Friday, February 27, 2009

Fresh Meat: Season 2 Draft Recap

When season two rolled around teams had a stronger understanding of how to handle the draft. Because of that only 5 picks from the 1st round did not sign. 21 of the 32 players selected are at present playing in the major leagues.

allsox took over a team that had won 18 games the year before and improved them immediately by selecting C.J. Weaver he only spent part of one season in the minors and was with the big club by seasons end. 1 season later he won a Silver Slugger award (his first of 2). He also has two Gold Gloves and 4 All-Star games under his belt. Now playing for the Toros he was a tremendous pick back in season 2.

2nd Marshall Ferrell cubs 4 life took this SS with the 2nd pick. Didn’t reach the majors till season 6 and didn’t hit his stride till season 8. Since has won 2 Silver Sluggers and been an All-Star twice. While nothing special with the glove he is one of the better hitting ShortStops in Addicted Users.

3rd Bruce King dyoungquist grabbed this feisty 2nd basemen with the third pick who has since been traded 3 times and now finds himself playing for Florida.. A solid but not spectacular fielder he more then makes up for any lapses with the glove with his talents at the plate and on the bases. 1 Silver Slugger and 3 All-Star appearances + 1 All-Star game MVP should cement him as one the best middle infielders with the bat in the history of AU. Is on pace for 2000+ hits, 300+homers and steals.

4th Curt Wells went unsigned in Florida as he demanded over 10 million.

5th Alfonso Tejera Maybe the best player taken in what so far would be classified as a great draft. 3 x Silver Slugger, 2 x Gold Glover, 4 x All-Star, and in at least one mans opinion was robbed of last years MVP when he .323 with 45 homers and 145 RBI. Could make a run at 3000 hits and 500 homers if he stays healthy.

6th Eric Herrera The 2nd pitcher taken, after wells. Herrera has yet to make a name for himself in AU. Despite a record of 102-35 in the minors he has managed to pitch in only 14 big league games. At the age of 30 he looks like a bust.

7th Donaldo Rosario Another pitcher, while no threat to the Hall of Fame he is the best of the first three pitchers taken. 74 career wins including 16 in season 7. He is a dependable starter for Boise now.

8th Mark Jones The 3rd SS taken (Weaver, Ferrell) has actually won 2 Gold Gloves for his play at 3rd base. Also a deadly hitter has already 163 homers at the age of 27 with a career high of 37 coming twice in the past three years.

9th Juan Romero another SS went unsigned.

10th Clayton Hairston Once touted as the fastest man in baseball (stole 101 bases in season 7) has started to slow down but does have 542 career steals (most in AU) and 820 runs.

Other Notable Picks.

11th Roosevelt Abbott despite being shuttled between the bigs and the minors his whole career he does have 123 homers and a .281 average.

12th Stan Allensworth Does have a strong .299 average in over 500 games, probably best suited as a bench player.

13th Troy Garcia Another SS, probably the best fielding one in the draft. He does also have 2 All-Star games and 121 career homers in just 3000 at bats.

19th Aaron Bradshaw The first Catcher taken, is actually more of a DH. Due to a strong arm has won two Gold Gloves but is one of the worst game calling catchers to play the game (5.68 ERA) Has hit over 20 homers 5 times to help total a career mark of 146.

22nd Dennys Clifton A very solid pick for late 1st round. Has a .280 average and 150 homers better numbers then many players taken before him.

23rd Ed Zeile The 1st big closer taken, he has 80 saves so far but has never really cemented himself as an elite pitcher.

28th Johnnie Haselman a nice sleeper pick here, in just his first 5 seasons he has avg’d almost 40 homeruns and 110 RBI. A dynamite pick at 28.

29th Herman Cox Probably the best starting pitcher to come out of this draft. At 27 he sports a career record of 79-48 and a 4.46 ERA. Pitching for the always strong Minnesota team by which he was drafted has a good shot at 200+ wins.

31st Leonardo Mackowiak when I wrote all those things about other players I hadn’t seen Mack yet. Okay he is the best…by far. This sure handed 1st baseman has 311 homers and has never hit less then 38 in a full season. A career .384 OBP ranks with the best of all-time. The Hall of Fame has his spot all picked out.

43rd P.J. Stanton A solid sandwich pick. At 28 has 51 wins and 20 saves working mostly as a Spot Starter for Columbus.

48th Augie Root At age 29 is finally reaching his potential saving 32 games last season with a 2.66 ERA.

50th Sean Ramsey Infielder turned outfielder has belted 118 homers while stealing even more bases (153). Great pick by AllSox to open the 2nd round.

55th Tomas Castro Drafted as a 2nd baseman, has now gotten so slow in the field that he has moved to 1st base. Has avg’d 20 homers and 80 rbi in his career.

73rd Bump Sabel Sweet swinging catcher has mashed to the tune of .321 with 128 homers in just 4 seasons so far.

87th Vincenzo Millwood The ace closer that has played in a new city in each of the last 6 seasons. Has amassed 145 saves in his career thus far.

104th Mike Anderson Speedy 2nd baseman sports a solid .282 avg with almost 160 steals so far.

113th Glen Stone Drafted by Toronto in the 3rd round but later snagged by Buffalo in the Rule 5 draft. 1 season later stole 83 bases, now sits at home waiting for a call with 162 career steals.

118th Stevie Bonilla The 27 year old catcher now sits at 144 homers and could easily go down the steal of any draft as a 4th round selection.


644th Ross Lowery Saved 17 games for San Jose and looks like he has the stuff to save more at the major league level. At only 27 still has time to post lots of numbers. His is also the last player selected to make the majors for any substantial amount of time.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, gb. Not gonna let that Tejera thing go, are you. A word about Johnny Haselman. While he was already in the system when I took over, he came up to the ML in my 3rd season as owner. He had posted some phenomenal numbers in the minors and I was expecting him to be a major star. He really has performed up to expectations in everything but BA, which I thought would be better based on his MiL numbers. His rookie season .286 has been his best so far, with a lifetime of only .262. But he has been an ironman with 160 or more games in 4 of his 5 ML seasons(please, NO JINX). He has averaged over 38 HRs & over 109 RBI a year and has a respectable .979 FA at 2B(but with 5+, 28- plays) He is just now reaping the benefits of his efforts, signing a 3 year/19.5M contract this pre-season(a bargain,I think). He was my first really good player to reach the ML under my ownership and remains one of my favorites).

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