Matt Garrioch of MLB Bonus Baby authored this ranking. The following are his first 25:

1. Kevin Gausman, RHP, Louisianna State
2. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)
3. Deven Marrero, SS, Arizona State
4. Nick Williams, OF, Ball (Galveston, Texas)
5. Max Fried, LHP, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)
6. Michael Zunino, C, Florida
7. Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford
8. Lucas Sims, RHP, Brookwood HS, Snellville, Ga.
9. Gavin Cecchini, SS, Barbe HS, Lake Charles, La.
10. Carlos Correa, SS, Santa Isabel PR PR Baseball Academy
11. Stryker Trahan, C, Acadiana HS, Lafayette, FL
12. David Dahl, OF, Oak Mountain HS, Pelham, Ala.
13. Jesse Winker, OF, Olympia HS, Windemere, Fla.
14. Rio Ruiz , 3B, Bishop Amat (CA) HS
15. Jesmuel Valentin Diaz, SS, Manati PR Puerto Rico Baseball Academy
16. Byron Buxton, OF, Appling Co, GA
17. Clate Schmidt, RHP, Acworth GA Allatoona
18. Hunter Virant, LHP, Camariollo (Calif.) HS
19. Lance McCullers, RHP, Jesuit HS, Tampa
20. Victor Roache, OF, Georgia Southern
21. Courtney Hawkins, OF, Corpus Christi Carroll HS
22. Trey Williams, 3B, Valencia, Saugus, CA
23. Kenny Diekroeger, SS, Stanford
24. Jake Barrett, RHP, Arizona State
25. Michael Wacha, RHP, Texas A&M

The Pirates currently are a top-ten draft picking team for the upcoming Draft. They are now ranked eighth. Unfortunately or, perhaps, not, the team is free falling to oblivion. Here is a table with the current top-ten order:

Supposedly the 2012 Draft Class has no clear number one pick. On the other hand, it does have enough quality players that the Pirates can expect to draft one with the eighth pick. The eligible position players include:

• Nick Williams (OF, L/L, Prep)
• Kenny Diekroeger (SS, R/R, College)
• Trey Williams (3B/OF, R/R, Prep)
• Deven Marrero (SS, R/R, College)
• Brian Goodwin (OF, L/R, College)
• Steve Nyisztor (2B/SS, R/R, College)

I'd like it if the Pirates were able to pick and sign one of the two Williams. My preference is based on hype, of course, and a perceived need for power hitting prospects in the organization. Naturally, these rankings may change by June 2012. Other players may climb the ladder. The Pirates ought to pick the Best Player Available. But the more bats the better. The Pirates may make good on my wish if the team continues to lose as it has since the All Star Game. In any case, looking forward to taking high-quality draft picks is a consolation prize given to lesser teams in the league, and it is a prize worth having.

Edit

Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects also recently discussed the 2012 draft along with the Pirates' needs and possible choices.

I would say it is not at all irrational to expect the Florida Marlins to shop Logan Morrison this winter. The reason:

Florida Marlins left fielder Logan Morrison has filed a grievance against his team for what he believes was a wrongful demotion last month.

Morrison, 24, was sent to the minors Aug. 13, shortly after hitting third in the batting order in a game that night. At the time, the Marlins told Morrison the demotion was for baseball reasons - citing his ".240s" batting average as the reason for the demotion.

But hours before the game, Morrison had skipped a team meet-and-greet with season-ticket holders.

The next day, Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest told reporters Morrison needed to learn more about "being a major leaguer."

Sports teams, like other economic organizations, do not care much for malcontents, and it is obvious that Morrison now has a personal and legal grievance with the Marlins.

That said, I doubt that the Pirates will acquire Morrison from the Marlins. My reason for doubting this will happen has nothing to do with the mechanics of the potential trade or the players the Pirates could offer for Morrison. It has a lot to do with the risk Morrison poses to the Pirates. Consider this quote by Morrison:

"I'm doing this because I'm standing up for what's right," Morrison told ESPN.com this week. "If I thought it was because of my performance on the field, then I wouldn't be filing a grievance."

And this passage from the ESPN article, which includes a Morrison quote :

Should the Marlins lose in arbitration, it would mean not much more than having to repay the lost wages, plus any interest. But it also means that one of their young, rising players has alleged the team was breaking the collective bargaining agreement-a serious charge.

Morrison said the money is not what the grievance is about.

"I'm doing it just not for myself but for other players," Morrison said. "I didn't want to file a grievance, but it happened. I want to put it in the past and move on. But you've got to take a stand somewhere and based on the guidance of my agent and the players' association, I filed this grievance. Now I just want to move on and play baseball."

I believe any team would find it easier to accommodate a jagoff like Hanley Ramirez than it would an aware individual who knows and is willing to defend his individual rights and who will take personal economic risks in order to defend the collective rights he shares with others. Tolerating player tardiness and sloth, such as one would expect from Ramirez, is a much easier chore than managing someone who generates legal issues for the team.

My bet is the Pirates will avoid this particular headache even though Morrison is the type of player they need and the Marlins may seek to trade him this fall.

When the Pirates were guided by the McClatchyfield regime, it was said that they would pass over a Boras client because they considered a Boras client a signability risk. Moreover, Littlefield reportedly avoided drafting Boras clients because he did not want to negotiate with Scott Boras. The meat of the claim: The Pirates would never pay a market price for a Boras client and Boras would never permit his ‘advisee' to sign a below market contract. Since the Pirates often had a Top-10 pick late in the McClatchyfield era, they often passed over the top talents ‘advised' by the so-called Super Agent during that time.

Littlefield's refusal to draft Matt Weiters, a Boras client, remains a conspicuous example of this strategy in action and the failure to draft Weiters appeared to be a factor that convinced Bob Nutting to fire Dave Littlefield.

The Coonelly-Huntington regime quickly revealed that it had a different strategy when it took Pedro Alvarez, a Boras client, in their first draft. Although the Alvarez negotiations were difficult and produced controversy at the end, they concluded nevertheless with a contract that satisfied both parties. The Pirates, is seemed, were committed to building through the draft and would not let an agent deter them from taking the players they wanted.

How has the organization fared since the 2008 Draft?

Since that Draft, the Pirates have established themselves as the market leader in acquiring talent through the Draft. Support for this claim comes from the quantity of money the team has spent in the 2009-11 drafts, the agents it has worked with and, more importantly, from the high quality of the players it has acquired during that time. Succinctly put, the Coonelly-Huntington Pirates took risks in their Drafts and made good on the risks they took. The Pirates leadership position in this market became hard to deny when the team took and signed Josh Bell in 2011, a player that had already indicated his desire to go to a college to play baseball. It is noteworthy that Scott Boras ‘advised' Bell during the negotiations, and that the two sides reached an agreement which satisfied both parties. Bell did not go to college. They Pirates convinced Bell and his family that their concerns would be met. What made the Bell signing significant was the fact that the Pirates added another top in Garret Cole, also a Boras client and the first pick in the 2011 Draft.

So, I would say that it is now plainly obvious that the Pirates will work with any agent, will not low-ball top talents and can bring difficult negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion.

And the Pirates became the market leader in the Draft even though the organization is a small-market, low-revenue-team.

This is just conjecture on my part, but I suspect Boras now considers the Pirates to be one of the better organizations for his clients. Previously, it was alleged that Boras told the Pirates to draft players he did not ‘advise.' Today, however, the Pirates can get contracts done, will develop the players they draft and, more importantly, will pay the market rate for those prospects they consider worthy of their projected asking price.

There is a bit of irony in this situation just as there is a bit of irony in the possible fact that Nutting might have retained Littlefield as the Pirates General Manger had Littlefield taken Matt Weiters in the 2007 Draft. Who in 2007 would have thought that working with Scott Boras would have signaled a return to health by the Pirates? Who would have believed it would happen?

We know the schedule for the rest of the month is brutal, and the record the Pirates compile during this will likely determine whether or not the team will contend in August and September.

July Schedule

I would like to see the Pirates compile a 6-7 or 7-6 record. That, I believe, is a realistic expectation. The starting staff will be the key variable, as it has all season.

Insert cliche:

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I wouldn't bet my life on the Pirates finishing above the McClatchy Line (.500). Yet, here we stand after the first post-All Star game of the season.

I'd bet that, years from now, the 2011 season will will be remembered as an anomaly, much as Pirates fans recall the Freak Show today. But the difference between the two seasons is also a large one: This is the season when Pirates became respectable, interesting and full of promise. And help -- via a trade or a return to health of the injured -- may be on its way.