Bud Selig
is swinging for the fences with his vision of how to improve the baseball draft. He may have to settle for a soft single, which would be a big step forward over how things developed in 2011.
The commissioner wants an international draft and firm slotting for draft picks, with both ideas having strong opposition from management or labor.
But there is one easy way to make the draft more equitable — rework compensation for teams losing free agents with a better way to identify players who are worthy of compensation. That would limit their impact.
No franchise better understands the need for that than the Orioles. They were thrilled to draft Oklahoma teenager
Dylan Bundy
with the fourth pick overall but not so happy to watch three American League East rivals make 19 picks before they made their second-round choice.
The Orioles go 66-96 in 2010, and for their pain they get one of the top 63 picks in the draft. Because they accumulated free agents they let walk, the Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays enjoyed a draft day that will only strengthen their advantage over the Orioles. That’s crazy.
Rays general manager
Andrew Friedman
saw how even major payroll cuts could hurt so good. He had 11 of the first 74 picks. The Red Sox, with one of the majors’ biggest signing budgets, had four of the first 40 and the Blue Jays five of the first 57.
Orioles President
Andy MacPhail’s
head must have been ready to explode.
Major League Baseball’s arcane, outdated rules produced 27 picks in the so-called supplemental round, which precedes the second round.
The picks that affected the first round included the likes of
Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez
and
Rafael Soriano,
who was the AL saves leader. You can see why teams losing them might deserve some compensation. But consider the overall roll call of players who produced picks in the supplemental round.
In addition to extra picks for the above six, there were picks for
Grant Balfour, Adam LaRoche, Pedro Feliciano, Octavio Dotel, John Buck, J.J. Putz, Jon Garland, Juan Uribe, Orlando Hudson, Javier Vazquez, Brad Hawpe, Kevin Gregg, Yorvit Torrealba, Jesse Crain, Joaquin Benoit, Miguel Olivo, Kevin Correia, Randy Choate
and
Chad Qualls.
Orioles manager
Buck Showalter
and MacPhail gritted their teeth and endured the one-sided start of the draft.
The Rays and Red Sox, meanwhile, must have felt like canary-swallowing cats.
In exchange for life without Choate, a lefty who piled up 44 2/3 innings in his 85 appearances last season, the Rays wound up with Oakland high school outfielder James Harris, who could be a big-league regular for 10 years if he develops. It was part of a massive talent grab in which they claimed nine of the top 100 prospects, according to Baseball America’s rankings.
That list is topped by South Carolina high school right-hander
Taylor Guerrieri
and LSU outfielder
Mikie
Mahtook.
Longtime Rays scouting director
R.J. Harrison
said their haul was deeper than they had expected.
“I don’t think we did as well in any of (our) mock drafts as we did, to be honest with you,” Harrison told the St. Petersburg Times.
Piling up talent:
After grabbing
Stephen Strasburg
and
Bryce Harper
in the last two drafts, the Nationals were thrilled to see Rice third baseman
Anthony Rendon
slide to the sixth pick last week. They grabbed him and since have been telling everyone how they wound up with the best players in the last three drafts.
“He’s a terrifically polished college player,” general manager
Mike Rizzo
said of Rendon. We think he will be a quick-to-the-big-leagues guy.”
The versatile Rendon entered the spring with a shot to be the first player selected overall. But teams were scared off after he added a shoulder surgery to two previous ankle surgeries and spent most of 2011 as a designated hitter.
“Our medical staff has cleared his health,” Rizzo said.
With
Ryan Zimmerman
seemingly entrenched at third base, the Nationals could consider playing Rendon at second base or in the outfield.
“I feel comfortable playing anywhere,” Rendon said. “I just want to be on the field.”
Eligible for free agency after 2013, could Zimmerman become trade bait eventually? He’s a terrific player who will make the Nationals a little more competitive, but his next contract will be a monster.
Short rope:
The Marlins started the season 30-20, on pace to win 97 games while
Hanley Ramirez
tried to figure out a disappointing first two months. But then they lost nine of 10 and, as often happens with owner
Jeffrey Loria’s
squad, somebody paid the price.
It was hitting coach
John Mallee,
who was fired after Wednesday’s loss to the Braves. The Marlins had hit .226 with three runs per game during a losing streak that dropped them five games behind the first-place Phillies.
“We just haven’t been hitting,”
Logan Morrison
said. “Everybody has their finger on the panic button. It’s hard to relax and just play baseball.”
Mallee is a blue-collar coach who has worked the trenches in the Marlins organization for a decade. The team’s homegrown core likes and respects him.
Chris Coghlan
says he has never seen “anyone better” in the job of hitting coach.
ESPN analyst
Eduardo Perez,
the son of special assistant
Tony Perez,
is his replacement. He has managed in winter ball but never has coached in the majors.
“John did a very good job really nurturing a lot of these young hitters when they came through the minor leagues,” Marlins President
Larry Beinfest
said. “For a lot of them, this will be the first time they have been through something like this. They’re going to have to learn and understand. We’re doing what we think is best for the ballclub and what’s best for them. We’re going to have to move forward.”
The Rangers also fired their hitting coach Wednesday, switching from
Thad Bosley
to
Scott Coolbaugh,
a longtime coach in the organization. Coolbaugh will become Texas’ fourth hitting coach in three seasons, a sequence that began when
Rudy Jaramillo
left and
Clint Hurdle took
over.
Signs of life:
As the Minneapolis Star-Tribune was running a four-part series on the downfall of the Twins, manager
Ron Gardenhire’s
fellows won five in a row against the Royals and Indians to make them feel better about themselves. It’s hard to see how any team could get off the carpet after being 17-37, but the Twins are stirred up.
“The good news is we have a lot of home games left, and we have a lot of games in our division,” general manager
Bill Smith
told the newspaper. “We have to get on one of those streaks, whether we do it with the group we have now or we do it with our regular lineup as we get them back off the disabled list. We have to find ways not to dig that hole deeper between now and then.”
Joe Mauer
could be back next week, and if he can hit and stay in the lineup, he will provide a big lift. But
Justin Morneau
remains a walking wreck, and now center fielder
Denard Span
is a serious question because of equilibrium issues since banging into Royals catcher
Brayan
Pena
last Friday.
As is true for the White Sox, the schedule is in the Twins’ favor. They played 40 of their first 61 on the road, including 18 in AL East ballparks. The problem with this argument is that Mauer, Morneau and many of their teammates have not produced at Target Field.
The last word:
“He’s the best pitcher in baseball.” — Braves catcher
Brian McCann
on lefty setup man
Jonny
Venters,
who entered the weekend with a 0.49 ERA over 36 2/3 relief innings, the most in the majors.
Twitter @ChiTribPhil
