Braves Pick 7th in 2009 Draft

by gondeee on Oct 5, 2008 12:21 PM EDT in News Comment 49 comments

Look on the bright side of a 90-loss season... we get a really high draft pick next year. The Braves usually make the most of their first round picks. Jason Heyward was a steal at number-14 two years ago, and even the guys they've selected lower in the first round have found the majors -- Jeff Francoeur, Adam Wainwright, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the list goes on.

So think about the sure-fire future major leaguer we could pick up with the seventh pick! Keep in mind, too, that when we pursue free agents this off-season we don't have to worry about losing our first round pick because of compensation, as it is protected. That frees us up to go after a wider range of free agents than we may normally consider (though that didn't stop us last year when we signed Glavine).

The other scenario this allows us to consider is to go after a high-level, almost-major-league-ready college player -- someone who might be able to help us out in 2010 or 2011, far sooner than a high school draft pick would be ready. While it's still too early to see who among the college ranks will emerge as a top-first round draft pick, there are several strong starting pitching candidates -- enough, possibly, to fall to us at seven.

(Note: We are acutally tied for the sixth worst record with San Francisco, but they beat us head to head, so I believe the tie breaker falls to us with a higher pick.... Update to Note: The tiebreaker is acutally the team's record in the previous season, which San Fran wins with a worse record in 2007 than the Braves, so we get the seventh pick.)

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Here’s hoping we buck the trend and go with a college guy. The high school talent pool is just not that good next year while there are a number of college guys (Ackley, Gibson, Minor) who will be there at six and who could be contributing in 2011.

Obviously I hope we somehow land Grant Green.

by 17843 on Oct 5, 2008 12:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Just saw Baseball America’s top ranked players as of right now:
High School:
1. Tyler Matzek, P, California
2. Donovan Tate, CF, Cartersville, GA
3. Matt Purke, P, Texas
4. Jacob Turner, P Missouri
5. Mychal Givens, P/SS, Florida
College:
1. Stephen Strasburg, P, San Diego State
2. Alex White, P, North Carolina
3. Grant Green, SS, Southern Cal
4. Dutin Ackley, 1B/OF , North Carolina
5. Mike Minor, P, Vanderbitl

I always think with the draft you have to take the best player availible, regardless of position and need, and that’s even more true drafting this high in the draft. This list can and probably will change dramatically by June, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Braves can resist a kid from Georgia that high.

by cbwilk on Oct 5, 2008 1:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tate's HS football coach compared him to Frenchy

Need I say more? He might be one hell of a toolsy player, but that scares the crap out of me.

by buzzdeadwax on Oct 5, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I heard that they count last years record also if the two teams are tied. And the Giants had a way worst record than we do. Multiple people told me about this so thats what i heard and if thats true then we get the 7th pick. But of course you would think it makes more sense for the team that is tied to count this years record not last years record and whoever lost the most games against that team should get a pick better.

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 1:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

word… I changed it. I originally had it as seventh, and then I doubted myself. Thanks for remembering the rule about the year before.

by gondeee on Oct 5, 2008 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I had to ask about the rule also because i had no idea and a few people told me about the rule. It would actually make more sense that we pick in front of them since they won head to head against us this year. I can understand the current rule also so i have no complaints about it.

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 5:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

doubt

i doubt he’d fall to 6 or 7, but grant green is going to be an absolute stud and i would love to see the braves get him. too bad they lost out on their 1st rounder last year because of the glavine debacle.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 5, 2008 3:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

We pick seventh...

rockybull up above is right. In the event of a tiebreaker, the team with the worse record the year before gets the higher pick. San Francisco had the worse record in 2007, so they will pick sixth. We pick seventh.

by tgthree on Oct 5, 2008 4:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

There are a couple solid Georgia kids for us to look at...

Donovan Tate out of Cartersville is an absolute dynamite athlete, and he could well fall to us at #7. Troupe High School catcher Luke Bailey is another local product who currently projects as a late first-rounder, but could obviously improve his standing with a solid senior campaign.

It will be interesting to see who the Braves take, since signability is a big question among a lot of the top talents, and I just don’t see the Braves wanting to be involved in a Boras-style zero-hour negotiation. They’ll want a guy they can sign for close to slot money and be done, which may or may not be the most talented guy available at that point.

by tgthree on Oct 5, 2008 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Strasburg should be our top target, who knows he could fall to us. If we got Grant Green, Dustin Ackley or Matt Purke I’d be really happy.

by SayHeyWerd on Oct 5, 2008 4:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No way Strasburg falls to us. Go ahead and get that out of your head right quick like.

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 5:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

we’re a year away who knows what can happen

by SayHeyWerd on Oct 5, 2008 6:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well unless Strasburg absolutely stinks up the place or has a very bad arm injury then i SERIOUSLY doubt we get this guy. And when i say if he stinks it up i mean looks like crap and all the scouts start sayin late First round at best. But we all know thats not gonna happen. And if he does have a very bad arm injury in his pitching arm would we wanna pick him 7th? Not sayin Tommy John Surgery because we would still pick him if he had to have Tommy John Surgery im talkin about somethin much much worst and doctors find out his arm is into shreds is what im talkin about.

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 6:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Aaron Crow would be a nice option too. We’re in a really good spot to get a great college player.

by SayHeyWerd on Oct 5, 2008 6:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

good point

not about Stratsburg – there’s little chance he drops below 1st overall. but crow could be right up the braves’ alley, especially because he may have to sign for cheaper this time around.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 5, 2008 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why would you ever want to draft a guy that held out for a year? He obviously doesn’t want to play.

by cbwilk on Oct 5, 2008 7:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What? He obviously wants to get paid as well as possible to play. We’re talking about getting the only sure thing money-wise for the next 6-12 years of your career. I’d sure as hell negotiate for the best deal I could and wouldn’t want to be involved in an organization that I felt didn’t respect me.

by 17843 on Oct 5, 2008 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He asked for 12 million dollars. He may as well have asked for a billion. I don’t get these first round picks. 2 and a half million dollars is an insane amount of money. If he had signed for that right away he’d probably already have pitched in the majors this season and be on his way to earning more millions. If these guys are as good as they think they are then the first contract they sign won’t be the biggest.

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 12:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Uh, you realize how few players actually reach salary arbitration right? Much less reach a free agent payday. Numerous pitchers with Crow’s skills, scouting reports, and draft slot failed to carve out a career in the major leagues and never sniffed another multi-million dollar check. He’s certainly allowed to choose not to sign his rights away to for the next 6-12 years and hope for a better payday the next year.

by 17843 on Oct 6, 2008 2:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I also realize how few times anyone offers you a few million dollars. It’s never happened to me, I’d bet it’s never happened to you.

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 2:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, I’d bet Matt Harrington wished he’d have taken the money right now.

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 2:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm with 17843 on this one.

Just as long as we judge his interest beforehand and don’t experience the same headaches. Crow is a quality pitcher, and one that could be ready quickly; if we draft Crow we need to make sure that he won’t make a rediculous $9MM demand and only come down when there’s a few hours left.

by soup du jour on Oct 6, 2008 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

@cbwilk

actually, crow and the nats were only apart by 500k, and were close to making a deal before the deadline passed.

as to why the pirates were given a mulligan and the nats weren’t , that’s a valid point of discussion. talking about 12M dollar demands being relevant isn’t.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 6, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If he did it once how could you ever be sure he wouldn’t do it again?

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was more than that..

…he wanted the 12MIL and a 40man Roster Spot…and the Nats wanted nothing to do with either one – through from what I understand it was the 40 man roster spot that really turned them off.

Revisit the Braves World Championship Year, all Season!

You can also check out my stuff at Baseball Digest Daily

by RainDelay on Oct 6, 2008 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i'm calling BS on your raindelay

I’ve heard from multiple sources that they were only off by 500k by the deadline.

here is one link from jim callis:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2008/266938.html

“A rule is a rule, and neither Crow’s agents, the Hendricks brothers, nor the Nationals would compromise before the deadline struck. They reportedly were $500,000 apart at the end.”

by son.of.sourman on Oct 6, 2008 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

in washington

Following the Braves...one long hard drink at a time.

by bigjoe on Oct 5, 2008 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Josh Fields

That’s what Bobby Cox said this year at spring training when Fields pitched for UGA against the Braves.

“He only throws 97 [mph] with a good breaking ball,” Cox said. "It comes down, sometimes, to you want to play or you don’t want to play.

“It’s too bad.”

That’s from the AJC.

by jjcollins on Oct 6, 2008 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember that and I thought it was a great way to sum it up. And look at Fields, he’s holding out a second year. At this point he could have played in the majors for either the Braves or the Mariners and be a millionaire to boot, instead he’s sitting at home, with no pro experience and nothing in his bank account. Does this kid actually think he’s going to get more money than what he’s already been offered?

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nope he’s a douchebag….I hope Braves fans boo him if he ever pitches in Atlanta, like JD Drew in Philly.

by jjcollins on Oct 6, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well you draft them because of there talent, just like J.D. Drew. Even though both of them are greedy hungry players you still draft them for there talent. Drew wants to play but he also goes for the money, cant say i blame them because who knows if i was in that same situation i might do the same thing, but moneys not everything though.

But to be fair to Crow he did say that when he got drafted by the Nats that Bowden called him up to congradulate him and then he said that they didn’t contact him again until some time in July and the draft was at the beginning of June. And then there was no rush on the Nats and plus Crow said his agent said that he told Bowden how much it would have taken to get him before they even selected him and stuff like that. So maybe its not ALL about the money with Crow, maybe he just felt they took there sweet time with this guy and didn’t make a priority in gettin him signed

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 8:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

cbwilk

here is the site that i was talkin about that involves Crow. It seems like Bowden was bein a prick in this situation.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/08/aaron-crows-per.html

braves#1

by rockybull on Oct 5, 2008 8:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I take pretty much anything an amateur and their agent say about negotiations with a huge grain of salt. Maybe that’s how it happened, maybe that’s how they want to sell it. I still say if you want to play baseball, you sign. We’re talking about a guy turning down millions of dollars. If he goes and plays for this Indy ball team and blows out his arm he’s never going to get a first contract that comes anywhere close to what he was offered.
And just to have equal perspective, here’s something I found of Jim Bowden talking about the negotiations:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2008/08/more_than_3700_words_from_jim.html

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And if signs and blows his arm out in Hagerstown then he’ll get his bonus check and nothing more. I’d maximize that check if I was him.

by 17843 on Oct 6, 2008 2:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And again, in that case he has a few million bucks, if it happens in Fort Worth he won’t even have bus fare.

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 2:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

congrats

you’ve just taken all agency out of the players and given it to the teams. from where i’m standing a player has every right to hold out for whatever he wants. of course, he may not get it and that’s part of the risk. drafting a player just gives you the rights to negotiate a contract, you don’t own the guy. and from what i’ve heard (see up thread) this is a case of poor management of negotiations by the agent and team.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 6, 2008 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I never said a player doesn’t have the right to do this, a guy can hold out as long as he wants for as much money as he wants. What I’m saying is that holding out is ridiculous. The risk is ending up like Matt Harrington, who was one of the best high school pitchers in recent history who ended up never playing organized ball and getting no money whatsoever, and the reward is getting an extra half million, which is a huge amount of money, but we’re already talking about 20 year old kids becoming instant millionaires.
And that 500,000 is a little misleading. Crow’s agents would never give Bowden a number. When they finally did, just a little before the deadline, they first came up with 12 million, then 9 million. The Nationals were willing to give about 3 and a half, and Crow’s agents still wanted 4 and a half, more than Matusz, who is a much better pitcher, got.
The agents don’t care about these kids, all they care about is getting money. If they have to make some kid sit out for a year (or 2 in the case of Josh Fields) to get a few extra thousand for themselves. If it doesn’t work out the agent and the player gets screwed they don’t care cause they made it work for four other guys and still got paid. The players get taken advantage of much more by their own agents than by the teams.

by cbwilk on Oct 6, 2008 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i''m calling bs on you too cbwilk

first, i’d like to see your source, and i’d be surprised if it’s more reputable than jim callis.

second i don’t think you can bluntly state that matusz is a better pitcher than crow. for one, the crow had just as dominant a junior season as matusz, if not more.

finally, fields did not sit out two years. he played college ball last year – hardly sitting out. this year he still has plenty of time to sign.

holding out may be annoying to you as a fan, but a player wouldn’t do it if they did not think it was in his or her best interest. maybe one or two has been suckered into it by an agent, but i think most are sound minded enough to make their own decision.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 6, 2008 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

SEE: alvarez, pedro.

Following the Braves...one long hard drink at a time.

by bigjoe on Oct 6, 2008 11:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by cbwilk on Oct 7, 2008 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The info came from Baseball America all summer. Also, somewhere on this thread I put a link to what Jim Bowden had to say about the negotiations. You could argue if he’s more reputable than Jim Callis, I would side with Callis on that one, but he’s certainly closer to the negotiations.
And pretty much everyone that scouted and covered the draft agreed that Matusz is the better player, in fact the best pitcher available. I’d think getting picked eight slots ahead of Crow would kind of cement that. And you can argue he slipped because of signability (and clearly that should have been a concern) but it wasn’t like Matusz signed the day after the draft.
And I don’t think most of these kids are sound minded enough to make their own desicion or else they wouldn’t have an agent. A lot of times they end up being pawn in their agent’s attempt to screw the system, for example, as bigjoe pointed out, Pedro Alvarez.

by cbwilk on Oct 7, 2008 12:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

also, keith law always talks about how much he loves matusz. keith law lives to scout prospects.

Following the Braves...one long hard drink at a time.

by bigjoe on Oct 7, 2008 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Grant Green

If he falls to us I would piss myself! He would be Chipper’s replacement, I know he plays SS now but so did Chipper that kid can absolutely rake! More than likely though we’ll end up with one of these 3 and I would be disappointed with any one of them.

Alex White
Matt Purke
Tyler Maztek(and ever since Jeffrey Lyman I’m very leary of California guys)

by Jay212033 on Oct 6, 2008 12:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'd be happy

with White. There’s several good college arms and more could make names for themselves this college baseball season. Look for Mike Minor out of Vandy to rise up draft charts.

my wishlist (Stras not included since we won’t get him):
Green
White
Purke
Gibson
Ackley

by BlueVol03 on Oct 6, 2008 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yup

right on, Grant Green is a prod, hes 6’3 and hed grow into a body like Chippers. He would be too sick

by SayHeyWerd on Oct 6, 2008 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Player lists

Those are interesting lists, but before it possible to project where the Braves will draft, we have to find out which players are represented by Boras.

Assuming that the Boras does not represent Tate, I think he is the player the Braves will have already focused upon.

I am not worried about another Francoeur—after all, there is only one Frenchy….

by Stephen in the UAE on Oct 6, 2008 1:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hes perfect being from Georgia and whatever, but hes an outfielder,,,, where does he fit in? wouldnt you be happy with a Gorkys-Shafer-Heyward outfield ina couple years? Why take this guy when a stud college pitcher liek Alex White or Gibson or Crow is still ont he board.

by SayHeyWerd on Oct 6, 2008 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

@cbwilk - we have now officially confirmed that you are full of it

cbwilk says “And pretty much everyone that scouted and covered the draft agreed that Matusz is the better player, in fact the best pitcher available. I’d think getting picked eight slots ahead of Crow would kind of cement that.”

This is simply false, and on many levels at that. First fact: Matusz simply was not picked eight slots ahead of crow. He was picked 5 slots ahead. That’s just a fact. Second, there was no consensus about Matusz being the better prospect. It was 50-50 at best. I’d cite sources here, but it’d likely be useless considering point one shows you cannot count. Just off the top of my head, one professional that agrees completely with my position:

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/5/17/519689/john-s-2008-draft-board-as

“6) Aaron Crow, RHP, Missouri: Stock has dropped just a hair but still looks great to me.
7) Brian Matusz, LHP, San Diego: Could easily flip with Crow.”

Anyhow, you are clearly very poorly informed and barely worth acknowledging, but I would be remiss not to note, “And I don’t think most of these kids are sound minded enough to make their own desicion or else they wouldn’t have an agent.” which is utter BS and really just talking out of your ass. You seem to think that almost every baseball player of note in the last decade has made a poor economic decision, which is laughable. There is a value in having expertise in the system, and if every player had the time to learn this complicated system (and thus have less time to practice baseball) then yes, what you are saying make sense. But they really don’t and so they pay someone whose interests align with theirs 90% of the time. and if memory serves, alvarez did get more money b/c of that move.

overall point: you don’t know what you are talking about, you spout lies, and you really should stop.

by son.of.sourman on Oct 7, 2008 2:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks man, I’m really glad you put all this down here. I’m gonna go have a sit and reevaluate my life. Really, you’ve helped me out. Thank you. You should really put your skills to use out in the world. Become a counselor or something. Really go out and help folks.

by cbwilk on Oct 7, 2008 2:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs