| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 02-25-2010 |
We remember that year in Seattle, don't we? We were hoping and praying that one the bats would make it to the M's where they ultimately selected reliever Josh Fields.
Not that we didn't realize it then, but it's even more clear today -- those classes don't come around too often. Buster Posey, Gordon Beckham, Brett Wallace, Yonder Alonso, among others, went in the first round in 2008.
This year's class is deeper than it was a year ago when it comes to college hitters, starting with two lefty sticks with power.
Don't forget about the Prospect Chat on Tuesday, March 2, and the Podcast on Thursday, March 4.
draft-blog:-2010-vs.-2008
Comments
The following 21 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: rjfrik on 02-27-2010 02:13:57 Speaking of lefty sticks with power, I still can't believe the M's passed on Heyward. He will go down as one of the greatest hitters in the last 25 years. |
| 2. By: acqb1424 on 02-27-2010 08:32:04 I remember watching that draft with some buddies (wasn't that the first one that ESPN aired?) and as the M's pick was approaching I was getting all excited about Heyward being there (my buddies had no clue what I was talking about) and then when both Heyward and Aumont were on the board I got this feeling that we'd be taking the pitcher and damn if it didn't happen. How nice would Heyward look as our left fielder right now? |
| 3. By: rjfrik on 02-27-2010 14:08:38 I hear you. I was screaming at my T.V. for them to draft Heyward. Honestly it just amazed me that they passed on the guy, literally anyone could see the kind of talent he was. Yes Aumount had potential, but he was a total project, had only played 3 years of baseball in his entire life and frankly, IMO, we didn't need a pitcher, we had Felix, Morrow and Tillman, we needed a middle of the order bat and the M's knew it, the next 4 out 6 guys they drafted were OF's. That draft was just a damn mess. One guy panned out of the entire draft, Sean White. Other then that, it was a bunch of minor league fodder. It is a shame because Heyward has the best left handed swing I've seen since Griffey. I said that back then and it turned out to be true. Just sucks. Jack would of drafted Heyward I have no doubt in my mind about it. If he was on the team right now batting cleanup, we would be a lock to win the west. |
| 4. By: bobbysee1 on 02-27-2010 14:59:15 Speaking of lefty sticks with power, I was at the Indians workout this morning and was wondering what it would take to get Travis Hafner. Seems like the perfect fit batwise for Safeco. What happened to him last year? Due to his lack of ABS I'm guessing he was injured....... |
| 5. By: Chris Crawford on 02-27-2010 15:08:51 Hafner as a reclamation project wouldn't be a terrible idea, minus one thing....his contract is kinda sorta a disaster. And its not short term either. |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-27-2010 16:01:18 Aumont>Heyward will not occur with Zduriencik as the GM. Simply because he favors bats so much more than arms, and rightfully so. It's not just injury that makes pitchers more risky. So many things can go wrong. Matt Dominguez was another target around that No. 11 pick, and though he's a tremendous defender at third, may not be more than an average bat, at best. Teams make mistakes, but the mistake Seattle made wasn't drafting someone over Heyward, it was drafting someone without doing enough homework. The hip injury thing IS why he was made into a reliever -- anything else said about that situation is a lie and nothing more than a cover-up, (not Jack's fault, he's doing his job) and since Aumont's hip injury initially occurred while in HS, Seattle screwed up in the decision to take a kid with a history like that. |
| 7. By: rjfrik on 02-27-2010 16:26:15 You are right on the money Jason. Didn't actual word leak last year that Jack and his boys at Milwaukee knew about Aumont's injury during that draft? I just am amazed that Bone head Bavasi was oblivious to that information. Ugh. I'm glad the guy is gone but he really screwed us in so many ways. I will always despise the guy. |
| 8. By: 01v-dubs on 02-27-2010 17:13:37 Looking at Heyward now makes me sick. I wish him all the best, but he'd look great roaming LF at the Safe for years to come, especially with Junior here to mentor him. I have a few draft related questions Jason, is do you have a general idea of who will be available when the M's pick in the supp. 1st? I now you mentioned Dyson, and he sounds intriguing, but anybody else? Also, last year the M's went very position player heavy, do you see that changing this year with the lack of pitching prospects in the org? One more question, Pimitel (SP?) looks like an absolute monster, where do you think he starts out the year, and what do you expect from him? Thanks Jason, great work as always here and at the four letter |
| 9. By: Adam T on 02-27-2010 17:47:20 If we really want to play this game, Tulowitzki, Lincecum, Heyward, and Christian Friedrich could all be in the organization right now. |
| 10. By: Edman on 02-27-2010 18:10:10 There are a ton of guys who are woulda-shoulda-coulda kind of players. Every team his its list. If Heybard was such an obvious pick, why didn't the teams ahead of Seattle pick him? And where did the "Jack and his boys knew about Aumont" crap come from? If you're gonna make a statement like that, back it up. I don't recall hearing any such rumor. The only rumor that was floated out there that I'm aware of, was the one Jason reported, and it mentioned nothing of knowing when he was drafted. There are players on every team that someone else missed on. I'm not dismissing Bavasi's role, but he likely didn't make the choice himself. He got advice from the scouting department. He has to trust his people. If not, fire them and start over. Some of you think it's so easy to pick the winners. It's not like they took Aumont #1 overall. Move on and stop whinning about the past. You can't fix it. Let Jack and his system work and leave the past in the past. It's not like he's taken lessons from Bavasi. |
| 11. By: StandinPat on 02-27-2010 19:39:36 " The only rumor that was floated out there that I'm aware of, was the one Jason reported, and it mentioned nothing of knowing when he was drafted." Jason literally just posted "and since Aumont's hip injury initially occurred while in HS, Seattle screwed up in the decision to take a kid with a history like that." Before jumping all over other people for not "backing up" their statement or for a lack of research, maybe read some of the previous posts, such as the one right before the post in question. |
| 12. By: rjfrik on 02-27-2010 21:49:00 Typical Edman post. First off I didn't make a statement Edman. Please read and comprehend before posting. This is what I wrote: " Didn't actual word leak last year that Jack and his boys at Milwaukee knew about Aumont's injury during that draft?" This is a question not a statement. I asked this question because I thought I remembered Jason, in a post months ago when we were talking about Aumont's injury, saying certain teams knew about the injury before the draft. And if I remembered right one of the teams was the Brewers and that Jack and the staff knew about the injury. About the draft. I'm not sure if you remember that year. But it was a pretty loaded draft. The top High School bats were very impressive. Only 2 H.S. bats were selected before the M's picked and both were regarded as potential top 3 picks, which they both turned out to be. Personally I thought Heyward at the time had a bat just as good as Moustakas and Vitters but those guys played premium positions and had the defensive ability to stay at those positions, so it makes sense that they were drafted ahead of Heyward. Why did so many teams pass on Heyward? Well unfortunately a lot of teams take need over the best player available. After the 3rd pick six pitchers were taken, that honestly in my opinion, should not of been taken before Heyward. And then there are GM's and front staffs that don't like taking H.S. kids early. Don't ask me why these front office's think this way, but it's just dumb. There were 5 college kids drafted before Heyward that should not of been in my opinion. And of course some teams don't want to pay for talent. Heyward in my opinion, at the time of the draft, was the sixth best prospect on the board behind Price, Moustakas, Wieters, Vitters and Bumgarner. Aumont was nothing more then a gamble, he had injury issues, projected to have issues due to the way he threw the ball and his hight and had only pitched for 3 years. I just don't take that gamble in the first half of the draft. At pick 20, 26, 32 maybe I take the risk but not at 11. And to put not drafting Tulo and Tim in the same conversation as not drafting Heyward is just dumb. Clement and Morrow were actual guys that had proved their worth in college and were not risks being drafted where they were. I'm not upset about those picks at all, it was bad luck. But drafting Aumont had nothing to do with luck, it had to do with ineptitude. |
| 13. By: Edman on 02-28-2010 04:09:09 Hindsight is always 20/20, rifrik. How many have your projections have you been wrong about? It's always a crapshoot. Aumont rated higher than Heywood, in some pre-draft polls. He was compared to Halladay....that's pretty good company. Yes, depending on the front office, some value pitchers more than hitters. Right choice or wrong choice, that's just how it goes. So, all those "draft experts" that placed Aumont in the top ten were inept too? Nobody has a crystal ball that can read into the future. When you get past the top 5-10 picks in the draft, the level of risk increases dramatically. Only a few prospects get a "can't miss" tag.....and Heyward wasn't one of them. It's great for Atlanta that he's turned out as he has. But, it wasn't a given. You want a pat on the back because you called it? Great, good call. Now, lets go over the list of those you've missed over the years. |
| 14. By: Edman on 02-28-2010 04:14:32 How is "a" injury, a history of injuries? If Aumont had been plagued throughout his career, fine. First round picks are typically drafted for high-ceiling potential. Sometimes, you take a few risks, if the payoff in the end, could be another Halladay. It's not like Seattle selected him with a top five pick. |
| 15. By: rjfrik on 02-28-2010 13:33:01 You are right I have missed on more then a few, such as Clement. I thought he was a great pick at the time. I thought the M's should of taken him or Zimmerman. Those two guys I couldn't decide between. When they took him I was happy and excited. We drafted a left handed power bat at the catcher position. But at least Clement didn't have issues. He wasn't a risk or a gamble. He was a consensus top 5 pick in every front office. Yes some front office's had Aumont high, in the top 10 but many others had him projected no where near the top 10. The pick was just a poor decision. As Jason has said they didn't do their homework. Why do you think the teams above the M's passed on the guy? Because those teams did their homework. If the M's did their homework then we would have Matt Dominguez or Jason Heyward, I'm pretty sure about it. And frankly in my opinion we didn't need pitching, we had Felix, Morrow and Tillman who were all very highly regarded starting pitchers. What we didn't have was young bats, sans Clement and Jones. You are right it is in the past, but I can still be upset by it. Just like I was upset the day my Blazers passed on Kevin Durrant for Greg Oden. Looking at Durrant in college I knew that the kid was going to be a great one. Sometimes you just see greatness. I did not see any of that in Aumont. But as you say, time to move on. |
| 16. By: Edman on 03-01-2010 10:43:18 I'm just curious. You stated that you see the same kind of greatness in Aumont. What is this based on? How much was actual observance and how much came from reports from others? It's hard to believe that was enough video available at or before the time he was drafted, to be able to base an opinion of greatness. You observed Durrant, did you do the same with Aumont? |
| 17. By: Edman on 03-01-2010 11:07:19 Errr....don't see the same kind of greatness |
| 18. By: Marlin Man on 03-01-2010 12:19:23 Jesus H Christ- thats all you guys ever do is argue Good God man it IS Spring training time- ain't ya HAPPY????? baseball is Starting and we are in FIRST place as I write- can't get anybetter until AFTER the 1st game Grow up M.M. |
| 19. By: JHamlin22 on 03-01-2010 14:10:33 I agree. Every single team in every single sport has a laundry list of "mistakes" they have made in the draft. Get over it. Spring training is here, I can't wait for the season to start! |
| 20. By: Edman on 03-01-2010 14:21:23 Telling me to grow up, because I ask for his source(s) regarding Aumont? OK, whatever. |
| 21. By: safecochatter on 03-02-2010 12:27:32 shannon drayer tweets this am at the morning intersquad game.... "Michael Pineda is a giant. 1 2 3 inning with lots of ooohs and ahhhhs" after a great 08 in the midwest league,Pineda fought off elbow problems in 09. Jason any info on Pineda's elbow problem coming back or are the m's looking at this as an 09 problem only. |
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