The twenty-third team draft preview on my blog focuses on the St. Louis Cardinals and their scouting director Jeff Luhnow.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Luhnow's work:

Jeff Luhnow is one of only a few scouting directors around baseball that also handle the player development department at the same time. This means that Luhnow is now solely responsible for prospects within the Cardinals’ organization, from drafting them to getting them to the Major Leagues. Needless to say, that’s a lot of pressure. The great thing about Jeff Luhnow is that he uses Twitter, and you can know where he is at times, though he hasn’t updated since last Monday. We’ll see if he sticks to that through the spring draft season. I, for one, would love to see what comes of that account. He has run five drafts with the Cardinals so far, and it would be interesting to see some form of public interest in his sixth. Looking at the trends from his first five years, I think you can see a specific Cardinal style of drafting and development. On the hitting side of things, it’s pretty obvious that he prefers players with good defensive value. Stock and Jackson were both considered questionable bats when they were picked a year ago, though no one doubted their defensive tools. That’s been fairly universal throughout the drafts that Luhnow has run, and I think it’s an interesting philosophy. He hasn’t shown a solid preference for prep or college bats, though he does like the solid college bats with some pop in there. That’s a pretty solid philosophy, though he’s been fine with going after up the middle prep bats, too, such as Kozma, Vasquez, and Rasmus. On the pitching side of things, he has shown a general preference for finished products with solid secondary stuff. This has led to more collegiate picks than prep picks, but he was quick to jump on the Shelby Miller train last June when he fell down to the Cards at the 19th pick. Generally, though, Luhnow greatly prefers college arms with durability and developed secondary stuff. These are general trends, and Luhnow has shown a willingness to go almost anywhere for talent.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 5 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Cardinals do?

The twenty-second team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Minnesota Twins and their scouting director Deron Johnson.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 10 players involved with Johnson's work:

Deron Johnson took over the amateur scouting department from long-time scouting director Mike Radcliff following the 2007 season, a position that Radcliff held for 15 drafting seasons. Needless to say, Johnson had a big some big shoes to fill following his promotion. Prior to the promotion, Johnson had been the Twins’ West Coast Crosschecker for almost a decade, a position that resulted in a fair amount of talent coming into the Minnesota system. Prior to holding that crosschecker position, Johnson had been the Twins’ Northern California area scout, and his scouting instincts are not in question. He’s an excellent evaluator, and the Twins have benefited from having him in their system as they rebuilt towards success with a proven plan under Radcliff’s drafting strategy. Johnson now has a pair of solid drafts under him, and it’s time to look at a few of the trends he’s been following since his first draft in June 2008. To begin, Johnson generally capitalizes on excellent players with higher draft stock falling to him in lower spots. Hicks was picked right where he should have gone, but players like Kyle Gibson, Shooter Hunt, Tyler Ladendorf, and Ben Tootle should have all gone higher than when the Twins grabbed them. That’s an excellent testament to how well the Twins have executed their draft strategy, as they’ve been able to maximize the value in each pick, with the vast majority signing for slot money. Looking beyond that, Johnson has continued much of what Radcliff had started in terms of the type of player that the Twins draft. Generally, they are high makeup players with solid baseball skills. They get a solid mix of upside players with safer players, and the bats they spend high draft picks on are usually more toolsy than polished. The pitchers they draft are quite the opposite, as they have plus command or a lot of experience, with Hunt falling in the latter. This method of operation has been very successful for the Twins as an organization, and I expect more of the same in 2010.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 5 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Twins do?

The twenty-first team draft preview on my blog focuses on the San Francisco Giants and their scouting director John Barr.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 10 players involved with Barr's work:

John Barr is probably the most accomplished scouting director when you consider his age and experience levels. Only in his early-50s, Barr has as much high-level scouting experience as any scouting director in the entire game of baseball. He became the Orioles’ scouting director shortly after turning 30, and has run a combined eight drafts including the two drafts he has run since joining the Giants. Directly before joining the Giants, he was the Dodgers’ East Coast crosschecker for ten years, running possibly the best region in a club that developed a number of homegrown players. His official title with San Francisco is Special Assistant to the General Manager for Scouting, but he functions as a scouting director. He’s simply at a higher place in the food chain than some scouting directors are. That’s well deserved, and I consider Barr one of the best scouting directors in the game. Looking at his first two drafts with the Giants, the first glaring trend is a desire to nab players that have slipped a little more than expected in their draft year. That fits for Gillaspie, Kieschnick, Crawford, Joseph, and Stoffel, all names that were considered in the first round equation at one point in the 12 months before their respective drafts. That’s intriguing to me, because they wouldn’t have been even in the conversation if they weren’t immensely talented to begin with. The fact that Barr has drafted five of those players in just two years is incredible, with Matt Graham being an addition to that, as he was in the top ten conversation two years before his draft year. A second high-level trend is a tendency to lean towards power hitters, or at the least hitters with a solid future at the plate. Crawford was the notable exception, being more of a speed and defense guy, but in general Barr likes the guys that can do something with the bat. Joseph was a fairly polished prep bat, and the rest were college bats, an interesting trend in itself. Barr generally prefers getting pitchers from the collegiate level, though the high picks have been relievers. Wheeler was the first significant investment in a prep arm for Barr, and Graham comes in second. While I think this was more about opportunity, I also think that Barr and company are more willing to take prep arms than is thought by simply looking at the draft lists. All in all, he has a fairly balanced draft strategy utilizing a set plan that works well.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 5 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Giants do?

Now that Friday's draft preview is up, here's today's draft preview.

The twentieth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Boston Red Sox and their scouting director Amiel Sawdaye.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 15 players involved with Sawdaye's work as the Assistant Director of Scouting, as this will be his first draft as scouting director:

The Red Sox have undergone the biggest change in their amateur scouting department this offseason since Jason McLeod took over as scouting director starting with the 2005 draft, having taken over from David Chadd, now scouting director for the Detroit Tigers. Starting at the bottom, the Red Sox shifted a few area scouts in some critical areas, including Southern California, where they promoted Dan Madsen to West Coast Crosschecker. Despite that void, they filled it with one of the most popular Southern California area scouts in the business, Tom Battista, the former Braves scout and crosschecker who is famous for signing such notable names as Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen, Freddie Freeman and Braeden Schlehuber. Moving around and switching out area scouts is nothing new for teams, but the upper level changes have been more drastic for Boston this offseason. As noted, they’ve changed West Coast crosscheckers, and they’ve also changed National Crosscheckers, promoting David Finley to Special Assistant to the General Manager and filling that spot with former regional crosschecker Mike Rikard. Lastly, but most important, Amiel Sawdaye was promoted from his long-time Assistant Director of Scouting position to the Scouting Director post. Though there have been multiple changes, I expect more of the same from the Red Sox in 2010 when comparing their upcoming draft to their previous few. Sawdaye was AD of Scouting for McLeod for each of their five year stints, and Sawdaye essentially learned the ropes from the more experienced McLeod. Therefore, we have to look at some trends of McLeod’s. The first one is a penchant for helium arms and bats. Quite a few players that McLeod took early were players that moved up boards very fast in the year-plus before their draft. That makes predicting more interesting, but also more fun. There’s a clear preference for prep bats over collegiate bats, but the majority of pitchers were collegiate arms, though that’s less set than the hitter side. In general, power or speed must be present to be a Boston hitter draftee. These are high-level trends, but they’re worth noting.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 6 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Red Sox do?

This was my draft preview from last Friday, but I was away from the computer and unable to post it, so here it is.

The nineteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Florida Marlins and their scouting director Stan Meek.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Meek's work:

Stan Meek is one of the most respected evaluators in the game of baseball. Having run seven drafts with the Marlins now, he’s right up there with the most experienced scouting directors of the game. He rounds out that experience with an additional seven years of experience as a national crosschecker, five years of area scout experience, and 14 years of coaching at the collegiate level. It doesn’t take a genius to understand the type of respect that such an amount of experience commands. Meek is signed through 2011, and he probably has better job security than almost any scouting director in the business. Knowing this background, let’s step into Meek’s recent history for some trends to his drafting. It becomes immediately apparent that Meek prefers prep players over collegiate ones, with the collegiate players all having either solid to plus tools or plus pitches. In terms of pitching, Meek loves the projectable prep arm, especially from the left side when they’re available. That will produce a larger number of busts than a lot of teams, but will also end in bigger successes with the ones that do end up being hits. On the hitting side, Meek loves power and speed, especially in some form of a combination. Matt Dominguez offered the hitting tools, without the speed, but he had a power arm and plus glove instead. In general, every hitting prospect that Meek drafts will have either speed or power, some with both, though those are rare in any draft class. Geographically, it should be noted that the Marlins WILL TAKE someone from California in the first day. It’s almost an inevitability. California is their breeding ground. In addition, Texas gets a fair amount of their attention, and they’re not afraid of cold-weather states. These are all trends to keep in mind, though the past is not always the predictor of the future that us historians like to think it is.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 6 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Marlins do?

The eighteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Los Angeles Angels and their scouting director Eddie Bane.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Bane's work:

Looking at draft budgeting, the Angels’ front office has been extremely frustrating for their fans. It’s one thing to set an amount for specific players, then not going above it, but when you do that consistently and don’t sign other high-ceiling players to make up for not signing earlier players, your organization suffers. I know an Angels blogger wrote a scathing piece about the difference between draft budgeting and actual spending, but the end result is the same. Not spending in the draft hurts your club. The Angels have simply not spent enough in the draft over the last five years. Their spending places them 29th out of the 30 Major League teams over that period, with the above amount only being $3.74 million. Taking that to tenured scouting directors, that puts Bane dead last for resources compared to his peers. That’s simply unacceptable. The only good news is that the Angels’ 2009 spending showed a willingness to pay for good talent, even if they were at slot for almost every pick, Skaggs being the slight exception. Even looking at 2009 alone, the Angels barely snuck into the top half of the league for draft spending. For a team that spends over $100 million on Major League payroll on average, that’s too low. The Angels are once again in a good position in 2010. They own picks 18, 29, 30, 37, 40, 81, 111, 115, 144, and every 30 picks after that. That’s two extra first round picks, two supplemental first round picks, and a supplemental third round pick for not signing Josh Spence last year. I’d expect another $7 million or so for draft budgeting in 2010, which should put them roughly in the top dozen teams for draft spending. Don’t expect much, if any, overslot spending, but it should be a solid draft much like their 2009 class.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 8 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Angels do?

The seventeenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Chicago Cubs and their scouting director Tim Wilken.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Wilken's work:

Connecting the Cubs to a few players, my latest mock draft has lefty college pitcher Drew Pomeranz falling to them with their 16th pick. There’s probably only a 1 in 7 chance that a possibility like that happens, but Pomeranz fits that mold well. Other possible names could include Alex Wimmers, Bryce Brentz, James Paxton, and Chad Bettis, all fairly polished names with some good upside. Brentz is the only hitter in the bunch, and I do not see many good hitting names available to them in that slot unless they want to dip down into the more volatile prep ranks. Josh Sale, Austin Wilson, and Yordy Cabrera could be available in that slot, but they generally don’t fit the Cubs’ overall tendencies at the moment. Looking beyond the first round, I’ve connected players such as Kolbrin Vitek, Mark Canha, Brett Weibley, and Ross Wilson to them in the second round. Later names of interest might include Gauntlett Eldemire, Turner Phelps, Matt den Dekker, and Stewart Ijames, though each of those players’ draft position could swing rapidly between now and June. Overall, I expect the Cubs to add a few interesting names with relatively modest upside, but relatively high floors. They’ve done so in the past, and I expect more of the same from a solid amateur scouting department.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 9 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Cubs do?

Rod Barajas’ deal is finally official, and the 2010 draft order is set.

First Round
1. Washington Nationals
2. Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians
6. Arizona Diamondbacks
7. New York Mets
8. Houston Astros
9. San Diego Padres
10. Oakland Athletics
11. Toronto Blue Jays
12. Cincinnati Reds
13. Chicago White Sox
14. Milwaukee Brewers
15. Texas Rangers (compensation for not signing Matt Purke)
16. Chicago Cubs
17. Tampa Bay Rays
18. Los Angeles Angels (compensation for the Mariners signing Chone Figgins)
19. Houston Astros (compensation for the Tigers signing Jose Valverde)
20. Boston Red Sox (compensation for the Braves signing Billy Wagner)
21. Minnesota Twins
22. Texas Rangers
23. Florida Marlins
24. San Francisco Giants
25. St. Louis Cardinals
26. Colorado Rockies
27. Philadelphia Phillies
28. Los Angeles Dodgers
29. Los Angeles Angels (compensation for the Red Sox signing John Lackey)
30. Los Angeles Angels
31. Tampa Bay Rays (compensation for not signing LeVon Washington)
32. New York Yankees

Supplemental First Round
33. Houston Astros (compensation for Type A Jose Valverde)
34. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for Type A Marco Scutaro)
35. Atlanta Braves (compensation for Type A Mike Gonzalez)
36. Boston Red Sox (compensation for Type A Jason Bay)
37. Los Angeles Angels (compensation for Type A John Lackey)
38. Boston Red Sox (compensation for Type A Billy Wagner)
39. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for not signing James Paxton)
40. Los Angeles Angels (compensation for Type A Chone Figgins)
41. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for Type B Rod Barajas)
42. Tampa Bay Rays (compensation for Type B Gregg Zaun)
43. Seattle Mariners (compensation for Type B Adrian Beltre)
44. Detroit Tigers (compensation for Type B Brandon Lyon)
45. Texas Rangers (compensation for Type B Marlon Byrd)
46. St. Louis Cardinals (compensation for Type B Mark DeRosa)
47. Colorado Rockies (compensation for Type B Jason Marquis)
48. Detroit Tigers (compensation for Type B Fernando Rodney)
49. Texas Rangers (compensation for Type B Ivan Rodriguez)
50. St. Louis Cardinals (compensation for Type B Joel Pineiro)

Second Round
51. Washington Nationals
52. Pittsburgh Pirates
53. Atlanta Braves (compensation for the Orioles signing Mike Gonzalez)
54. Kansas City Royals
55. Cleveland Indians
56. Arizona Diamondbacks
57. Boston Red Sox (compensation for the Mets signing Jason Bay)
58. Houston Astros
59. San Diego Padres
60. Oakland Athletics
61. Toronto Blue Jays
62. Cincinnati Reds
63. Chicago White Sox
64. Milwaukee Brewers
65. Chicago Cubs
66. Tampa Bay Rays
67. Seattle Mariners
68. Detroit Tigers
69. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for not signing Jake Eliopoulos)
70. Atlanta Braves
71. Minnesota Twins
72. Texas Rangers
73. Florida Marlins
74. San Francisco Giants
75. St. Louis Cardinals
76. Colorado Rockies
77. Philadelphia Phillies
78. Los Angeles Dodgers
79. Tampa Bay Rays (compensation for not signing Kenny Diekroeger)
80. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for the Red Sox signing Marco Scutaro)
81. Los Angeles Angels
82. New York Yankees

Third Round
83. Washington Nationals
84. Pittsburgh Pirates
85. Baltimore Orioles
86. Kansas City Royals
87. Cleveland Indians
88. Arizona Diamondbacks
89. New York Mets
90. Houston Astros
91. San Diego Padres
92. Oakland Athletics
93. Toronto Blue Jays
94. Cincinnati Reds
95. Chicago White Sox
96. Milwaukee Brewers
97. Chicago Cubs
98. Tampa Bay Rays
99. Seattle Mariners
100. Detroit Tigers
101. Atlanta Braves
102. Minnesota Twins
103. Texas Rangers
104. Florida Marlins
105. San Francisco Giants
106. St. Louis Cardinals
107. Colorado Rockies
108. Philadelphia Phillies
109. Los  Angeles Dodgers
110. Boston Red Sox
111. Los Angeles Angels
112. New York Yankees

Supplemental Third Round
113. Toronto Blue Jays (compensation for not signing Jake Barrett)
114. Chicago White Sox (compensation for not signing Bryan Morgado)
115. Los Angeles Angels (compensation for not signing Josh Spence)

Fourth Round
116. Washington Nationals
117. Pittsburgh Pirates
118. Baltimore Orioles
119. Kansas City Royals
120. Cleveland Indians
121. Arizona Diamondbacks
122. New York Mets
123. Houston Astros
124. San Diego Padres
125. Oakland Athletics
126. Toronto Blue Jays
127. Cincinnati Reds
128. Chicago White Sox
129. Milwaukee Brewers
130. Chicago Cubs
131. Tampa Bay Rays
132. Seattle Mariners
133. Detroit Tigers
134. Atlanta Braves
135. Minnesota Twins
136. Texas Rangers
137. Florida Marlins
138. San Francisco Giants
139. St. Louis Cardinals
140. Colorado Rockies
141. Philadelphia Phillies
142. Los Angeles Dodgers
143. Boston Red Sox
144. Los Angeles Angels
145. New York Yankees

Teams will pick every 30 picks after their corresponding Fourth Round draft slots.

The sixteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Tampa Bay Rays and their scouting director R.J. Harrison.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Harrison's work:

R.J. Harrison is one of the most experienced scouts at the scouting director level, and he’s been with the Rays since their scouting department was created in 1995. A former minor league player, Harrison’s been scouting or managing in the minors for some 30 years, and he’s been at the national crosschecker or higher level for over 10 years now, and his experience is a major asset for Tampa Bay. He’s going to be running his fifth draft as the scouting director for the Rays, having taken over for current Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken when Wilken left for Chicago. Looking at some of the trends from his first four drafts, it’s pretty easy to point out an affinity for the Pacific Northwest, and for the West in general. The Rays’ West Coast Crosschecker is Fred Repke, a man made famous by such signings as Evan Longoria and James Shields, with Jake McGee on the way, from his years as the Rays’ Northern California and Northern Nevada area scout. The Pacific Northwest scout in this situation is long-time scout Paul Kirsch, who has turned that region into the Rays’ territory. There weren’t any early Pacific Northwest picks in 2009, but there were plenty of West Coast picks, starting with Diekroeger and continuing through Malm and beyond. Expect that trend to continue in 2010, as they still have a strong scouting presence out west. Looking at specific personnel trends, it’s fairly obvious that the Rays prefer prep hitters greatly over college hitters, especially hitters with athleticism to spare. Malm was a notable exception in the 2009 draft, but the power upside with him was the draw. On the pitching side, the Rays like to fill up their system with raw upside arms from the high school level, though they mix in a fair number of college arms. They’re much less set on prep arms than they are prep bats, but in general, this is a scouting director that prefers prep players over college players, especially beyond the early first round, where obvious candidates such as David Price and Evan Longoria came into play.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 13 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Rays do?

The fifteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Milwaukee Brewers and their scouting director Bruce Seid.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 5 players involved with Seid's work:

Bruce Seid took over Milwaukee’s amateur scouting department for the 2009 draft season after former scouting director Jack Zduriencik left to become the Seattle Mariners’ general manager. Zduriencik had been a holdover from Dean Taylor’s days as the Brewers’ general manager, and he had stuck around through current general manager Doug Melvin’s tenure, and he had consistently produced excellent players that moved quickly to the Major Leagues. Seid’s transition from area scout to scouting director was very quick, as he only spent two years in-between, both as the Brewers’ West Coast crosschecker. Despite the lack of time at the higher level, Seid’s long history of experience in scouting is definitely helpful. Seid’s deputy is Ray Montgomery, another former crosschecker, and their combined scouting experience makes for a solid drafting team. It’s tough to really judge trends off of a single draft, but I also wanted to be careful and not include the picks of Zduriencik, as anytime a team has to replace two crosscheckers, as well as the top levels of their scouting department, drafting philosophy will undoubtedly be different. Just from a high-level look, the main trend you can see from the 2009 draft for Seid is that there is a preference for big-bodied college pitchers with a good fastball. Both Arnett and Heckathorn are big kids, and there’s no doubt that those frames played a part in Seid’s decision to draft them. Hitters were harder to judge, as overall tools were important for Davis, hitting tools were important for Walla, and defensive tools were important for Garfield, but in general I’ll simply say that Seid showed a willingness to go anywhere for hitters, both at the prep and college levels.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 14 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here on how you can help make my coverage even better.

What do you think? What will the Brewers do?

The thirteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Texas Rangers and their scouting director Kip Fagg.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 15 players involved with Fagg's work:

The Rangers’ front office underwent a fairly significant change this past offseason, and Kip Fagg’s promotion was just a piece of the puzzle. The changes weren’t necessarily in terms of firings, but actually in terms of strategic hiring and promotion. Ron Hopkins, who had run the Rangers’ drafts back to 2003, was promoted to the role of special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels, and he will still be a part of the greater scouting system in place in the Texas organization. As one of the best individual evaluators in the game, having Hopkins in that role is a nice advantage for an increasingly improving scouting group in Arlington. Fagg was part of Hopkins’ inner group of scouts, and he has scouting roots on the West Coast. That’s interesting, but it’s not the end-all, be-all of where Fagg will be looking in 2010. Fagg’s direct boss will be A.J. Preller, the man responsible for the Rangers’ success in Latin America over the last number of years. Another great scouting mind, Preller will also shape the strategy of the coming draft as the head of all of the Rangers’ scouting efforts. All in all, combined with more strategic hires at the crosschecker and pro scout levels, the Rangers have greatly improved their scouting department this offseason. Since Fagg will undoubtedly change some trends in his own way, looking at trends over the last three years isn’t necessarily prudent, but we’ll do so anyway. In terms of pitchers, athletic pitchers were greatly preferred, in addition to a general willingness to take smallish pitchers, as well. For hitters, raw power is a key trait, and athleticism isn’t necessarily a big factor at all. Defensive ability has been a key to all except for Clark Murphy. These are all very high-level trends, but I will stick to that instead of diving into the trends of a scouting director who no longer has that role.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 17 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

Also, read the State of the Blog here.

What do you think? What will the Rangers do?

The thirteenth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Cincinnati Reds and their scouting director Chris Buckley.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Buckley's work:

I was largely complimentary of Chris Buckley’s 2009 draft when I did the Reds’ draft review. I continue to think it’s a solid method of going about things. Mixing solid collegiate players with high floors with high-upside prep players makes a lot of sense. I like what they’ve been doing, and I like the direction this farm system is heading, simply because Buckley has been putting solid players in the system for four years now. A fifth draft figures to be solid, even if it doesn’t make national headlines like signing seven overslot players does. Buckley had previously run drafts for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001-2003 before being promoted to Special Assistant to GM J.P. Ricciardi. Buckley has a lot of experience, and those Toronto drafts yielded Gabe Gross, Brandon League, Dave Bush, Aaron Hill, Josh Banks, Shaun Marcum, and Tom Mastny, all solid Major League players, with a special player mixed in. Red fans may not like the relative conservative nature of Buckley’s drafts, but it will yield some results. Looking at some trends in the hitters, Buckley seems to like collegiate bats on the whole, and usually they haven’t had a ton of upside, but they haven’t really been bad at anything, either. The prep names mixed in have been toolsy players with big upside and already present defensive tools. Speed has been a big thing in those few prep names. On the pitching side, there’s also a collegiate trend, but with a few more prep names, and usually they’re names that have scared a few teams away for one reason or another. They’re under-scouted one might say. Overall draft trends look like they contain a good balance between hitting and pitching, and risky and safer picks. I like what Buckley’s doing, and I’m sure the trend will continue in 2010.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 20 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

What do you think? What will the Reds do?

The twelfth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Chicago White Sox and their scouting director Doug Laumann.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Laumann's work:

If you’re looking for a place to point the finger of blame, point it at the people who make the budgets. There is no other way to put it. Since Laumann has moved back in to the scouting director’s chair, the White Sox have had a combined draft budget of $8.9 million. Looking at that in comparison to the rest of the league, there have been 11 individual drafts done by teams that have spent as much or more than that in a single year during that span. That’s $8.9 million in a single year, while the White Sox have been stuck at that total for a two year span. That’s not due to picking at the back of the first round or missing picks. They had the number eight pick in 2008, which they put to good use, and while they were missing a second-rounder that year, they added a supplemental first-rounder and second-rounder in 2009. Let’s put this in perspective. There is a grand total of one Major League team that has spent less in the draft than the White Sox for 2008 and 2009 combined. That’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. Surprising? Not to me, but then again, I follow this a little more closely than the average person. Only four scouting directors have had less allocated to them per year than Laumann, and I outlined them in my last weekend column. Looking at draft budgeting for the coming draft, the White Sox own picks 13, 63, 95, 114, 128, and every 30 picks after that, assuming that Rod Barajas signs a Major League contract with another team before the draft. That’s one extra pick, the compensation pick in the supplemental third round for not signing Bryan Morgado. I expect another budget in the area of $4.5-5 million this year, and that definitely impacts what sort of talent they can expect to get.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 23 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

What do you think? What will the White Sox do?

The eleventh team draft preview on my blog focuses on the San Diego Padres and their scouting director Jaron Madison.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Madison's work:

Like my previous draft preview on the Toronto Blue Jays, it is almost impossible to use any sort of past data to evoke any kind of trends with regards to Jaron Madison’s history of being an AD of Scouting. As a result, let’s dive into the history of the people involved with this front office once again, looking at where they’ve been and their experience. Starting at the top, Jed Hoyer is a well-known name to plenty of good baseball fans. He joined the Red Sox in 2002, and he spent his entire front office career there before joining San Diego as the general manager following the firing of Kevin Towers. Hoyer was brought in as a baseball operations assistant, became a special assistant to general manager Theo Epstein, and then was the assistant general manager for the last four seasons. Included in-between the last two jobs was a month and half long stint as general manager of the Red Sox when Epstein sported a gorilla suit. Fun times. Below Hoyer is former Red Sox scouting director Jason McLeod, who serves in Hoyer’s former position with Boston, assistant general manager. McLeod ran five drafts with Boston, and he will have a heavy influence on how Madison runs drafts with San Diego. McLeod has been a Southern California area scout before, so being back at home should yield some interesting results. The other assistant GM is Fred Uhlman Jr., who has length experience in scouting, as well, including many years as an assistant scouting director. As explained above, Madison’s highest experience prior to this post was as an assistant scouting director in St. Louis, then before that in San Diego he was officially known as the assistant to the director of scouting. Different job titles for essentially the same job and the same level of influence. All in all, there’s a wealth of scouting talent, and the Padres are adding scouts to cover all the areas that were neglected under Towers.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 30 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

What do you think? What will the Padres do?

The ninth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Toronto Blue Jays and their scouting director Andrew Tinnish.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 11 players involved with Tinnish's work:

Since it’s precarious to use past draft budgets under a different regime, I’ll just go ahead and dive right now to the picks that Toronto has and the slot amounts they’ll be carrying. They’re still waiting on Rod Barajas to sign with another team, but I’m assuming that he will shortly, and they’ll get the compensation pick for him. So assuming that happens, the Blue Jays will hold picks 11, 34, 38, 41, 61, 69, 80, 93, 113, 126, and every 30 picks after that. All I have to say is that they’ve set themselves up for a strong recovery if they play their cards right this June. Looking at just their picks in the top five rounds, their slots will be right at about $7 million for those picks, assuming that slotting stays the same for this year. I actually expect slots to rise a bit, so it might be more than that. I don’t expect the new scouting regime to sign every single player to slot money. It might be better to mix in a few signable collegiate players who will sign for less than slot, then distribute extra money in later round picks that want more than the low slot money. I’m going to conservatively predict that they spend $8 million total on signing bonuses this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number as high as $10 million, but that might be pushing it. Either way, you will definitely see the Blue Jays start spending real money in the draft this June.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 30 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

What do you think? What will the Blue Jays do?

The ninth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the New York Mets and their scouting director Rudy Terrasas.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 20 players involved with Terrasas' work:

Looking at draft budgeting, it’s easy to see why Terrasas’ job was on the line. He hasn’t been given enough resources. The total draft spending during Terrasas’ tenure puts the Mets tied for 27th in spending for those four years, a tie with the Astros, who have shown more interest in draft spending since the duo of Ed Wade and Bobby Heck took over. That is simply unacceptable for a team in the 21st century, as building from within is tremendously less expensive than the other alternatives. The Mets have already felt the pain from such lack of spending, and it doesn’t look like they’ll come out of it soon unless there is some sort of change in the front office’s philosophy, which generally doesn’t happen unless the front office itself changes. This year the Mets own the highest pick Terrasas has ever had. They own picks 7, 89, 122, and every 30 picks after that, assuming Rod Barajas signs a Major League contract with another team before the draft. Their second-round pick was forfeited for signing Jason Bay. This represents another fatal trend, as the Mets have continuously given up picks for free agents. The seventh pick last year was Mike Minor, and he received a bonus of $2.42 million, which is likely where slot will be for that pick this year, which is the same amount for slot from 2008. Knowing this bonus, I expect the Mets to spend somewhere around $4 million in bonuses this year, perhaps less. This would once again place the Mets right at the bottom of the spending pool, unless they change their ways from the past, which isn’t likely, at least not in the extreme of spending more than $6 million, which would put them in the middle of the pack. They will undoubtedly be in the bottom half to bottom third of spending for yet another year.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Mets do?

Also, I'll be chatting here starting at 2 eastern.

The eighth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Oakland Athletics and their scouting director Eric Kubota.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Kubota's work:

Eric Kubota was quite young for a scouting director when he was named to the position following the 2001 season. He followed Grady Fuson’s footsteps when Fuson moved on to the same role for the Texas Rangers. Fuson’s been in and out of both Texas’ and San Diego’s front offices since then, yet Kubota remains in the same place, executing drafts for the same general manager in Billy Beane. Kubota held a variety of scouting and administrative positions within Oakland’s front office before his promotion, and Oakland is the only club he has ever worked for. Now he stands as the second-longest-tenured scouting director in baseball with the same team, with his drafts equaling the Marlins’ Stan Meek, the Phillies’ Marti Wolever, and two drafts behind the Rockies’ Bill Schmidt. Bill Gayton, Roy Clark, and Dana Brown all had more years with their respective clubs entering the offseason, but each moved on. It’s easy to say that Kubota now brings a wealth of experience to his position. Since he has a longer history, trends might be a little easier to spot. In general, Kubota does indeed prefer the college arm over the prep arm, though that’s more of a trend in early rounds in recent years than an overall trend. They invested $925,000 in Ian Krol a year ago, so Kubota doesn’t have an overall aversion to prep arms. On the offensive side of the ball, Kubota’s also leaned heavily toward collegiate athletes, with Max Stassi representing the largest investment in a prep bat in Kubota’s entire draft history. Looking at geography, another trend is Kubota’s slight leaning towards players in the western half of the country. There is a good amount of overall balance geographically, but the slight lean towards western players is apparent. That was a little more pronounced in 2009, though I don’t think that was a conscious decision, instead more of a product of them picking the best player on their board.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the A's do?

The sixth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Houston Astros and their scouting director Bobby Heck.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 10 players involved with Heck's work:

In terms of draft budgeting, the Astros are in the bottom third of draft spending when looking at combined spending amounts over the past two years. The $10.7 million they’ve spent on draft bonuses is less than either Seattle or Washington spent on their 2009 drafts alone. This isn’t to say that I think the Astros are cheap. Their 2008 draft showed that they’re capable of spending a healthy amount on draft budgeting, and that was even without third-rounder Chase Davidson signing. However, 2009 was a big dip, and they ended up spending less than 23 other teams. Since they’re back in the top ten this year, I expect a budget that outspends 2008’s total, perhaps as high as an even $8 million. They own picks 8, 19, 33, 58, 90, 123, and every 30 picks after that, granted that Rod Barajas signs a Major League contract with another team before the draft. The two extra early picks they’ll carry will undoubtedly mean more money spent. The first pick should carry a tag of somewhere near $2.3 million, the second $1.5 million, the third $950,000, and the fourth $650,000. That’s already $5.4 million before we’ve even gotten to the third round. In other words, don’t expect overslot signings in the late rounds this year, as the budget won’t be stretched enough to accommodate such spending, unless one of the early picks doesn’t sign, and they sign later picks as protection. This will definitely be an up year in spending for the Astros, but I don’t expect a huge explosion into eight figures for a team that’s generally middle of the pack and below when it comes to draft spending under Ed Wade’s tenure.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Astros do?

The sixth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Cleveland Indians and their scouting director Brad Grant.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 10 players involved with Allison's work:

Connecting the Indians to specific players, I think we’ll see a few possibilities as we sit here in February. The first possibility is that the Indians are intent on paying slot to their fifth overall pick. In that situation, I believe we’ll see the Indians seriously consider Zack Cox, Christian Colon, Deck McGuire, Chris Sale, and Drew Pomeranz. All these college players would almost certainly take slot money, which should be around $2.5 million, given that they have expected years in the 2010. I have Cox going to the Indians in my latest mock, and they didn’t have the possibility of taking Colon. However, I’m thinking more and more that the trio of McGuire, Sale, and Pomeranz make more sense for them. McGuire in particular looks quite appetizing there, and that’s who I had going to them in my fall mock draft. Keep that group of names in mind, though I can add names in there as we go. Looking to the second round, I’m looking at Micah Gibbs, Todd Cunningham, Sam Dyson, Derek Dietrich, and Addison Reed of San Diego State. Beyond that, I see Rob Segedin, Kevin Rhoderick, Dixon Anderson, Josh Spence, and maybe Victor Sanchez if he has a good year coming back off shoulder issues in 2009. Just remember these names for now, and when I update the draft previews in May, I’ll come back to these names as a reference.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Indians do?

The fifth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Arizona Diamondbacks and their scouting director Tom Allison.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 15 players involved with Allison's work:

Looking at draft budgeting under the tenure of Allison and Byrnes is a little hard to do, since 2009 was such an aberration compared to 2007 and 2008. The previous two drafts yielded plainly average budgets, and 2007 in particular stuck to slot after the first pick of Parker. Eichhorn was the only significant over-slot investment in 2008, and that wasn’t by much. 2009 didn’t differ too much from that trend, but with five extra picks on top of their normal number of picks, the budget doubled from year to year. Borchering, Davidson, Owings, Helm, and Schuster all represented overslot bonuses handed out to draftees, though they weren’t enormous slot-busters like some teams of late have gone to in order to acquire what they consider top-tier talent. The Diamondbacks’ 2009 draft was considered one of the rousing successes in all of baseball, so saying that largely over-slot bonuses are needed to fill out a solid draft class is logically incorrect, as players like Pollock, Belfiore, Smith, Krauss, Wheeler, and Nick all represent excellent picks for slot bonuses or less. Looking at 2010, they own picks 6, 56, 88, 121, and every 30 picks following that, provided that Rod Barajas signs a Major League contract with another club before the draft. That means that Allison is faced with a new situation that he hasn’t faced before since joining Arizona. He won’t have any extra picks. On top of that, he’s drafting the highest he’s ever drafted before, and there will be more pressure than ever to succeed. I suspect the budget will drop back down into the $5-6 million range for this draft without all the extra picks, but it all depends on how much they spend for the sixth slot.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Diamondbacks do?

Hey guys, I feel a little guilty for doing back-to-back fanposts, but I have another piece on my blog that some of you may have interest in.

I've done a writeup of 6 of the best JuCo names to watch for the 2010 season. I have another 115 or so that will probably get into my MLB Draft Notebook, so this is just the top of the top.

Here's an excerpt on Burch Smith, a sophomore righty for Howard JC in Texas:

Smith is a holdover from the historic 63-1 team from the 2009 season, and he’s their best returning arm and number one starter. Blessed with a pro body, Smith’s arm has really started to develop over the past year. He was drafted as a 49th-rounder a year ago by the Indians, but it was more of a follow approach than any real attempt at signing him. Undrafted out of high school, he had the talent to go in the mid-teens a year ago, but was simply only interested in returning to Howard after a wildly successful freshman campaign. The result has been a big step forward in terms of his velocity and command, and he could easily go in the first two rounds in June, higher than either [Jake] Eliopoulos or teammate [Damien] Magnifico. He’s committed to Oklahoma for next year, and while that might be an obstacle in some ways, I think he’ll be signable for slot in the first three rounds. He’ll only be two months past turning 20 on draft day, so there’s still significant upside here. His mature, yet projectable, 6’5’’, 195 pound frame should be able to handle another 25 pounds of muscle, and there might be number two upside in his low 90’s arm. His fastball isn’t as elite as his teammate’s, but it’s still plus due to good life and command, and it peaks around 95. He could easily be the top JuCo arm come June.

Direct link here.

Players I wrote up were Bryce Harper, LeVon Washigton, Jake Eliopoulos, Damien Magnifico, Smith, and Tony Dischler.

Just for reference, the excerpt here and the writeups you'll see on my blog are pretty much how my writeups are going to be in the Draft Notebook. If you like what you see, pre-order the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook here.

Go ahead and vote in the poll, and tell me what other JuCo names you'd like to see written up this spring.

The fourth team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Kansas City Royals and their scouting director J.J. Picollo. I had to search back to Picollo's days as a Mid-Atlantic scout with the Braves early in the last decade to get a few players, and then I added last year's draft, Picollo's first as scouting director.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 12 players involved with Picollo's work:

The Royals have about as much scouting experience in their front office as any front office in all of baseball. Though Picollo has less experience than most scouting directors, he’s surrounded by a wealth of scouting talent, including former long-time Phillies scouting director Mike Arbuckle. Dayton Moore, Dean Taylor, Art Stewart, Donnie Williams, Brian Murphy, Louie Medina, Pat Jones, Mike Toomey, Gene Watson, Lonnie Goldberg, and Scott Sharp all have extensive scouting experience, and they’re all in the front office in Kansas City at the moment. This is on top of the usual scouting structure that the Royals employ. The one difference that Kansas City has is that Picollo is also in charge of the player development side of things, so he handles all things involving young players, which is a lot to handle. Most teams split the scouting and player development sides of things so that their scouting director isn’t overworked, but the Royals believe this is a positive structure. Since it’s a little early to pick up on trends for this draft, considering Picollo was only simply turning in times as an area scout, the only thing I can say is that Picollo seems to prefer either a very toolsy prep player or a very finished college player. Crow, Coleman, White, and Meyer match that on the college side, and Myers, Herr, and Nelson fit on the prep side. Dwyer might be seen as more a prep player, and he’s unique in his draft situation anyway. Overall, the trends aren’t quite apparent, but Picollo seems to be using the extensive experience in the front office well.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Royals do?

The second team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their scouting director Greg Smith.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Smith's work:

Connecting the Pirates to specific players is difficult at best at the moment, as no one knows for sure whether they’ll go with a signable player early or one they consider the best player available. Assuming that Bryce Harper is off the board for pick two, the two big-name players that will cost a good part of their budget are Anthony Ranaudo and Jameson Taillon. Taillon doesn’t fit the M.O of Greg Smith, so I think it’s fair to throw him out unless new information comes out about their preference for him. Therefore, Anthony Ranaudo is the logical candidate if they choose to go with the best player available philosophy, though Ranaudo may cost $5+ million and a Major League contract. Scott Boras tends to do that. The other option is picking another signable college player, one that is not represented by Scott Boras. The main alternative in that philosophy is Christian Colon from Cal State Fullerton. He would fit well as a fast-moving infielder with above-average potential, and he should be signable for slot, perhaps below slot for the number two pick. Alternatives include Deck McGuire, LeVon Washington, Chris Sale, and Drew Pomeranz. For their second round pick, I’d look at Addison Reed, Jake Thompson, and Daniel Tillman. Later picks could include Burch Smith, Rob Segedin, Tommy Kahnle, and Dan Grovatt.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Pirates do?

Hey guys, I've appreciated the links to my blog in the past in this community, so I thought I'd share my most recent piece with you.

I'm doing team-by-team draft previews that will be part of my 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, and the Orioles were the second team up. I focused on the draft history of scouting director Joe Jordan, and dissected what the Orioles might be looking for in the 2010 draft.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Jordan's work:

Looking at draft budgeting, the Orioles have been one of the better teams at investing in the draft in recent years. Following the expensive signings of Wieters and Matusz, they spread a great deal of money out over multiple players in 2009, reaching about $8.5 million in draft spending. I’d expect more of the same in 2010. The Orioles pick at numbers 3, 85, 118, and every 30 picks after that, assuming that Rod Barajas signs a Major League deal with another club before the draft. Seeing as the Orioles are down a second-round pick, and they didn’t pick up any compensation picks, I see them going after multiple players that fell due to signability issues and signing them up themselves. The best examples of that in 2009 were Michael Ohlman and Cameron Coffey, a pair that signed bonuses comparable to the end of the first round when looking at the assigned slots of their bonuses. If they don’t want to spread their money out as much this year, and there might be a clear cut number three pick come June that makes them want to do so, they could easily allocate the majority of their resources towards that pick. I don’t see anyone commanding $6+ million at the number three pick this year like Donavan Tate did a year ago, but it’s quite possible.

Direct link here.

What do you think? What will the Orioles do?

The second team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Baltimore Orioles and their scouting director Joe Jordan. I'm skipping around between the AL and NL, starting with the top of the 2010 draft order.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 25 players involved with Jordan's work:

Looking at draft budgeting, the Orioles have been one of the better teams at investing in the draft in recent years. Following the expensive signings of Wieters and Matusz, they spread a great deal of money out over multiple players in 2009, reaching about $8.5 million in draft spending. I’d expect more of the same in 2010. The Orioles pick at numbers 3, 85, 118, and every 30 picks after that, assuming that Rod Barajas signs a Major League deal with another club before the draft. Seeing as the Orioles are down a second-round pick, and they didn’t pick up any compensation picks, I see them going after multiple players that fell due to signability issues and signing them up themselves. The best examples of that in 2009 were Michael Ohlman and Cameron Coffey, a pair that signed bonuses comparable to the end of the first round when looking at the assigned slots of their bonuses. If they don’t want to spread their money out as much this year, and there might be a clear cut number three pick come June that makes them want to do so, they could easily allocate the majority of their resources towards that pick. I don’t see anyone commanding $6+ million at the number three pick this year like Donavan Tate did a year ago, but it’s quite possible.

Direct link here.

As always, read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook and pre-order it here.

What do you think? What will the Orioles do?

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I'm doing a draft chat at noon eastern in connection with my blog. I'll be answering all questions draft and draft notebook related, so come on over. I'll probably be answering questions for about 90 minutes, more if you have more questions you're interested in getting answered.

The direct link for the chat is here. I'll be opening up the chat room at 11 eastern for you to put in questions if you can't stick around at noon or the rest of the time after that.

On a side note, I'll be posting the draft preview for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon, looking at their scouting director Joe Jordan. These draft previews, which will be updated as the season goes along so that you can see which teams are connected to which players, are just one of the features you'll get in the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook. Each team will have up-to-date previews in the notebook so you can reference them on draft day.

Pre-order the Draft Notebook here.

I'll be posting excerpts of writeups from the notebook as I go along this season, though the writeups will all be updated to a final version the week before the draft, so the excerpts I'll post are just true examples of what you'll find in the final product.

Hope you guys will join me at noon eastern.

Hey guys, I've appreciated the links I've gotten in this community before, so I thought I'd share an article I just posted.

I'm starting up my team-by-team draft previews at my blog, and I started with the team that picks #1 overall in the Washington Nationals. Scouting director Kris Kline is in his first year, so I picked out players from his region as West Coast crosschecker with Arizona and Washington, then focused on 2009's draft with Washington, when he was a national crosschecker.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 23 players involved with Kline's work:

Continue reading this post »

Hey guys, I'm starting up my team-by-team draft previews at my blog, and I started with the team that picks #1 overall in the Washington Nationals. Their scouting director, Kris Kline, is in his first year, so I picked out players from his region as West Coast crosschecker with Arizona and Washington, then focused on 2009's draft with Washington, when he was their national crosschecker.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 23 players involved with Kline's work:

Kris Kline’s experience as a scout goes back two decades, and there aren’t many people who can claim that he isn’t qualified to be a scouting director. The interesting dynamic in Washington is that Kline is essentially part of a drafting team that starts with Mike Rizzo at the GM level. Rizzo was Kline’s boss in his years with Arizona, when Rizzo ran Arizona’s drafts as their scouting director. Kline followed Rizzo to Washington for the 2007 draft, when Rizzo became the head of baseball ops under Jim Bowden. Rizzo’s ascension to general manager ensures Kline’s job security, at least for a few years. It also means that drafting will be done in a team environment, especially considering the arrival of Roy Clark from Atlanta, another previous scouting director. Clark took over the scouting department in Atlanta from the legendary Paul Snyder, and he enters Washington as Vice President of Player Personnel, essentially Rizzo’s right-hand man for scouting. This triumvirate will mean excellent scouting and use of scouting resources this season, and despite Kline’s lack of experience at the scouting director level, I don’t expect a weak draft, even going beyond whoever they selected at number one overall. This Washington front office is set up to be very successful for the coming years if they use the combined scouting knowledge they have in the front office.

Direct link here.

If you guys are getting tired of me posting here, just let me know.

What do you think? What will the Nationals do?

I've posted a continuation of my second first round mock draft on my blog. I've made the assumption that Rod Barajas will sign a ML deal with another club before the draft, so the Blue Jays have netted another pick.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup:

33. Houston Astros – DeAndre Smelter, RHP, Tattnall Square Academy (GA) – Having drafted LeVon Washington and Kevin Gausman before this, Smelter fits well into the Astros’ current philosophy of draft workout arms, following in the footsteps of Jordan Lyles and Tanner Bushue. Smelter has huge arm strength, and his big question mark is whether he has the secondary stuff or the endurance to be a starter. His arm strength is unquestioned, though, and perhaps only Stetson Allie has a better pure arm in this class. Previously: NR.

34. Toronto Blue Jays – Peter Tago, RHP, Dana Hills HS (CA) – Tago is currently on that edge between first round pitcher and unpredictable prep arm. He still fits into the category of skinny, projectable prep arm, but his command is quite good. Having already pegged the Blue Jays to pick Manny Machado, a prep arm fits here well. Tago has a high ceiling, and with the regime change in Toronto, it looks like they see the need in picking these kinds of arms, along with a mix of college arms. Previously: NR.

35. Atlanta Braves – Jesse Hahn, RHP, Virginia Tech – The Braves, while traditionally thought of as pure tools developers, have more recently gone to a mix between college and junior college players. With this being the Braves’ first pick in the draft, I think the Braves will try to find a relatively high-upside college arm, and Hahn fits that bill. Hahn has a big arm, but a reliever stigma, and he’ll have to work to keep that away this spring. Previously: #13.

36. Boston Red Sox – Jedd Gyorko, 2B, West Virginia – The man without a defensive home continues to show up as a solid all-around hitter. I have the Red Sox going with a prep arm in Stetson Allie earlier in the first round, so I would expect a more conservative pick here. Gyorko looks like he’ll be a solid MLB hitter without much work, and while his defense is generally bad in the infield, he might be able to work himself into a solid contributor. Previously: #29.

37. Los Angeles Angels – Sammy Solis, LHP, San Diego – Much like last year, I expect the Angels to use a fair number of their multiple early picks on arms with good upside. That yielded Tyler Skaggs, Garrett Richards, Tyler Kehrer, and Pat Corbin a year ago. Solis is a guy with an injury history that doesn’t involve his left arm, and he stands to be a candidate to move up quickly from here with a good spring. This would be a pick that makes a lot of sense. Previously: NR.

Direct link here.

You can also read about the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook. If you're interested in pre-ordering the Draft Notebook, go ahead and do so here.

I'm also tweeting more this spring, and you can follow me here.

I also now face a Facebook page for the blog, and you can become a fan here.

I feel like I'm selling a used car now, so I'll stop putting links.

How do you like the latest mock?

Hey guys, I've come up with a new product that I hope will become the go-to resource for the draft. I'm writing here to gauge interest in this product.

I’m introducing the 2010  MLB Draft Notebook. The MLB Draft Notebook is a PDF product that will consist of approximately 750 individual writeups on players that are eligible for the 2010 draft. The exact number of players is yet to be determined, but it will cover about the number of players that will taken in the first 25 rounds.

Here’s what you will get with the MLB Draft Notebook:

• An easily searchable PDF that is easily accessible for both draft day reference and future reference

• Vitals on each and every player including height, weight, birth date, school, hitting and throwing hands and school

• Commitments for prep and junior college players

• A unique player rating system written by myself that will give you info on a player’s projected draft slot, ceiling, and chance of reaching that ceiling

• Signability chances for players depending on what round they’re taken in

• Team-by-team draft previews

• Scouting reports on over 750 players!

You’ll be getting all of this for only $9.99. The release date will be the weekend of the draft, most likely on Sunday. I want the information to be as up-to-date as possible, so that’s the reason behind the later release date.

I’ve already compiled a list of approximately 825 players so far specifically for the notebook, and I’ll be adding and subtracting names as I go, with the final number to come. This is all on top of the usual 1500+ name list I usually work with, so this notebook will become the focus of what I do. Expect continued good information here on my blog, but for an excellent product you can continue coming back to, consider investing the small amount on this product. I promise it will be worth the money.

What I need from you is some information on your interest in the notebook. I’d like to gauge just how many people are interested in buying this product. If you think you’ll buy this, just comment here if you will. You don’t have to promise anything. I’d just like to see the interest in something like this. There’s obviously no limit on the amount of PDFs I can send out, so it’s just for my reference.

Thanks for all of your support here in the fanposts. I appreciate you guys giving me feedback over the last year with my content.