Post-Draft, Pre-Signing Deadline Grades

by: Ben Embry

Ok, better late than never on this.  I meant to put this up over a week ago right after the draft was finished but I swear I hit a wall on covering the draft and I just couldn't take any more.  I set up a scoring system based on the 250 players in my compulation board. So I've tallied up the final scores and posted below. The top rated player was worth 1000 pts and the 250th player was worth 1. Scores will be adjusted after the signing deadline because a lot of these guys don't sign.

Rank	Team	Total
1	HOU	2519
2	ARI	2034
3	CLE	2004
4	TOR	1973
5	CHC	1963
6	MIL	1924
7	MIA	1778
8	BOS	1775
9	CHW	1769
10	KC	1692
11	MIN	1549
12	PHI	1484
13	SD	1469
14	COL	1458
15	SF	1333
16	WAS	1270
17	NYM	1227
18	ATL	1197
19	PIT	1151
20	LAA	1148
21	CIN	1147
22	DET	1141
23	SEA	1086
24	LAD	1003
25	TEX	983
26	OAK	981
27	STL	966
28	TB	833
29	NYY	736
30	BAL	215

As you see, the Yankees finished second to last which is understandable considering they had the second lowest bonus pool.  Not picking until 55th meant they watched all of the best players go by.  I do like our crop of players considering we didn't start picking until midway through the 2nd.  Sounds like Lindgren could be an elite reliever and re-draft Jordan Foley also has a really good shot at pitching out of the bullpen sometime soon.  Austin DeCarr was probably our favorite pick; prototype size with 3 pitch mix.  I suspect when I start looking at re-ranking the system's prospects, he and Lindgren will be top 20-25.

Looking at the league in general, Houston had a slam dunk draft.  It's not hard to do that, in theory, when you have the first overall pick and you pick first in every round.  But some teams can screw it up and I think they ended up with a nice haul with 4 of my top 50 players, (Brady Aiken, Derek Fisher, A.J. Reed, and Mac Marshall).  Arizona's being second is tenuous; they scored really well taking Jacob Bukauskas but everyone knows he's not signing.  So once the deadline passes and J.B. goes unsigned, I suspect they won't be second any longer.  Still, I like Touki Toussaint for them and think they had a nice draft.  And not surprisingly, Boston scored really well considering they had only the 17th largest draft pool available.  They had 11 players in my top 250 and I'm thinking 3-4 of them won't sign.  Still, not bad.  They somehow always make out good in the draft.

Ok, I'll be back in a few weeks with adjusted scores once all of the signings shake out.  Until then, feel free to hit me up on twitter at @thebronxempire or email me at info@thebronxempire.com with any thoughts, criticisms, whatever.  Have a good one!

Jacob Lindgren: Yankees' First Draft Pick of 2014

by: Ben Embry

Last night I tweeted that I was just hoping a Yankees draft pick didn't say "I hate the Yankees" on national television.  While it was more of (an attempt at) a funny pun than anything else, there was some truth to it.  It's hard to have any kind of expectations when a team doesn't draft until 55th.  Who will be available? No clue.  What might the team be targeting? No idea.  There were some players I really liked that were still on the board like HS SS Ti'quan Forbes and HS pitchers Scott Blewett, Cam Varga, Dylan Cease and Alex Verdugo.  How likely was it they'd take one of those players?  I'd say less than 50%.

Ultimately what we got was Jacob Lindgren, Mississippi State's LHP closer. Arguably a top 3 reliever coming into the draft, Lindgren was ranked 60th on my final comp board, so he basically went in the area of the draft where he should.  Among the 6 publications that I track with my board, he was ranked anywhere from 51st to 77th, which at this point in the draft is a pretty strong consensus.

In general, I didn't hate the pick but I didn't love it.  Pundits are saying he'll move quickly and a conservative time table would still put him in the Bronx next summer.  That's hard to knock.  Sounds like a high floor, low ceiling guy.  Mike Axisa at River Ave. Blues said he thinks he's already better than Yankees' current loogy Matt Thornton.  We could definitely use that.  I'm just not ever expecting to see him in the All Star game, which is fine and in no way pejorative.

This is complete conjecture, but I would bet they decided pre-draft they were taking Lindgren, or maybe in general just a fast moving college pitcher, no matter who fell to them.  It's hard for me to believe they felt he was the best player available.  Just a thought...

Prior to the draft I liked our minor league reliever depth.  I still believe in Mark Montgomery even though he's lost some luster and I've always been a big fan of Nick Goody who's returning from injury.  Jose Ramirez and Dellin Betances are  already in the big leagues with the later pitching phenomenally.  I think Chase Whitley's floor is a really reliable reliever.  Adam Warren has exceeded my expectations.  So we've got some good young reliever types, but you can never have too much pitching so we add Lindgren to the mix.

I'll take this opportunity, because it seems as good of a place as any, to reiterate my bemoaning of forfeiting three 1st rd draft picks in this year's draft.  First and foremost, I thuroughly believe you do not forfeit 1st round draft picks for anyone that's not a "franchise player".  (I put franchise player in quotes because that's a subjective designation, but one person's definition of a franchise player is probably not far off from everyone else's.  For me, it's a top 20-30 player in the game). With the current system in place, the spending limits are very restrictive and forces the best signable players to be taken early in the draft, leaving little for the teams who aren't in line early.  The draft is the lifeblood of an organization and should not be handled carelessly.

If you look at the three players we forfeited picks for, I'd say in a vacuum 1 was definitely not worth it, 1 was probably not worth it, and 1 was probably worth it.  Carlos Beltran, while I have always appreciated him from afar and should have been a Yankee 9 years ago, is a few years beyond the point of being a franchise player.  Brian McCann is not a franchise player either but could be close.  The fact he was a lefty swinging, power hitting catcher made the signing palatable but ultimately not worth a 1st rd pick.  Ellsbury probably is a franchise player though I'm not digging in my heels to defend him if someone says he's not.  Plus I felt he was redundant since we already had Brett Gardner, who we signed an extension with that was a much better deal than what we got for Jacoby.

And on a macro level, I think the offseason strategy was a poor one.  Losing Cano was so detrimental to the team that I don't think this was the year to spend big money and draft picks on free agents.  They should've waited to see what was going to happen to Cano and when they didn't re-sign him, should have went conservative and just focused on getting Masahiro Tanaka, who is the kind of player you sign no matter the circumstances.  They should have gone into the bunker with their three 1st rd picks and made this another great draft like the one they had next year.  Instead they bull-headedly said "This is the year" and went threw money (and draft picks) into a free agent class that really was pretty weak.

Ok, rant over.  I'll continue to watch the draft and may have some thoughts to post on anyone else they sign.  And Sunday or Monday I'll put up my initial reaction to the draft as a whole with scores for all 30 teams based on my comp board.  Have a good day!

2014 Compilation MLB Mock Draft (The True Final)

by: Ben Embry

Ok there's been a lot of changes today in mock drafts and they've been big changes.  Evansville pitcher Kyle Freeland has some bad medicals that have caused him to take a tumble.  He almost slipped out of the first in my compilation mock method.

And sorry for the crudeness.  Doing this on my phone away from my laptop at home was tricky.

Pick Team Name

1 Astros Brady Aiken

2 Marlins Carlos Rodon

3 White Sox Tyler Kolek

4 Cubs Michael Conforto

5 Twins Nick Gordon

6 Mariners Alex Jackson

7 Phillies Aaron Nola

8 Rockies Kyle Schwarber

9 Blue Jays Trea Turner

10 Mets Sean Newcomb

11 Blue Jays Jeff Hoffman

12 Brewers Max Pentecost

13 Padres Touki Toussaint

14 Giants Grant Holmes

15 Angels Tyler Beede

16 Diamondbacks Bradley Zimmer

17 Royals Derek Hill

18 Nationals Eric Fedde

19 Reds Brandon Finnegan

20 Rays Jacob Gatewood

21 Indians Sean Reid-Foley

22 Dodgers Luis Ortiz

23 Tigers Nick Howard

24 Pirates Kyle Freeland

25 Athletics Ti'quan Forbes

26 Red Sox Derek Fisher

27 Cardinals Monte Harrison

28 Royals Kodi Medeiros

29 Reds Foster Griffin

30 Rangers Forrest Wall

31 Indians Casey Gillaspie

32 Braves Michael Chavis

33 Red Sox Michael Kopech

34 Cardinals Alex Blandino

Enjoy the draft tonight.  Yankee fans, I'll be live tweeting all night so check your twitter feed and you can either see who we take or have an idea about when you might need to turn on MLB Network to watch it yourself.

2014 MLB Compilation Board #4 (and Final)

by: Ben Embry

Well, just one more day until the 2014 MLB Draft.  For New York, the first night will be pretty quiet.  They have just one selection to make on Thursday and it won't be until the 55th pick.  I think there's 5 minutes in between picks in the first round, so that'll take a 2 - 2.5 hours right there.  Yankee fans feel free to wait until hour three or four unless you just love the draft as a whole like I do.

This compilaton board is something I like to do to stay up on who the big names are in the draft pool. What I do is take rankings from 6 different sources that I trust the most on the subject of draft prospects and I compile them into one board. And honestly, it is very difficult to find a lot of information on the MLB Draft on the internet, at least compared to the more popular NFL and NBA Drafts. The MLB Draft is more niche-y, so if anything I'd like to consider what I do a service to those other MLB draftniks out there who are looking for some good information.

My previous board can be found here. Here's the fourth board for the 2014 draft:

Rnk	Name	Pos	School
1	Brady Aiken	SP	H.S.
2	Carlos Rodon	SP	NC State
3	Tyler Kolek	SP	H.S.
4	Alex Jackson	C	H.S.
5	Nick Gordon	SS	H.S.
6	Aaron Nola	SP	LSU
7	Grant Holmes	SP	H.S.
8	Bradley Zimmer	OF	San Fran
9	Kyle Freeland	SP	Evansville
10	Sean Newcomb	SP	Hartford
11	Michael Conforto	OF	Oregon St
12	Jeff Hoffman	SP	E Carolina
13	Touki Toussaint	SP	H.S.
14	Trea Turner	SS	NC State
15	Max Pentecost	C	Kensaw St
16	Tyler Beede	SP	Vandy
17	Brandon Finnegan	SP	TCU
18	Derek Hill	OF	H.S.
19	Kyle Schwarber	C/1B	Indiana
20	Michael Chavis	3B	H.S.
21	Luis Ortiz	SP	H.S.
22	Sean Reid-Foley	SP	H.S.
23	Erick Fedde	SP	UNLV
24	Derek Fisher	OF	Virginia
25	Monte Harrison	OF	H.S.
26	Jacob Gatewood	SS	H.S.
27	Braxton Davidson	1B	H.S.
28	Spencer Adams	SP	H.S.
29	Foster Griffin	SP	H.S.
30	Jacob Bukauskas	SP	H.S.
31	Casey Gillaspie	1B	Wichita St
32	Marcus Wilson	OF	H.S.
33	Kodi Medeiros	SP	H.S.
34	A.J. Reed	1B/SP	Kentucky
35	Michael Kopech	SP	H.S.
36	Michael Gettys	OF/SP	H.S.
37	Forrest Wall	2B	H.S.
38	Ti'quan Forbes	SS	H.S.
39	Mike Papi	OF/1B	Virginia
40	Chase Vallot	C	H.S.
41	Justus Sheffield	SP	H.S.
42	Nick Howard	SP	Virginia
43	Scott Blewett	SP	H.S.
44	Nick Burdi	RP	Louisville
45	Alex Blandino	3B	Stanford
46	Luke Weaver	SP	Florida St
47	Matt Imhof	SP	Cal Poly
48	Jack Flaherty	SP/SS	H.S.
49	Mac Marshall	SP	H.S.
50	Cameron Varga	SP	H.S.
51	Alex Verdugo	SP/OF	H.S.
52	Milton Ramos	SS	H.S.
53	Matt Chapman	3B	CS Fuller.
54	Jackson Reetz	C	H.S.
55	Zech Lemond	SP	Rice
56	Carson Sands	SP	H.S.
57	Matt Railey	OF	H.S.
58	Bryce Montes de Oca	SP	H.S.
59	Joey Gatto	SP	H.S.
60	Jacob Lindgren	SP	Miss. St.
61	Gareth Morgan	OF	H.S.
62	Dylan Cease	SP	H.S.
63	J.J. Schwarz	C	H.S.
64	Keaton McKinney	SP	H.S.
65	Cody Reed	SP	H.S.
66	Spencer Turnbull	SP	Alabama
67	Sam Travis	1B	Indiana
68	Trey Supak	SP	H.S.
69	Taylor Sparks	3B	UC Irvine
70	Garrett Fulencheck	SP	H.S.
71	Michael Cederoth	RP	SD State
72	Aramis Garcia	C	Fla Int'l
73	Daniel Gossett	P	Clemson
74	Cole Tucker	SS	H.S.
75	Josh Morgan	3B	H.S.
76	Jake Stinnett	SP	Maryland
77	Mitch Keller	SP	H.S.
78	Grayson Greiner	C	South Car
79	Brett Graves	SP	Mizzou
80	Jeren Kendall	OF	H.S.
81	Keith Weisenberg	SP	H.S.
82	Chris Oliver	SP	Arkansas
83	Chris Ellis	SP	Ole Miss
84	Bobby Bradley	1B	H.S.
85	Dylan Davis	SP/OF	Oregon St
86	Grant Hockin	SP	H.S.
87	Brian Anderson	2B/OF	Arkansas
88	Trace Loehr	SS	H.S.
89	Austin Gomber	P	Fla. Atl.
90	James Norwood	P	St. Louis
91	Jordan Luplow	OF	Fresno St
92	Evan Skoug	C	H.S.
93	Austin DeCarr	SP	H.S.
94	David Peterson	SP	H.S.
95	Andrew Suarez	SP	Miami (FL)
96	Cobi Johnson	SP	H.S.
97	Eric Skoglund	P	Central Fla
98	J.D. Davis	SP/1B	CS Fuller.
99	Tate Blackman	2B	H.S.
100	Chad Sobotka	SP	SC Upstate
101	Jace Fry	SP	Oregon St
102	Wyatt Strahan	P	USC
103	Jake Godfrey	SP	H.S.
104	Aaron Brown	OF/P	Pepperdine
105	Austin Byler	3B	Nevada
106	Connor Joe	C/1B	San Diego
107	Ryan Castellani	SP	H.S.
108	Jake Cosart	SP	JUCO
109	Greg Allen	OF	SD State
110	Sam Coonrod	SP	So Illinois
111	Taylor Gushue	C	Florida
112	Pat Connaughton	P	Notre Dame
113	Jacob Nix	SP	H.S.
114	Mark Zagunis	C	Va Tech
115	Daniel Mengden	P	Texas A&M
116	Sean Bouchard	3B	H.S.
117	Jordan Brink	SP	Fresno St
118	Dillon Peters	SP	Texas
119	Justin Steele	SP	H.S.
120	Austin Slater	OF	Stanford
121	Jordan Foley	P	Cent Mich
122	Isan Diaz	SS/2B	H.S.
123	Adam Ravenelle	P	Vandy
124	Turner Larkins	SP	H.S.
125	Blake Bivens	SP	H.S.
126	Heath Fillmyer	P	JUCO
127	A.J. Vanegas	RP	Stanford
128	K.J. Harrison	C	H.S.
129	Casey Soltis	OF	H.S.
130	Luke Dykstra	SS/3B	H.S.
131	Nick Wells	SP	H.S.
132	Matt Morgan	C	H.S.
133	Nicholas Torres	OF	Cal Poly
134	Ronnie Williams	OF	H.S.
135	Rhys Hoskins	OF	Sac. State
136	Michael Cantu	C/1B	H.S.
137	Isiah Gilliam	1B	H.S.
138	Mitch Hart	SP	H.S.
139	Brandon Downes	OF	Virginia
140	Cameron Bishop	SP/OF	H.S.
141	John Curtiss	P	H.S.
142	Pavin Smith	OF/1B	H.S.
143	Jordan Montgomery	P	S Carolina
144	Jeremy Rhoades	P	Ill. State
145	Justin Twine	SS/OF	H.S.
146	Trenton Kemp	OF	H.S.
147	Lane Thomas	OF	H.S.
148	Adam Haseley	SP/OF	H.S.
149	Chris Diaz	P	Miami (FL)
150	Ryder Ryan	3B	H.S.
151	Garrett Cave	SP	H.S.
152	Derick Velazquez	P	Fresno St
153	Sam Howard	P	Ga South.
154	Shane Mardirosian	2B	H.S.
155	Austin Davis	SP	CS Baker.
156	Brent Jones	P	Cornell
157	Jake Reed	P	Oregon
158	Kevin Padlo	3B	H.S.
159	Ryan Butler	P	Charlotte
160	Raphael Ramirez	OF	H.S.
161	Stone Garrett	OF	H.S.
162	Carl Chester	OF	H.S.
163	Jalen Beeks	SP	Arkansas
164	Patrick Weigel	P	JUCO
165	Ben Wetzler	SP	Oregon St
166	Keaton Steele	P	Mizzou
167	Andrew Karp	SP	H.S.
168	Joey Pankake	3B	S Carolina
169	Brett Austin	C	NC State
170	Cy Sneed	P	Dallas Bap.
171	Alexis Pantojas	SS	H.S.
172	Connor Wong	SS	H.S.
173	Colin Welmon	P	Loyola M.
174	Richard Prigatano	OF	LB State
175	Jordan Holloway	SP	H.S.
176	Roy Morales	C	H.S.
177	Greg Deichmann	3B	H.S.
178	Luke Bonfield	SP/OF	H.S.
179	Shane Benes	SS/3B	H.S.
180	Gavin LaValley	1B	H.S.
181	Andrew Summerville	SP	H.S.
182	Kel Johnson	OF	H.S.
183	Bryan Dobzanski	SP	H.S.
184	Derek Casey	SP	H.S.
185	Josh Trevino	C	Oral Rob.
186	Zach Shannon	SP/OF	H.S.
187	Michael Russell	SS/3B	UNC
188	Zach Fish	OF	Ok. State
189	Elliott Cary	OF	H.S.
190	Devon Fisher	C	H.S.
191	Reed Reilly	P	Cal Poly
192	Mason McCullough	SP	H.S.
193	Brandon Bonilla	P	JUCO
194	Michael Mader	P	JUCO
195	Robbie Dickey	P	JUCO
196	Tanner Houck	SP	H.S.
197	Cason Sherrod	SP	H.S.
198	Griffin Canning	SP	H.S.
199	Cre Finfrock	SP	H.S.
200	Josh Prevost	P	Seton Hall
201	Max Povse	P	UNC Green.
202	Shane Zeile	C	UCLA
203	Dean Deetz	SP	JUCO
204	Jake Jewell	SP	JUCO
205	Tim Susnara	C	H.S.
206	Sam Clay	P	Ga. Tech
207	Jared Ruxer	P	Louisville
208	Hunter Cole	OF	Georgia
209	Brad Roney	P	So. Miss.
210	Montrell Marshall	SS	H.S.
211	Drew Lugbauer	C	H.S.
212	Mitch Gunsolus	3B	Gonzaga
213	Spencer Moran	SP	H.S.
214	Riley Adams	C	H.S.
215	Austino Cousino	OF	Kentucky
216	Alex Faedo	SP	H.S.
217	Tyler Willman	P	West. Ill.
218	Braden Webb	SP	H.S.
219	Brendan McKay	SP	H.S.
220	Eudor Garcia	3B	JUCO
221	Nick White	SP	H.S.
222	Jeff Brigham	P	Washington
223	Alex Lange	SP	H.S.
224	Ryan Lillard	SS	H.S.
225	Tylor Megill	SP	H.S.
226	Alex Destino	OF	H.S.
227	Clay Casey	OF	H.S.
228	Brad Bass	SP	H.S.
229	Mitch Watrous	P	Utah
230	Zach Thompson	P	UT Arlington
231	Sam Hilliard	SP	JUCO
232	Skyler Ewing	C/1B	Rice
233	Tommy Doyle	SP	H.S.
234	Emmanuel Marrero	SS	Ariz St.
235	Nigel Nootbaar	P	USC
236	Adam Choplick	P	Oklahoma
237	Nathan Rodriguez	C	H.S.
238	Brandon Woodruff	P	Miss. St.
239	Chris McGrath	SP	H.S.
240	D.J. Peters	OF	H.S.
241	Ben Smith	P	Coast. Car.
242	Michael Katz	1B	Wil & Mary
243	Bryce Carter	C	H.S.
244	Scott Hurst	OF	H.S.
245	Micah Miniard	SP	H.S.
246	Austin Robichaux	P	La. Lafay.
247	J.J. Matijevic	1B/3B	H.S.
248	Simeon Lucas	C	H.S.
249	Tanner Scott	P	JUCO
250	Justin Smith	OF/3B	H.S.

I highlighted New York's pick numbers in blue: 55, 91, 122, 152, 182, 212, and 242.  This gives me an idea of the kind of talent that will be available at those picks.  I hate to keep harping on it, but it's a shame NY doesn't have a 1st round pick in this draft.  If the Yankees still had the #17 pick, they could walk away with a Brandon Finnegan or Michael Chavis or maybe even Tyler Beede.  This is a loaded class, and the Yankees are short the highest pick they have had in years and two other picks in the comp sandwich round.

They've been tied to five players as far as I've read: HS catchers Chase Vallot, Jackson Reetz, and K.J. Harrison, HS pitcher Justus Sheffield, and Indiana 1B Sam Travis.  Based on the board, any one of those players except Harrison would be fine for the 2nd round, (Vallot or Sheffield would be a steal in my opinion).  Harrison looks like he could be had in the 3rd or 4th rounds.  I don't love the idea of Travis, because we have a glut of 1B-types in the system already: Greg Bird, who already plays 1B, and Peter O'Brien and Eric Jagielo who may have to move there.  Not to mention Dante Bichette, Jr. who is suddenly resurgent.

What I really hope is that someone falls and causes the Yankees to change their plans.  I stated in my last comp mock blog that last year a top-30 talent fell to at least pick 55 and I feel confident it'll happen again this year.  Could it be HS pitchers Spencer Adams, or Foster Griffin, or HS 1B Braxton Davidson?  I would love any of those, in addition to Vallot or Sheffield.  And it looks like my early personal favorite HS pitcher Dylan Cease looks like he should be available though I'm not sure he's taking the $1 million slot value.  Others that I like that fall between our 2nd and 3rd rd picks: HS pitchers Carson Sands, Joey Gatto, Keaton McKinney and Arkansas pitcher Chris Oliver. 

I want to make sure I give credit where credit's due, that being the six writers/publications I use to assemble my board. Some are subscription based, some are free. I encourage everyone to check them all out. They are:

Baseball America (various writers)

ESPN (Keith Law)

MLB.com (Jim Callis, Jon Mayo)

Scouting Baseball (Kiley McDaniel)

MLB Draft Insider (Chris Crawford)

Big League Futures (Kevin Gallo, Matt Grabusky)

This weekend I'll give initial grades for all 30 teams based on how they draft, then after the signing deadline I'll adjust for those who did not sign.  Email me or hit me up on twitter with any questions: info@thebronxempire.com or @thebronxempire. Have a good day!