We should wait 10 years before analyzing a draft, but who wants to analyze the '98 draft?  Let's do this one before the ink dries.  Who came out as winners?  Who lost?  Who are your heroes, who are your villains?  (I'm guessing someone will pick Boras.)  What players did well, what players didn't?  Who had the best draft, who had the worst?

Mostly I want your opinions, but here are a couple of mine.

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Per Rotoworld:

MLB.com is reporting that the Tigers are set to acquire Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and four more prospects.

Rick Porcello is going to be awfully lonely as the only member of Detroit's farm system next year. If true, this puts the Tigers right back among the elite in the AL and further swings the balance of power between the leagues. Detroit will have to hope to find a taker for Brandon Inge, who is owed $18 million over the next three years.

Update: the total package for the Marlins is Miller, Maybin, C Mike Rabelo, RHP Burke Badenhop, RHP Eulogio de la Cruz and RHP Dallas Trahern.

Wow, that would be some lineup.  

I'm sure I'm messing up this lineup a bit, not being a Tigers fan, but imagine something like this:

Granderson
Polanco
Cabrera
Ordonez
Sheffield
Guillen
Renteria

That's crazy talk.

Found this online at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=689389

Apparently, it was released a coupla days early by one of the guy's who helped with it.  Anyway, here it is:

1. Matt LaPorta, OF
2. Manny Parra, LHP
3. Alcides Escobar, SS
4. Jeremy Jeffress, RHP
5. Matt Gamel, 3B
6. Cole Gillespie, OF
7. Brent Brewer, SS
8. Angel Salome, C
9. Lorenzo Cain, OF
10. Caleb Gindl, OF

What's with GMs this year?  Did someone get hold of an illicit photograph with all of them in it?

I've never been the biggest fan of Stoneman, given he hasn't managed to maximize his prospects very well, but with his lack of major moves, he also hasn't made any major mistakes.  I wonder if we'll hear why he stepped down.

It's strange, a lot of GMs leaving the position without being fired...

Per Rotoworld:

Bill Stoneman is stepping down as the Angels' general manager and taking a consultant role with the team.

According to CBS Sportsline, the Angels are leaning towards going with their director of player development, Tony Reagins, as his their successor. Still, it'd be a surprise if they didn't at least check in with Walt Jocketty first. The Angels have reached the postseason four times in the last six years under Stoneman.

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/site/nbcsports/menuitem.6f806e473b4cb158fb00ec22493c2d04/?vgnextoid= 8536ac8c2e995110VgnVCM10000075c1d240RCRD

Selig Will Let GMs Make Recommendation on Instant Replay

At their Nov. 5th-8th meetings, the GMs are likely to decide to recommend or not recommend instant replay to the commissioner.  At which point Bud Selig will either say, "I agree, we shouldn't have instant replay," or "I disagree, we shouldn't have instant replay."

Will baseball ever implement it?  Should baseball ever implement it?  Could baseball ever get a comissioner who looks more like a sausage pizza?

Discuss.

Ken Rosenthal, via Rotoworld:

The Braves have called a Thursday press conference for 3:30 p.m. EST, with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reporting that general manager John Schuerholz is expected to step down.

According to Rosenthal, long-time assistant Frank Wren is likely to replace him, but this is a big blow to the Braves. Schuerholz is a no-doubt Hall of Famer and one of the most successful GMs in baseball history.

All I can say is, wow.  This is the end of an era, a much bigger story than Joe Torre potentially leaving (the big story now), and probably bigger than any GM leaving in recent history.  If Schuerholz is leaving on his own, that's a shame, and if he's being pressured to step down, it's an even bigger shame.  No idea which it is yet, or why.  Hopefully more info after the press conference.

This is the final order, assuming the Giants hold on to their 7-run lead. Final, that is, before FA compensation this offseason. Remember that in case of a tie, the tie-breaker is the previous year's record. So Kansas City gets the 3rd spot over the equally-bad Orioles because they had a worse record the previous year.

Here's the complete order, now with loss totals:

1. Tampa Bay 96
2. Pittsburgh 94
3. Kansas City 93
4. Baltimore 93
5. San Francisco 91
6. Florida 91
7. Cincinnati 90
8. Chicago (AL) 90
9. Washington 89
10. Houston 89
11. Texas 87
12. Oakland 86
13. Saint Louis 84
14. Minnesota 83
15. Los Angeles (NL) 80
16. Milwaukee 79
17. Toronto 79
18. Atlanta 78
19. Chicago (NL) 77
20. Seattle 74
21. Detroit 74
22. New York (NL) 74
23. Colorado 73
24. Philadelphia 73
25. San Diego 73
26. Arizona 72
27. Los Angeles (AL) 68
28. New York (AL) 68
29. Cleveland 66
30. Boston 66

Sorry to overload the Clay diaries, but I found this fascinating.  Quotes are my paraphrases.

Theo Epstein was ready to force Francona to take Buchholz out if he reached 120 pitches.  He ended up at 115 pitches, but what if he hadn't had a superefficient last two innings?  His career high was 94 pitches (I think), and he was at 92 after 7 innings.  So he had 28 pitches to complete the next two innings.  "He couldn't go that many above his career high," quoth the Boy Wonder.

Theo said that the kid's career came before any individual accomplishment, and told Francona after the 7th that if he reached 120 pitches, Tito was to take Buchholz out, and he was allowed to make it known it was Theo's fault.  "I told him he could blame me."  Fortunately for everyone but the Os, Baltimore made some quick outs.  Extra important perhaps was Brian Roberts getting caught napping at first and picked off an inning earlier.

What do you guys think of the whole thing?  As a minor league fan, I heartily applaud Theo having the guts to be willing to protect the kid's arm even if it would have a sh!tstorm of negative media (and fan) attention.  As a guy who used to live in Boston, I can tell you that talk radio there would've gone INSANE.  But it would've been the right decision, right?  Right?

Even as a big fan of protecting arms in the injury nexus, I'm still not sure I could do that.

C - Likely to be a FA.  Guys like Kottaras and Still and Egan have a chance, but not much, especially on a team that expects to contend.
1B - Youkilis/Anderson/Carter/FA  Youkilis is likely to be moved back to 3B after Lowell leaves, Anderson may not be ready then (though he is in High A now), and I'm not a huge Carter fan.  Also likely to be a FA.
2B - Pedroia, so long as he keeps performing
3B - Youkilis, although he's in a serious slump in the young career of a not-that-young player, and when he's over 30 and expensive he may not be worth it.  Middlebrooks won't likely be ready then, either.  Possibly another FA.
SS - Lugo, if he ever turns it around.  No other internal candidates, so maybe the Sox continue their game of Musical Shortstops and get another one.
LF - Manny, if they keep picking up his $20 million options.  It was questionable whether he was worth it before this year, doubtful he'll be worth it after this year's performance.  No other internal candidates.
CF - Crisp.  He's got a pretty friendly contract.  Though for that same reason, if the Sox think Ellsbury's ready, they would find plenty of takers for Crisp.
RF - Drew.  See Lugo comment above.
DH - Ortiz, so long as he can stay healthy.

SP1 Beckett
SP2 Matsuzaka
SP3 Buchholz
SP4 Lester
SP5 Wakefield/Bowden/Masterson/Hagadone/FA

RP1 Papelbon
RP2 Delcarmen
RP3 Bowden/Masterson/Hagadone

Notes: This is an excellent young rotation (expect for Wakefield if he's still around making his $4 million).  Same with the bullpen, though who knows with the average lifespan of a reliever.

On the other hand, this is an old lineup, with Pedroia and Crisp being the only ones under 30, and Crisp barely at that.  Could be Ellsbury in CF, giving them still only two genuinedunder-30 hitters.  Sox will need either some young impact hitting prospects or trade for some youth/sign some youth to still have an effective lineup at this point.  On the other hand, their rotation will be cheap (well, in seriously relative terms), costing something like $35 million, with a similarly cheap pen, leaving them over $100 million for the lineup if their payroll stays at its current level.  Here's hoping they spend it wisely.

I ranked all 30 systems based on John's letter grades from his book (printed with permission).  I also ranked the '06 drafts accordingly.  My methodology was as follows: 1 point for every C+, 2 points for every B-, 4 points for every B, 8 points for every B+, 16 points for every A-, and 24 points for every A.  As you can see, I weighted top-end talent pretty heavily.  But some teams were able to rank very highly without any elite prospects, through a lot of depth.  Please feel free to disagree with my methodology, as it does very much favor teams like the Royals, who have more depth than I thought but mostly have the best three prospects on any one team.  Anyway, here are the teams with their rankings and scores, separated into easily separated tiers:

1. Tampa Bay Devil Rays 115 (wow)
2. Colorado Rockies 87
   
3. Arizona Diamondbacks 84
   
4. Kansas City Royals 82
5. Minnesota Twins 76
   
6. New York Yankees 73
7. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 67
   
8. Los Angeles Dodgers 66
   
9. Boston Red Sox 66
   
10. Cleveland Indians 64
    
11. Milwaukee Brewers 63
12. Cincinnati Reds 58
    
13. Houston Astros 58
    
14. Atlanta Braves 57
15. Detroit Tigers 51
    
15. Florida Marlins 51
    
17. New York Mets 50
    
18. Texas Rangers 48
19. Chicago Cubs 43
    
20. Toronto Blue Jays 42
    
21. Baltimore Orioles 42
22. San Francisco Giants 38
    
23. Oakland Athletics 38
    
24. Pittsburgh Pirates 36
    
25. St. Louis Cardinals 36
    
26. Chicago White Sox 35
27. Washington Nationals 31
    
28. San Diego Padres 29
    
29. Seattle Mariners 28
    
30. Philadelphia Phillies 27

1. Detroit Tigers 21
   
2. Boston Red Sox 20
   
3. Los Angeles Dodgers 19
   
4. San Francisco Giants 18
   
4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays 18
   
4. Washington Nationals 18
   
7. Arizona Diamondbacks 17
   
8. Kansas City Royals 16
   
9. Minnesota Twins 15
   
9. New York Yankees 15
   
11. Baltimore Orioles 14
    
12. Saint Louis Cardinals 13
    
13. San Diego Padres 12
    
13. Seattle Mariners 12
    
15. Pittsburgh Pirates 11
    
16. Cleveland Indians 9
    
16. Oakland Athletics 9
    
16. Texas Rangers 9
    
16. Toronto Blue Jays 9
    
20. Atlanta Braves 7
    
20. Houston Astros 7
    
20. Milwaukee Brewers 7
    
23. Colorado Rockies 6
    
23. Philadelphia Phillies 6
    
25. Florida Marlins 5
    
25. Los Angeles Angels 5
    
25. New York Mets 5
    
28. Chicago Cubs 4
    
28. Cincinnati Reds 4
    
30. Chicago White Sox 3