Drafting dissapointment

Group #1

Ryan Mills, Adam Johnson, Travis Lee, Mark Redman, Brandon Garbe and possibly Michael Cuddyer.

Group #2

Lance Berkman, Adam Dunn, Eric Chavez

The first group are Minnesota Twins first round draft selections going back to 1995 but not including 2002-2005. With the jury still out on Cuddyer, we can safely say that the rest of these guys have been bricks for the team.

The second group is the Bats we passed up on that were availabe when we drafted these players. I only included first round pics because I didnt want to get complicated seeing as how Albert Pujols in the 13th round is'nt as big of a crime if he doesn't pan out. By the 13th round, GM's are looking for bodies who fit a mold of what a big leager could look like in a few years. If it doesnt work out no one gets upset. I also only included guys who I felt were a "Big Bat." There were several marginal guys with 20+ HRs and a +OBP.

On a side note...the Twins passed up on the likes of John Garland, Barry Zito and appearently some guy named Mark Prior. (Justkidding on the Prior thing).

It is clear that the Twins love to draft pitchers. It makes sense I suppose. You can build a team around solid pitching while the pitching is cheap and young. To Ryans credit, the focus on pitching has payed off handsomly. TG had a piece today on how to aquire a big bat: http://twinsterritory.com . I love TG and the work he does but griping about Carl Pohlads tight ass isn't gonna help.

The fact that we have no bats to brag about right now is directly associated to the fact it was no a priority for years. Years I say. Terry Ryan was building a small ball, cheap baseball team. If I were motivated I would love to study the scouting reports on the position players the Twins have drafted for the last 10 yrs or so. I suspect they have looked very hard for guys who were solid defensively and (yawn) could hit and run fast...should develope into a lead off-type hitter blah blah blah.

I will take it one step further and say that the Twins have done very poorly on evaluating talent as far as drafting offense goes. While many are arguing that it could be poor coaching I wonder "Maybe the talent wasn't provided." Dont get me wrong here, it is tough to draft baseball players. Much harder than drafting NFL. It is so hard to know who will live up to their potential and who will be a bum. If everyone knew Pujols was gonna be who he was gonna be he wouldn't have fell to the 13th round.

So then where do we get a bat for next year?

I hate to break it to everyone but unless we find ourselves in the hunt for October next year the bat we seek probabally wont come from outside. We may trade J.C, Stewart and half the team for some talent but it will probabally be AAAA type guys who may make in impact next year...maybe not. There will be no guys named Vlad, Alfonso, or Pujols in a Twins uniform next year.

We will have to make do with the likes of Morneau, Cuddyer, Mauer and Hunter as the main "POP," in the line up.

I will indulge one fantacy in which Ryan goes balls to the walls and puts some faith in Baker, Lariano and Bonser while trading Silva and Stewart and maybe more and get a good return from a team looking to re-design. But that is a long shot.

But the topic I originally slated for today before the disaster (see below entry) was about the Twins pitching situation. The window is closing on this crop of pitchers by 2008. In that time, I was speculating as to wether Ryan had it in him to trade for a big bat or if he could let this amazing group of pitchers to go wasted like the Dodgers last year. But today, I digressed into this when I started trying to remember all the Twins draft choices of the past few years.

This is it for today. If you like, drop me a line. I'm always looking for feedback.