[Editor's Note: Promoted from the FanPosts, for the sake of some off-day discussion.]

So, to get our minds off of Twins-hate season, I figured that I would write something about the 2010 Tigers roster to change the subject. Everyone around here knows that I've been of the opinion that we should sell the role players to make the team better for 2011, but I've been thinking, and I believe that we have a shot to contend next year provided DD makes the right deals. The Royals and Indians will still suck, and the Twins and White Sox will have to take a lot of risks, so there is an opening as well. So, I've decided to reconstruct the roster to contend in 2010. More after the jump.

I devised a set of rules to begin with when playing with the roster. They follow.

1. The primary goal is to develop a winner. Cutting payroll is nice, but Mr. Ilitch wants a winner, and it doesn't matter what the payroll is- if the Tigers lose, we lose more money than if the Tigers win and we jack payroll by 20 MM. Why? Nobody wants to spend on a loser.

2. If we can make moves to cut payroll, we do.

3. We use every asset we have, but we do not trade prospects. The goal is to contend next year, but not at the expense of building a dynasty for 2011.

4. Sacrifices must be made. Team favorites will go in favor of prospects and free agent signings.

5. All free agent signings must be short term and cheap- I'm looking to a lot of role players to complement the core of Cabrera/Verlander/Jackson/Granderson.

6. Defense is still important, but we've also got to score more runs. So we are willing to sacrifice some defense for offense, but not much.

7. NEVER BUY BULLPEN PITCHERS. We've got enough in-house to solve all our relief problems now that DD and David Chadd spent an entire draft hoarding them. Plus, relief pitchers are volatile as is.

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[Editor's Note: Promoted from the FanPosts, for the sake of discussion.  I'm not sure enough people have gotten to read this.]

Since I'm the quasi-prospect guru here on BYB, I figured that I should do something content-related on the farm system. Now, I'm no Matt Wallace, but I thought a look at the top 10 prospects in the Tigers farm system might be worth doing. After all, most of the preseason prospect rankings are moot at this point (I saw somebody in the Tiger blogosphere using a C+ ranking for Casey Crosby?!?!?) and an updated list midseason makes sense. Alas, I was lazy then (and had draft coverage to worry about). Plus, it makes sense to wait until the trade deadline so you make sure you don't write an extended piece up on a prospect that's being sent to the Mariners (or anyone else for that matter).

As for what I'm looking for in top prospects - that's simple. First, I favor players at higher levels over young, toolsy types. Plate discipline, contact ability and power are the three things I'm looking at for position prospects. Of those three, plate discipline is far and away the most important. I'll probably favor guys who can get on base over the uber-toolsy young prospects with little plate discipline. For pitchers, I'm looking for strikeout rate, walk rate and homer rate. I also heavily favor starters over relievers. An additional note- my list will not include either Rick Porcello or Ryan Perry - both of those guys would easily be #1 and #3 in the system, but since everyone knows who they are, what's the point, right? On with the show!

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[Editor's Note: I thought we'd move this over from the FanPosts for the sake of discussion, since demondeaconsbaseball has been following the process so closely for Minor League Ball.  We'll have more analysis of the Tigers' draft - I know a couple of people who feel quite differently on Detroit's second-round pick, for instance - from around the blogosphere later on.]

2009 Detroit Tigers Draft: Day 1 Exit Analysis

So since I covered the Tigers in the mock draft over at Sickels' site, I figured that I'd cover them in the real draft as well.  Below the jump is my analysis of Day 1 of the 2009 MLB Entry Draft. Updates will be made in the comments as the draft progresses.

Needs

The Tigers have a gutted farm system. We all know that. After trading for Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis last year, the cupboard is bare, especially since we've promoted our consensus #1 prospect to the big leagues (Rick Porcello). What's left isn't exactly inspiring. Our current best prospect is either Casey Crosby or Cale Iorg. Crosby has an electric arm but control issues and an injury history. Iorg has no plate discipline to speak of.

The system also has a few pretty good catching prospects in Alex Avila and Dusty Ryan, both of which will probably see some time in the show as either starters or backups. Second baseman Mike Hollimon also deserves a nod. Note that the system is devoid of position prospects and starting pitchers outside of these three. This is definitely an area where Detroit needs improvement.

What the Tigers have in spades is relief pitching. After spending our top four picks on college relievers last year, it makes sense that we have a bunch of solid players for future Tiger bullpens. Throw in players like Casey Fien, Freddy Dolsi, Clay Rapada and Zach Simons, and we've got relief pitching in spades. This has it's advantages- relievers are a volitile commodity, and it's always nice to be able to stock a bullpen quickly. Unfortunately, it's hard to get much for relief prospects in trades, so it's unlikely that Detroit will flip any of these guys for any major needs.

The Draft

Pick #9: Jacob Turner, RHP, MO HS
I don't like this pick as much as I want to. Turner is a good player- heck of a fastball and very projectable. He's a Chadd guy all right. What I don't like is that his breaking pitches lag behind his fastball, and he's got command issues and delivery flaws. It's really hard to fix delivery problems (see Dontrelle Willis), and any player that keeps fastballs up in the zone is going to be punished eventually.

That being said, Turner really isn't a bad pick on his own merits. What makes this a bad pick is who we passed up on. Tyler Matsek, the lefthanded prep prospect from California, was selected at #11. Aaron Crow, indy ball righthander and former first rounder, was chosen at #12. Grant Green, shortstop from USC was chosen at #13. Alex White, UNC right hander, was chosen at #15. All four of these pitchers, in my mind, would have been a far better choice than Turner.

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