Jones is not a “borderline” Hall of Famer.
The asking price on Strasburg is nuts, but yes, I’d take him. I thought I’d read that the second-best AND potential third-best players were also Boras clients. Good luck to the Nationals, I guess.
Is there any rule that says they can’t draft him, and then trade him for a guy taken later plus players, cash, or whatever? Or can you only trade signed players?
Nobody thinks Strasburg will actually get $50 million. $20 million, maybe- and that’s an awful lot less than #1 picks get in the NFL. I’d take him.
Mark Prior was not so long ago. He was a phenom in 2001. He is out of baseball now. Came into the bigs at 21 years old and gone in 4 years. He was a high draft choice and a can’t miss pitcher. he missed.
That’s because of the moronitude of the Cubs, not because Prior lacked talent. I saw his first start in the majors and was very impressed.
You cannot trade an unsigned player, and in fact you can’t trade a signed player within the first year after signing him (at least that’s how I remember the rules off the top of my head).
Basically there is no way around it - either they sign him or he goes back in the draft next year. They can’t trade the pick, they can’t trade his rights, they can’t sign-and-trade him.
He’s not really “out of the bigs”; he signed a 1-year deal with the Padres in the offseason and they never added him to a roster because he’s recovering from shoulder surgery.
That’s just for a signing bonus. Boras wants a 6 year, $50M contract for him.
That’s what Boras says he wants. He knows he won’t get it.
The Red Sox got Carlos Beltran’s nephew in Reymond Fuentes-apparently can fly like the wind. Instantly becomes the youngest guy in the Sox organization (17 years and 4 months).
I wouldn’t have drafted him if I were the Nats. Pitchers are just too risky and too damn injury prone. Since I’m the Nats and I have needs at every position as demonstrated by my worst record in baseball, I’d have taken the top rated position player, after making sure that the fans knew why I was doing it and wishing Strasburg the best of luck for a good career.
But they don’t have needs at every position. They have some good position players. They’re in dead last because they have the worst pitching staff in baseball - by a really, really wide margin - and have very few prospects.
Which is why it is too bad baseball doesn’t allow teams to trade draft picks. A team like the nationals who has a huge need at pitching might decide to trade the #1 which is an expensive risk for a few draft picks and minor league players so they can have a bunch of players and improve their odds at having one ace.
Not that I am saying the Nationals should have done that. I just think it would make the draft more interesting. And, perhaps for a cagey GM a way to build a team quickly.
You don’t win anything with merely good position players though. You need great ones. You need a high quantity of good players too, not just some. I like Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, but neither of them is ever going to Cooperstown on other than a visitor’s pass.
The next great position player? I’d take him. A pitcher? Too much risk. A Boras client? I’d rather be waterboarded.
No.
Well, pitchers who are just “good” don’t go to Cooperstown either.
Just a comment - the poor record of Number 1 picks just might have something to do with their being chosen by the front offices of the worst teams.
There’s a reason the Nats suck.
That’s obviously true, but irrelevant. IMHO, the Nationals, the team that was the worst in baseball in '08 and thus earned the #1 pick in this year’s draft, and which is still the worst in baseball and thus most likely which will get the #1 pick in the 2010 draft too, would have been better served in the long run by drafting a position player, because he’s more likely to pan out than a pitcher is, even without the Boros factor. Their team currently sucks, and has great needs all over the diamond. They need a catcher, a SS, a 2b and a CF at the very least. While their pitching does indeed suck, they stand a better risk and at a lower cost of trying to satisfy that need in the lower rounds. That’s all I’m saying.
The top hitter was a Boras client too…
I’d also say need is pretty irrelevent. In first round you take the top talent and deal with any potential glut when the time comes.
I think that’s true in any round, isn’t it? Get the best guys you can, you never know who’s going to pan out.