Bonderman38

Whew, it feels great to get Verlander wrapped up! The Tigers need all the young talent they can get, and hope that a couple will turn out to be impact players. The deal was believed to be for about 4 million. According to the Tigers official site, Verlander's father was the one that got the negotiations restarted. Also, it sounds like Verlander got rid of his agent, good for him. I'm really looking forward to following his progress through the minors.

Thanks for clearing that up Colby. 40-45, or so, comp pick for losing Verlander isn't too bad I guess, though I'm still holding out hope that Verlander and his agent will come to their senses and call up Dombrowski to try to get a deal done. I really think Verlander's agent dropped the ball on this one. My own guess is that he looked at how the Tigers were overpaying some free agents they signed over the past off season (i.e. Fernando Vina) and thought maybe they could get the Tigers to overpay for the #2 pick. BTW, I really like the new look to the site and am already loving the 2005 draft coverage, great stuff colby!

Hey guys, for anyone that cares, the word here in Detroit is that the Tigers offered Verlander a major league contract worth around 4 million, give or take a couple hundred grand. However, Verlander and his agent wanted a lot more than that. Speculation is that the gap between the two sides were 1.5-2 million. As much as I love Verlander's upside, he is not worth that much money. Mark Prior, Texeira, Upton, Young, Weeks, yes, but Verlander? Don't think so, imo. As a person who busts his butt to make only 42 grand a year, I'm not sure how Verlander could turn that offer down. Of course, I don't have a 99 mph arm, but still that's a heck of a lot of money he's turning down. Maybe he should phone Matt Harrington for his advice. I mean, even after taxes, Verlander could invest that money, or simply put it in a bank, etc. and he could earn 100,000 on interest annually. He'd be set for life, even if he blew out his arm. Don't know what he and his agent is thinking. Anyways, does anyone here have a guess at how high of a supplemental 1st round pick the Tigers will get for losing Verlander? I'm hoping it'll be a high suppl. pick, 31 or 32 would be great. Looking forward to the 2005 draft...

I had similar observations and while the Expos are really bad, they still have a 10 game lead on the 2003 Tigers, amazing and truly sad if you're a Tigers fan. Detroit is actually a little better than what they've shown of late but I still expect us to land a top 10 pick next year. I have my eyes on Upton and Pelfrey for next year's draft, so I honestly hope my Tigers keep losing as we need to build a solid young core. I still don't have a good grasp of who the top 10 prospects are for next year so it should be interesting as things unfold.

First, I want to say that I think you guys had a great draft. I love the high-ceiling HS pitchers and Milwaukee took quite a few. Gallardo was the one whom I really wanted in the 2nd round and Wahpepah was a guy that I wished Detroit was able to sign as a DF. Now, I just looked up some of the stats of the collegiate players in BA's top 10 for the 2005 draft class and it looks to me that the 2004 college class might be a notch or two better than the 2005 college class. Pelfrey has had a good season and would rank right up there with the top collegiate 2004 arms. Stephen Head has had a nice season with the bat but his numbers aren't overwhelming and he probably is about as good a prospect as Jeff Larish was at this time last year. Clement, Greene, McCormick, and Romanczuk all had a disappointing year. Both Kahn and Bogusevic had a mediocre season, though Bogusevic did hit well with the bat. Mayberry and Lowrie both actually had a good season. I've tried to find other college names for 2005 and there aren't many. Micah Owings, who wasn't rated very highly with the 04' pitching draft class, might actually be the second best 05' arm behind Pelfrey. If the 2005 draft is going to be better than the 2004 draft "by default", as BA says, then it will be because of the 05' High School class, as next year's college class looks well below average at this time.

LOL Anders, I do miss Tigers stadium. It had a lot of charm and had a real cozy feeling about it, but all good things must end right? Sure, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything new on the Tigers plans. Speaking of which, there is a new article in the DetNews today by Lynn Henning and he states that if the draft were held today, Phil Humber would *likely* be the pick among Verlander and the Rice trio. But I've been reading Henning for years and when it comes to the draft, he tends to make guesses based on the Tigers' needs, college stats and from reading BA (for whatever reason he still thinks the Tigers like the low-ceiling, low risk draft route). At the about this time last year, he said the Tigers would likely pick Michael Aubrey, whom the Tigers never seriously considered. He was also surprised when the Tigers selected high-ceiling Jay Sborz in the second round, not me though. Anyways, I'd be pretty shocked if Verlander isn't Detroit's pick because their scouts, and especially SD Greg Smith and assistant GM Al Avila are all very high on him. Verlander was #1 on their draft board coming into the season and not much has changed. Also, Dombrowski loves power pitchers and had said he wanted to stock pile as many as he can into the farm system, so I don't think he'd pass up an opportunity at a mid-90s guy with great stuff and a very high-ceiling like Verlander. Flushing, you are right. If Verlander starts to have more outings where he gives up a ton of walks, I guess I could see the Tigers selecting one of the Rice trio or Nick Adenhardt, a guy whom the Tigers really like as well and wouldn't hesitate to take. But unless he totally falters, Verlander will be the pick. It's still early though, so anything is possible.

Hi there, I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan and I can tell you that the Tigers will not be drafting a hitter with this year's #2 pick. While they would love to add an elite positional player to their farm system, there is no Delmon Young or Rickie Weeks caliber of player this year (They wanted Weeks really bad last year). At any rate, according to one of Detroit's baseball writers, the Tigers top 3 as of right now are: 1)Verlander, 2)Niemann, 3)Adenhardt. Dave Dombrowski is adamant about taking high-ceiling prospects, that are signable, in the early rounds (i.e Sleeth, Sborz, Moore, Clevlen). As long as the prospect has the potential to develop into an all-star caliber player, they are willing to take the risks. This is a totally different drafting philosophy than the one that former Tigers GM Randy Smith had (he liked taking the safe route and selected polished collegians who had low-ceilings). BTW, just wanted to say that this is an awesome site.