheffield, we don't trade Kennedy, who at this point is a non-prospect]. He doesn't sign free agent pitchers well. He doesn't sign the players he drafts. What is it exactly you like about him that any intern in baseball can't do? This is New York doc. Doing a poor job shouldn't put you on notice. It should make you look for another job. He makes a million dollars a year, and for what? f***, I'll do the job for free and do it better. Sadly, you'd probably do a better job as well. Neither of us are baseball professionals. He needs to be terminated immediately and someone who understands the game needs to be put in charge.

 

Stick to medicine Doc.

[jacksonianmarch]

Well, you need to look at this thing without emotion, unfortunately. Bad things happen when you act impulsively.

 

We signed 4 HS pitchers. (more than we have in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 drafts combined)

Marshall and OBrien are very similar in that they throw very hard for 18 yr olds.

Richardson is a very solid HSer with a good arsenal and throws low 90s.

Nikolas Turley (our 50th rounder) might be the best of them all when it is all said and done, 6'7" lefty capable of throwing low 90s as an 18 yr old.

 

We drafted some highly talented high school position players

Corban Joseph is dominating the GCL right now. Chris Smith is a very projectable bat. Garrison Lassiter might end up being the best of them all. Lefty SS with a very advanced bat.

 

We drafted some college pitchers with lots of polish.

Bleich the best of the bunch, though he may need TJS. Mitchell was a tough sign who should rocket through the system. Phelps is another highly polished college pitcher who should move fast.

 

We drafted 2 solid college bats in the top 10 with Adams and Brewer. Maruszak and Lyon have hit the crap out of the ball thus far too.

 

The draft is a solid one. It has a lot of very young talent. I just wish we had the crown jewel, which we dont.