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Dobbsie,
It's great to see the thread locked and waiting to be loaded. I can't wait for Dave, Danny, and the others to weigh in.I agree with your assessment on the need to expand the farm system. Do we realistically have the money to do so?

cbs

Who was that catcher we picked up in the '03 draft? That guy looked pretty darn solid to me, in what I saw of him in the mlb.com "draft preview" videos.....

Thanks for uplifting information.



It isn't al that bleak Joe, it's just that the pundits aren't going to think too highly of the farm. Frst off, it is easier for them to evaluate position players than pitchers, and our farm is pitching heavy. Most of the injuries (exception Foppert) were early season, and the guys were back to pitching at the end, like Clark and Liriano. Many of the underperformers like Bonser and Lowry showed much better stuff at AA/ML than at AA, lending some whieght to the arguement that they really weren't into pitching in snow early on. Also, there were a number of former high draft picks that rose from the dead this year, like Hennessey and Treadway, but shaking off the rust didn't help thier stats any. Some guys like Torcato distinctly unsder performed, but more of the drop off in rating is circumstancial rather than systematic. So in conclusion, the point of my earlier post was not that the farm stinks, but that it isn't going to review well.

Quote:

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In 1997 the Giants had the #4 draft pick and Sabean picked a pitcher named Joe Foentant (spelling may be wrong). Later in the first round other teams picked players by the names of Vernon Wells, Eric Chavez, Lance Berkman, and CC Sabathia. It doesn't matter if you have a top 5 pick if you can't draft right. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have one of these players? One of them could have been ours in 1997!

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Well, Sabathia was a 98 draft, so he isn't relevant. Chavez was a 96 draftee so he isn't relevant either. In 1997 the farm system Sabes inherited had no rookie league team and no low A team, so HS prospects were pretty much out of the question, since they couldn't go direct to the Cal league, so there goes Vernon Wells. So the only 1 of 4 draftees relevant to your assertion is Lance Berkman, and seeing as he went 16th, and seeing s Steve Grilli's son was rated one of the top 10 players in the draft class, it is pretty obvious that Sabes wasn't alone in misjudging his ultimate ceiling. Not that Sabes had much to do with the 97 draft evaluation anyway since he didn't start putting his player evaluation people into place until that summer so he had to rely on Rosen's people's evaluations.

Yeah, baseball america pretty much archives everything these days, just click on draft and go down to the bottom. For your viewing pleasure, I cut and pasted 97 for ya:

1997

1.
Matt Anderson, rhp, Tigers
$2,500,000

2.
J.D. Drew, of, Phillies
Did not sign

3.
Troy Glaus, 3b, Angels
2,000,000

4.
Jason Grilli, rhp, Giants
1,875,000

5.
*Vernon Wells, of, Blue Jays
1,600,000

6.
*Geoff Goetz, lhp, Mets
1,700,000

7.
Dan Reichert, rhp, Royals
1,450,000

8.
*J.J. Davis, of, Pirates
1,675,000

9.
*Michael Cuddyer, 3b, Twins
1,850,000

10.
*Jon Garland, rhp, Cubs
1,325,000

11.
Chris Enochs, rhp, Athletics
1,204,000

12.
Aaron Akin, rhp, Marlins
1,050,000

13.
Kyle Peterson, rhp, Brewers
1,400,000

14.
Brandon Larson, ss, Reds
1,220,000

15.
Jason Dellaero, ss, White Sox
1,056,000

16.
Lance Berkman, 1b, Astros
1,000,000

17.
*John Curtice, lhp, Red Sox
975,000

18.
*Mark Mangum, rhp, Rockies
875,000

19.
*Ryan Anderson, lhp, Mariners
2,175,000

20.
Adam Kennedy, ss, Cardinals
650,000

21.
Eric DuBose, lhp, Athletics
860,000

22.
*Jayson Werth, c, Orioles
885,000

23.
*Donnie Bridges, rhp, Expos
870,000

24.
*Tyrell Godwin, of, Yankees
Did not sign

25.
Glenn Davis, 1b, Dodgers
825,000

26.
*Darnell McDonald, of, Orioles
1,900,000

27.
Kevin Nicholson, ss, Padres
830,000

28.
*Tim Drew, rhp, Indians
1,600,000

29.
*Troy Cameron, ss, Braves
825,000

30.
*Jack Cust, 1b, Diamondbacks
825,000

Jason Grilli turned out to be a bust but not for us. The same goes for Joey Fontenot. Off Dobbsies draft list, Grilli was the top rated starting pitcher in that years draft. The Anderson kid was the closer at Rice. We'd have taken Glaus in a heartbeat but the Angels snatched him the pick in front of us.

For Grilli, Fontenot and Nate Bmp ( all ist round draft choices) we received a #1 caliber starting pitcher in Hernandez and one of baseball's best closers in Robb Nen.

I guess its all in how you choose to slice it and dice it but Florida originally thaught they got the better of the deal. Today Fontenot and Grilli are finished due to severe arm injuries and Bump just arrived this year as a relief pitcher and not the starter he was drafted to be.

I tend to believe that we got the better of both deals.

Next year the 1998 draft class will be exposed. Since Torcato is on the 40 man, he isn't subject to the 6 year rule. Jeff Urban is the only high round draftee I can think of who is currently exposed.

As for Jensen, he's around still and still on the 40 man. Being a finesse pitcher, he could re-locate his release point and drop right back into the 5th SP slot in March, or he could be done for good.