2012 MLB Draft

Well to be honest without the rules a lot of the high school picks we picked late wouldn't have lasted this long, but I see what you mean. Good thing we hired a lot of statistical people for this kind of thing

 

Keith Law loves our draft..

 

Dude, our shiny new GM just used the new CBA rules to completely game the other GM's and agents. Everyone is complaining how the CBA hurt them; the poor agents and players aren't able to sign over slot, and the poor teams aren't able to go over slot to get the guys they want (or the guys they want are going to send them so far over the slot that they're handcuffed with everyone else). The truth is, maybe all those people lost out, but they lost out to us. Because we kicked their butts. What this CBA does is put a premium, on intelligence. You can't sign a guy? Don't draft him. You can't go over slot? Then don't. Because the Astros not only will draft high ceiling guys; they'll leverage multiple players against each other until one agrees to a below slot contract just so we can go over slot on guys picked lower.

This my friends is EXACTLY how you play the new MLB draft, and our GM and staff figured it out first, and we will prosper as a result. I'm ecstatic, not so much about our draft class since we won't find out till later how good our talent evaluation is, but more so about the decision making ability of guys at the top. What a 180-degree about-face change of direction from the baseball administration of old! You die and you go to hell Drayton McLane. The end. I'm out.

 

Does Law have anything on Virant?

I think he's easily the second best pitcher we drafted behind McCullers.

We look so good on paper now 3-4 years down the road.
Our 13 position players could include Singleton, Altuve, Correa, CJ, J.D., Springer, Santana, Villar, Paredes, Lowrie, DeShields, Schafer

And we have quite a few starters with upside who may not all develop the 3-4 above average pitches to be dominant starters but could still have the two great pitches it takes to be above average bullpen guys.

Norris, Cosart, Lyles, Clemens, Oberholtzer, Folty, Harrell, Seaton, McCullers, Virant, Weiland

 

Are you saying that because he didnt mention him in the draft summary? It's probably because he thinks he won't sign, I hope he does but I'd say there is a 40% chance he signs

 

Less than that, maybe 10-20% chance.

"So you're saying there's a chance!"

 

Virant was quoted saying it was 50/50 if he'll sign. He wants to jump to the minors out of high school but wants supplemental first round money to do so.

 

That is a fallacy. There are a myriad of reasons for a prospect to fail, and some of them are not foreseeable. In other words, there is always an element of luck in the draft. As with everything in baseball, it's much better to judge by the process than the results.

 

It's nice looking down from the position of the #1 pick but I can empathize with the other teams. The teams at the back of the first round pretty much have no opportunity to sign any overslot players.

 

not only that, but the decision was correa over appel, not correa over buxton. seems pretty apparent that buxton was never really in the mix for them.

 

There are indeed many reasons why prospects fail. But the biggest reason is bad scouting and/or bad player development. Jason Castro didn't fail because of "unforseeable" reasons. He failed because he sucked as a prospect. Until I actually see these picks either make impacts on the major league level, or fail to do so, I'll reserve judgement either way.

 

So... I really don't understand what Boras is really suggesting here.

He's mad because he feels certain players weren't drafted where they should have been drafted because of the salary restrictions... the thing is, it was largely because of HIM that the salary restrictions were implemented in the first place.

A floundering low budget team has never been able to risk picking a "unsignable" player... and teams were more likely to use signability in years past as an excuse for passing on a player.

The only difference is that now, when that player drops, the team that does pick him up later cannot sign him to "first pick money".

So basically, he's mad because the players he tells to hold out for more money (and the ones he tries to steer to big market clubs) are now not going to get more money.

MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP TRYING TO EXTORT TEAMS TO PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR UNPROVEN PLAYERS...

 

Thus those players should be drafted EARLIER... not later... but the agents scare the earlier/lower budget teams into not drafting these guys where they should be drafted.

This has ALWAYS been the case in the mlb draft... just that now, when they are drafted, big budget teams can't overpay for them.

 

Jason Castro has failed? If you didn't know, he is hitting .261/.341/.378 OPS is .720. Oh yeah, he also hasn't even played a full season in the majors. Would only be the highest OPS for an Astros catcher in over a decade. Can we give this guy some time before declaring him a bust?

The guy most people wanted, Justin Smoak, is hitting .229/.288/.390 despite having substantially more experience and playing an offensive position.

 

Simply put...this is amazing.

 

unreal! can't believe we're at the point where the rest of the league is buzzing about how smart the Astros front office is. Been a long time.

 

I would've wet myself if it was anything under 5 mil. This is a great bargain, and I'm so glad we didn't have to go to the last minute like the Nats the past few years. Has any #1 pick ever signed this quickly?

 

It's nice not getting Borassed.

 

Kind of a perfect storm.

Suck hard in 2011 and get the first pick in the draft.

New CBA favoring teams over players in the draft.

2012 draft having no slam dunk 1-1. Means the Astros have the upper hand in negotiations with the 1-1.

Have 2 large mainly from the saved 1-1 monies to chase tough HS signs.

The end result is that the Astros should net arguably 3/4 players with first round talent: Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers, Brett Phillips and maybe Rio Ruiz. And there is still an outside chance of signing one of Hunter Virant or CJ Hinojosa.