Big Reed

I can understand where Hoffy is coming from and his frustrations.. by drafting a high school pitcher rather than a college pitcher it seemed to me that we added another year to our "get back to respectability plan". and guys like me and Hoffy are getting old and don't want to wait another year. We want to see wins and a run at a division crown NOW! I want to trade Krynzel or Nelson for a stud starting pitcher like Garcia NOW ! I want to trade Hardy for Renteria NOW ! I want to trade Prince for Helton or Beltran NOW ! I want to trade Jones for Moyer or Mulder or Musina - NOW! I also want the Brewers payroll to be $100 million now - not in the future 15 years from now when I'm dead. the facts are if we don't resign Sheets, it's not going to matter much if we drafted a college pitcher or a high school one. Resigning Sheets will mean more to this team than whether we drafted a high school or college pitcher. the question I have is did we sign the best player available, or did we use money and signing bonus requirements as a major factor in our decision like we did when we drafted Green and other prospects of the nineties? I can't believe how little money Bush signed for. Before the draft, people kept saying that 6 college pitchers had the potential to be in the same class as former college pitchers Mark Prior, Mussina, Zito and Mulder. those 6 pitchers were Humber, Niemann, Weaver, Townsend, Sowers, and Verlander. then after the draft, I found it odd that people started saying that this year's crop of college pitchers was not really in the same class as Prior and that's why we went after the best high school pitcher. even Peter Gammons did the flip flop of over-hyping these pitchers before the draft, and then saying the college pitching talent wasn't that great after the draft. it's amazing what being drafted can do to your ability to pitch. I personally was a big Niemann fan. he proved last year he could pitch and win against top level competition. he battled back from a groin injury this year and seemed to be back on top of his game. I also liked Verlander, Sowers and Weaver. unfortunately, both Verlander and Niemann were drafted before the Brewers picked. this left the Brewers with the choice of Rogers, Sowers or Weaver of the pitchers I liked or the idea of going after a position player like Drew or Nelson.. Weaver was asking for a lot of money. So it came down to Townsend, Sowers or Bailey or Rogers. and of those 4, I think I like Rogers the best with Sowers a close second. it's obvious the Brewers needed and wanted to draft a pitcher. I am led to wonder if neuge, parra and jones were all 100% healthy, might we have looked at drafting a position player such as Nelson or Drew? Everybody kept saying Drew was demanding the same type of money we gave Weeks last year and he would be a very hard sign. Well, Drew was demanding that type of money because he was expecting to be a top 5, possibly #1 pick. And I would think the #1 pick in the draft should at least be given the opportunity to ask for the type of money Weeks received last year. I think with the amount of revenue sharing money we received, the Brewers could have afforded Drew's asking price, and certainly Nelson's asking price. Both players could have developed into an outstanding shortstop or third baseman. Would Drew and Boras have pulled the same stunt on us that they did with his brother and Philly ? or has Boras learned his lesson? While Drew may have been the best talent available when the Brewers drafted, I doubt anybody in the Brewers organization wanted to deal with the headaches involved in drafting him. so it came down to drafting the best pitcher on the board which was Rogers or Sowers or drafting the best talent on the board which may have been Nelson. We needed an ace pitcher bad! I really wanted us to draft Niemann. but given that he was already drafted, I believe Rogers was the "BEST CHOICE" of the available players. one thing that hasn't been mentioned or talked about much. When we drafted Gold and Neugebauer, both players had experienced injuries their senior year in high school and thus their stock dropped and we were willing to take a risk on their health when we drafted them. unfortunately, their injuries became a recurring theme. Rogers does not have a history of injuries. perhaps Rogers will be that guy who breaks the Brewers pitcher injury jinx. While I may be disappointed we drafted a high school pitcher and not a college one, I am eager to follow Roger's progress and wish him well.

Thorpe did play for the Reds. it was hard to find a native American indian who actually succeeded and became a professional baseball player. here's a list of only about 15 native Amercans who played professional baseball in the last 100 years. The names Jack Akers and Gene Locklear may be familier. www.baseball-almanac.com/...yers.shtml

I gave the draft a B for two reasons. The first is I prefer drafting college pitchers over high school ones. the second reason is that I was hoping we would take a position player in the second or third round rather than waiting until the 5th round to take our first position player. in my "fantasy world" of baseball drafts, agents and player demands and sign-ability would not be a deciding factor . Players should not be able to demand a $10 million signing bonus or hold out for something better or demand only winning teams draft them. All players should accept the team that drafts them, and teams should should reward their players accordingly with an agreeable contract. I am led to wonder, if the signing demands of Weaver and Drew were not so outrageous, and if they had a different agent, would the Brewers have been interested in drafting either of them with their pick? I am also led to wonder, if the Brewers had the third pick instead of the 5th pick, would they have drafted Niemann or Humber over Rogers? Rogers was a tremendous pick, and from listening to his radio interview, he sounds like a great person. But in drafting a high school pitcher, we cannot realistically expect him to arrive and pitch for the Brewers before 2007. and on the negative side, some ESPN radio announcers were predicting guys like Humber and Weaver (if signed fast) may actually pitch in the major leagues this year like Wagner did for the Reds last year. I had hoped we would draft a stud pitcher who would be projected to arrive in 2005. We definitely drafted a stud pitcher. but his arrival date will be a little later than I had hoped. overall grade - B. Rogers is a stud and a tremendous pick. but his arrival date will not be as fast as I hoped. I liked many of our other picks as well.

The guy I want the brewers to draft today is one of those three guys who got a hit off Rogers in high school this past year. I have to believe the guy that actually got a hit must be a great disciplined hitter. Rogers' accomplishments in high school are just phenomenal. I'd like to hear the story of the guys who actually got hits off him. were they bunts? were they infield broken bat singles? was it a mistake pitch ? I would have to believe that Mark Rogers remembers each hit he gave up this year a lot more than the ko's. Congrats to Mark for your great year and becoming a Brewer !!!

Josh Baker was previously drafted in the 4th round by the Texas Rangers coming out of high school in 2001. Was Melvin the Rangers GM in 2001? I think so! Melvin has a very good memory of his previous picks. While not as famous as the other 3 Rice pitchers, Josh Baker was rated by Baseball America in their 2004 Annual prospects book as the #38th best college player. I think he was a steal.