Picture This: Lincecum In Dodger Blue
Posted on April 30th, 2010 by admin in King of Cali Blog
Have you ever wondered which players the Giants could have had in a draft but passed up on? This is something that always intrigues me. I have just been doing a little research (due diligence) and decided to share some thoughts with you.In the 2006 MLB Draft. The Giants had the 10th overall pick. With the pick they selected two time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Now that was some good due diligence by Brian Sabean and his staff.
Now here’s the teams that passed up on Timmy… Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays did draft Evan Longoria so that’s understandable. The Dodgers also drafted Clayton Kershaw, so that wasn’t a bad draft pick either. Do you think the Dodgers wish they would have drafted little skinny Timmy? I’m sure they do!
In the 2007 MLB Draft. The Giants also had the 10th overall pick. They selected Madison Bumgarner. Now we don’t know how he will do in San Francisco, but we do know how he can dominate the minor leagues. He’s expected to be a front line starter in the Giants future rotation.
When the Giants selected Bumgarner. They did leave another young phenom on the board who was then drafted by the Atlanta Braves. Yes, I’m talking about Jason Heyward. This guy has been projected as the number 1 prospect in baseball, and also projected to be the 2010 Rookie Of The Year. Now do you think Sabean is thinking maybe they should have went for a bat in that draft?
Now the 2008 and 2009 MLB Draft still isn’t anything to fully judge yet. We don’t know who’s going to be the steal or the bust yet. With that said, the Giants did select Buster Posey with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft. Posey was considered the best catcher available. ESPN’s Keith Law had Posey as the number two player in the draft.
In the 2009 MLB Draft. The Giants selected RHP Zach Wheeler with the sixth overall pick in the draft. Sabean has been going after pitching as a top priority in these drafts. I would say the next draft he should probably start looking for a solid position player, but you know what they say. You can never have too much pitching!
~King of Cali
The best policy for drafting, particularly with the first pick, is BPA: Best Player Available.
However, there are factors none of us are aware of. Heyward, for example, is from the Atlanta area. In addition, a Braves scout became a friend of the family along the way and he’s a Braves fan. He comes from a family of academics, so college would have been no problem with him.
I have no doubt that any scout that came to his family probably was given the story that it would take a lot to sign him and make him give up college. That becomes a huge obstacle to selecting him, especially when you are talking about a protected draft pick, those are the most valuable in the draft, and to lose that pick and be forced to take another pick the next year could stall your rebuilding. Plus, if anything, make you look really bad to your fan base.
It worked out for the Braves, at least so far, in any case.
But given how badly Wellemeyer has been pitching, I think we’ll see the beauty of getting Bumgarner instead of Heyward soon enough.