indiansfan99

Looks like KC will be bypassing Porcello according to Mayo, and choose between Vitters and Moustakas draft.mlblogs.com/geeking_on_the_draft/

Interesting latest Law tidbit on the Brewers pick insider.espn.go.com/espn/...=law_keith

Very interesting discussion guys, from the outside I've always admired the job Jack Z has been doing over the years for the Brewers, you have to admire his conviction in his philosophies. I can only compare his draft philosophy with what the Indians have done, its a very interesting contrast. When Indians SD John Mirabelli took over in 2000 he was widely considered to be a SD who had a prep bias but over the years he has basically done a 180 and now Cleveland usually approaches the draft very conservatively. The Indians havent picked a HS pitcher or position player with its first selection since '01 Alot of this is believed to be b/c of the failings of his first 3 drafts in '00, '01 and '02. Cleveland had a ton of early picks those 3 years but very little success in terms of producing big league players, they drafted the likes of Corey Smith, Derek Thompson, Dan Denham, Alan Horne (didnt sign), J.D Martin (who they have high hope for still), Mike Conroy, Jake Dittler, Tavis Foley, Sean Smith, Jeremy Guthrie, Matt Whitney, Micah Schilling.........All these guys were awarded very high bonuses and to date only Guthrie had ever donned an indians uni (though he was waived). As an organization they came to a realization that they couldnt continue to have such poor results for the resources they were ploughing into scouting and player development. Nowadays they operate by having a very strong college emphasis early in drafts then they tend to take some more 'riskier' prep picks in round 3-4 and later and try to sign those prospects with above slot bonuses. In '03 they took Aubrey and Brad Snyder with their 1st 2 picks then took Adam Miller with their next selection, in '04 a they took college pitchers in Sowers, Justin Hoyman and Scott Lewis and then in round 4 they paid Chuck Lofgren $700K to sign. The '05 drafting left a lot of Tribe fans frustrated, they took Trevor Crowe in the first round but the frustration came from failure to sign 1 of a trio of flyers they took in the later rounds namely Cody Satterwhite, Aaron Shafer and Tim Lincecum. They didnt get anywhere with Satterwhite but they thought they had Shafer signed only for the kid to have a change of heart. They offered Lincecum $750K but he turned that down (wise move on his part, but he sure would look good in our 'pen today!). last year they paid HS lefty Ryan Morris 2nd round money after taking him in the 4th round. The Indians basically try to manage the risks better by going safe early then taking some HS flyers in later rounds and paying them above slot to sign them. I personally am not a huge fan of this policy, I understand its merits but for the last few years the Indians have overlooked a lot high ceiling HS talent in the early rounds, for example I love Sowers but who would you want long term him or Homer Bailey? I think both the Indians and maybe the Brewers would be better served from a more balanced approach between HS and college, but these differences is what makes the draft so interesting.