Most epic near miss (draft pick)

[igor67]

The following question applies only to 1st round picks, after that regardless of sport there is to much randomness for it to be a truly poignant what could have been.

 

So in honor of the release of Arnett's release and every reasonable belief that the Brewers would have taken Trout had he lasted that one more pick. Does he manage to take the crown for biggest almost is Wisconsin sports history from Tony Mandarich? Or is there another candidate, not just on the bust side but when a vastly better player was right there or almost right there and would have been taken.

[nate82]

Bonds instead of Surhoff in 85 is the only one I can think of.

[TURBO]

The average Wisconsin fan does not know who Arnett even is, so I don't think it is even close. When it comes to the Packers, even the average fan knows the team's history with certain players.

[RockCoCougars]

I think Mark Rogers instead of Jared Weaver is a good one. Before the draft, Weaver was widely regarded as the best prospect. I've got to think that the only reason they passed on him was 'signability'.

[sheetskout]

I'm not sure what's being asked here. I think I understand, but then you brought up Arnett as the pre-eminent example and this has thrown me way off....

[igor67]

Given the nature of the draft it is easy to go back and say if only we had taken ... But most of those are examples of guys later in the draft developing unexpectedly. I'm looking for examples where the team right ahead of us took a player off the board that we would have likely taken instead without needing to benefit from hindsight. There have been rumblings from the beginning that the Brewers would have gone with Trout if he had just lasted, not merely disappointment after he made the majors. It is kind of a specific question, but I find it far more interesting to look at cases where things could have easily turned out just a bit different and had big effects.

 

I'd be interested if anybody had examples where we had done it to someone else.

[CheezWizHed]

How about an inverse situation from Arnett/Trout?

 

We could have taken Alex Gordon, but the Royals grabbed him and we eventually got Ryan Braun (and to a lesser extent Ryan Zimmerman with Washington).

 

Not nearly the drastic difference as Arnett/Trout, but still one that we "won".

[LouisEly]

I think the reason Weaver signed was because he was drafted by his local/"hometown" Angels. If Weaver was regarded as the best prospect, there's a reason he was still available at #12.

[bork]

I always think about the Bucks taking Glen Robinson over Grant Hill. But it probably wasn't a huge difference, especially considering how much Hill was hurt later in his career.