Draft Recap and the Fight
by 0157H7 on Jun 6, 2008 10:14 AM EDT
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PrintYesterday was eventful for Boston sports fans. The Celtics won, no doubt aided by the chants of "Beat LA" that have cropped up at Fenway and everywhere else in New England the past week. Meanwhile the Red Sox finished off the Rays with a sweep, in a long game punctuated by a major brawl, a fight between Manny and Youk (??!), and Ellsbury's brilliant but injurious catch. (Initial X-rays on Ells were negative, and he'll be evaluated today.)
However, the event with the biggest long-term implications will likely be the 2008 MLB draft. The Sox, by virtue of their World Series victory and lack of departing Type A free agents,* picked 30th in the first round. Their choice was Casey Kelly, an athletic high school shortstop.
Kelly rated fairly high on a couple mock drafts. For example, Kevin Goldstein of Sports Illustrated had the Dodgers taking Kelly 15th, and Jim Callis of Baseball America picked Kelly at 19th for the Cubs.
The big reason that Kelly fell is that his signability is in question. Kelly has been offered a football scholarship at the University of Tennessee. If he doesn't sign with the Sox, that pick would look like a big mistake.
Talking to MLB reporter Ian Browne yesterday, Theo seemed confident that Kelly will sign with the Sox:
"We spent some time talking to the kid," said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. "First of all, he's a great kid from a great baseball family. You could hear the passion in his voice when he talks about baseball and we wouldn't have taken him if we didn't feel in our hearts that he wanted to go out and play professional ball."
Also from that article, members of the Front Office believe that Kelly may end up as a pitcher:
Red Sox amateur scouting director Jason McLeod and Epstein both feel that the most likely projection for Kelly is as a pitcher.
"I think we've liked him a lot as a pitcher," McLeod said. "I think eventually that will be where he ends up, that would be my guess. But if we can get something done and get him out playing this summer, he certainly would have the opportunity to go out as a shortstop."
McLeod goes on to say that Kelly's pitches are very advanced considering how recently he started pitching. One caveat: there's been talk that Kelly doesn't want to pitch and won't sign with the Sox if he's expected to (I can't find evidence to support or refute this). Overall, however, the decision to draft Kelly is exciting, and I'm optimistic that this risk will pay off.
With the 45th pick, the Sox took Bryan Price, a college reliever with a heater in the mid-90s and a nasty slider. Price's success as a reliever is recent; as put so aptly here, he "languished for two years at the back end of Rice's bullpen." The FO would like him to try him as a starter. If he ever becomes good expect no end to "Price is right" quips.
The remainder of Day 1's picks were high school hitters and college pitchers (with one college hitter). I'll post more info on them later today, if there's interest. While many of these players may not make it to the majors, I think it's worth keeping in mind the success of recent Sox drafts. In particular, the '05 draft produced Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, and Jed Lowrie, all of whom have contributed at a major league level. '06 gave us Masterson, a second-round draftee who's outperformed both of the players picked ahead of him. The Sox farm system has flourished into one of the best in the game, thanks to the front office's acumen. We'll see if the 2008 draft continues this streak of success.
* Gagne would have netted a first-round pick, if he had been any good for Boston. Yet another way he screwed over the Sox.
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2005 felt like a good draft from the get go
and so it turned out. Just an epic success.
Both 2006 and 2007 felt a bit meh until the later rounds, when we started drafting (or attempting to draft) the signability guys, and I think this year’s draft has a similar vibe. Westmoreland could be the difference maker on day one, to say nothing of those we take a punt on today.
PS Doesn’t Stephen Fife look like Son of Maddon here?
Bottom 9th B:1 S:0 O:0 With Bill Mueller batting, Dave Roberts steals (1) 2nd base.
Well
We got Bard, Masterson, Kalish and Anderson in 2006. I think that’s fair enough. 2007 wasn’t that good of a draft, but Nick Hagadone was dominating before going down.
It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
by MerryGoByeBye on Jun 6, 2008 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Sure -
I’m talking about how the drafts felt at the time. 2006 could turn out pretty well for us.
Bottom 9th B:1 S:0 O:0 With Bill Mueller batting, Dave Roberts steals (1) 2nd base.
The other picks
Derrick Gibson (2nd round): High school SS, very fast and athletic, might be able to play CF; also pitches. He is committed to UNC. This Spring he wasn’t as impressive, losing some velocity on the mound and performing worse at the plate.
Stephen Fife (3rd round): College pitcher who entered Utah’s starting rotation this year. He throws in the mid-90s, but his secondary pitches (slider and curve) need work. His control was good: in 92 IP, he struck out 78 and only walked 29.
Kyle Weiland (3rd): Notre Dame’s closer, Weiland has three plus pitches in his FB that reaches 95, slider and changeup. The Sox may be tempted to tinker with his delivery so that he can be a starter. If they go down this route, I hope the Sox are careful – Craig Hansen is an example of a college closer who played with his mechanics and lost both his command and dominance.
You can read more about them at these links:
http://soxprospects.blogspot.com/
http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2008/followlists/sbs_previews/delaware_leadin.aspx
http://soxprospects.com/players/fife-stephen.htm
http://www.soxprospects.com/players/weiland-kyle.htm
4-6th round picks will be up later.
Stephen Fife looks good enough
And he has a sorf of funny name.
It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
by MerryGoByeBye on Jun 6, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Suspensions (courtesy of Extra Bases)
Rays
James Shields: 6 games
Jonny Gomes: 5 games
Edwin Jackson: 5 games
Carl Crawford: 4 games
Akinori Iwamura: 3 games
Sox
Coco Crisp: 7 games
Jon Lester: 5 games (what???)
Sean Casey: 3 games
Just saw if
Why the fuck Lester got 5 games?
It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
by MerryGoByeBye on Jun 6, 2008 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions
From Rotoworld:
“Richie Sexson charged the mound after not even being hit by a pitch and threw his helmet at the pitcher. He got five games. Crisp got hit by a pitch that was obviously intentional and then charged the mound [...] with neither helmet [nor] bat in hand. It makes absolutely no sense that his suspension was longer than Sexson’s. Seven games isn’t an unreasonable number, but just a little bit of consistency from the league office would be nice.”
From what I can tell it’s because he hit people and threw behind people who were involved in the, um, general unpleasantness.
He’s going to serve the suspension but he should have at least tried to appeal. We’ve all seen Lester pitch this year and sometimes he does have a wee bit of problem finding the strike zone….
KLaw Chat:
John :(Boston): What’s your opinion on Bryan Price?? did the Sox take him there for the easy signability so they can go over-slot later?? or did they believe he’s a supplemental talent?? Either way he has to be better the Eric-freakin-GagneSportsNation Keith Law: They’re going to make him a starter. Great pick.
“Great pick.” Works for me.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
More Klaw:
Matt (Brookline, MA): What do you have on this Alex Meyer cat the Red Sox drafted today? Signability case?SportsNation Keith Law: Yes, advised by Boras, big RHP who, if you dream on him, could be a #1/#2 type.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
I’ll accept what Keith Law has to say…
Personally, I don’t know much about college or HS players. Which needs to change, because as soon as they are drafted I seem to stalk over these players in an unhealthy way (is stalking ever healthy?)...
Stalking a jogger is healthy.
Lots of cardio.
I know nothing about HS/college players. I haven’t been paying much attention to the draft stuff til right now. And I trust Klaw on everything from cooking to literature. He’s my favorite guy at ESPN.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
And again
Alex (Boston): Looks like those Westmoreland to the Red Sox rumors ended up being true. Think the Epstein Admininstration ponies up to bring him in the fold, and if so, will it be worth it?SportsNation Keith Law: Although the funny thing is that Theo never went to see him. I think he’s a priority guy for them, but whether they’ll give him $1.6MM+ is another question. I don’t believe they’ve gone that far over slot for a HS kid before, and only once on a college kid (Hansen?). I’m sure there’s a SoSHer here who can answer that question…
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Last one...
Sean (Florida): Last try….(sigh) Tim Federowicz out of NC…good pick by the Red Sox? Better than the Yale kid? I thought they should have taken Paramore when he was there in rd 3. Your thoughts?SportsNation Keith Law: Federowicz is one of the best catch and throw guys in the draft. Not much bat there. Paramore … I like him, disappointed in his year given the park/environment, but I think there’s more bat there than the stats would indicate.
SportsNation Keith Law: The Red Sox just took Matt Marquis (hat tip to Mike at RiverAveBlues), another northeast ceiling tough sign kid. Tim Corbin can not be pleased.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Keith Law...
...apparently thinks rather highly of the Sox draft. From ESPN:
Boston bet it all on red, taking one high-ceiling player after another. Apparently, they’re willing to worry about the signability of these players later on. Casey Kelly is a first-rounder as a pitcher or position player, but his bonus demands and commitment to play quarterback at Tennessee scared off potential suitors. Ryan Westmoreland’s bonus demands ($1.6 to $2.1 million) and commitment to Vanderbilt had him viewed as completely unsignable all spring, even though he was a top-40 talent and had performed well over the summer with a wood bat. Bryan Price was totally misused at Rice, and was one of the best reliever-to-starter conversion opportunities in the draft. Derrik Gibson and Pete Hissey are both athletic, projectable tools players with the chance to play in the middle of the field (Gibson as a shortstop/second baseman, Hissey as a center fielder); both also have commitments to strong college programs (North Carolina and Virginia, respectively). Even if the Red Sox don’t sign all four of those high school talents, signing Kelly and one of the others would be an impressive haul of talent—and we know the Sox have the resources to sign more than just two.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Jun 7, 2008 3:00 AM EDT reply actions
What a fascinating draft it turned out to be.
If we can ink about three of the signability guys, it looks very good. I would very like Westmoreland, Meyer and perhaps Oropesa.
Interesting to read about Price. Hadn’t heard of him before the draft, but looks a very solid signing, in the Hagadone converting-relief-to-starter mould.
Bottom 9th B:1 S:0 O:0 With Bill Mueller batting, Dave Roberts steals (1) 2nd base.
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