*disclaimer*

Mock drafts done two months before the draft are pretty much worthless, but as you know, I love thinking about the draft and trying to figure out what teams will do. So, I figured it would be fun to start looking at teams, consider their drafting strategies in years past, the available talent, and then start to think about how the chips will fall. Since the Phillies pick at #24, its highly unlikely we’ll have any idea what they are planning to do until we get a lot closer to the draft, but I enjoy these types of exercises anyway, so we’ll just go with it and then after the draft, we can look back on this and laugh

* end disclaimer*

So here goes

Continue reading 2008 Mock draft, version 1.1 →

As the minor league season kicks off and the rest of the phuturephillies team begins to flex their muscle with reports from their respective affiliates, I’m going to shift my writing to more analytical pieces, and for the next 2 months, I’m going to focus a lot of energy on the draft. My goal is to again have a Q/A with Jim Salisbury as we get closer to draft day, and also to start looking at potential draftees. I know there are a few big draft fans here, so hopefully we can get some interaction going on that front, even though its still 2 months away. The Phillies first few draft picks look like this;

#24
#34
#51
#71
#102
#109 (supplemental pick after 3rd round for failing to sign Workman)

So, with 6 picks in the first 109, the Phillies have a chance to add a lot of quality, the question, as it always is, will they be willing to spend? More below the fold..

Continue reading Time to start thinking about the draft →

Baseball America today released their top 50 college players in each class. You can check it out here. This kind of goes along with a previous post, talking about guys that slipped away. Kyle Gibson, who we took in 2006, is now ranked the #1 college sophomore in the country. Brandon Workman, who we failed to sign this past summer, is ranked the #13 freshman in the country. Incidentally, they are the only two guys drafted by the Phillies on any of the top 50 lists. Looking at this year’s junior class, ie, the draft eligibles, the Angels have four guys they drafted in 2005 and didn’t sign, the Red Sox have 3, including consensus #1 Pedro Alvarez, and a bunch of teams have two guys. 23 of players were not drafted in high school, which gives you an indication of just how fast things can change in the prospect world.

Sorry I don’t have time for a more substantial post today. I’ve been thinking about nothing but Arsenal’s match against AC Milan today, and unfortunately it’s prohibited me from thinking about anything Phillies related. But I did want to quickly sum up the Phillies 2008 draft picks, as the order looks close to set.

#24
#34
#51 (could be as low as 53 if both Shannon Stewart and Mike Piazza sign with other teams)
#71 (could be as low as 72 if both Shannon Stewart and Mike Piazza sign with other teams)
#109 (could be as low as 111, same reason above)
#111 (could be as low as 113, same reason above)

So, 6 picks in the first 111. This draft needs to be a home run, plain and simple.

and COME ON ARSENAL

Saw this asked in the comments on a previous post. The Phillies receive a sandwich pick (#34 overall) plus the Giants 2nd round pick for the loss of Aaron Rowand. The second round is not set yet, as the number of comp picks hasn’t been decided, but the pick will be somewhere between #50 and #55. The Phillies 2nd round pick will be somewhere in the 75-79 range, and then we also receive a compensation pick at the end of the 3rd round for not signing Workman last year. So all told, we have 6 picks in the first 3 rounds. Let’s hope Gillick doesn’t take the cheap route (as mandated by the owners) and can sign 6 quality prospects to help give the system a boost. We’ll have lots of draft coverage come spring time, but you have to be optimistic about having 6 picks in the first 120 or so spots.

Just a quick note, Keith gave his listing of the Top 6o players heading into the spring, and highlighted a number of guys to watch for who could be improving their stock. You can see the list here, though it’s Insider content, so you cheapskates (I kid, I kid) can only get the first few paragraphs. With the impending loss of Aaron Rowand, it could mean an additional 1st rounder, or more likely, a 2nd rounder plus a compensation round pick. This year’s draft, according to Keith, has more corner guys, both in the infield and outfield, and fewer up the middle players, while the collection of prep arms will pale in comparison to last year’s haul. How much money the Phillies are willing to spend on the draft will again be an issue. We’ll definitely have our first round pick (unless we sign a Type A free agent), then the comp pick for Rowand, plus an extra pick in either the 1st or 2nd round (possibly 3rd, if the signing team signs a player better than Rowand), plus the extra pick after the 3rd round because we didn’t sign Workman.