One consolation: A high draft pick
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One consolation: A high draft pick
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
An 81-81 season produced many things for these Phillies, among them, a higher draft pick than in recent history. They will select 16th in Major League Baseball's June draft. It is their highest selection since 2001 when righty Gavin Floyd was tabbed with the fourth overall pick.
The last 10 years have yielded two first-round picks that have made it to Philadelphia -- Greg Golson (2004) and Joe Savery (2007). Adrian Cardenas (2006) and Kyle Drabek (2006) have both appeared elsewhere in the majors.
Part of that, of course, is the constant winning that has placed the Phillies near the bottom of the draft order. After the 1997 J.D. Drew detente, the Phillies drafted six straight first-rounders -- Pat Burrell, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Floyd and Cole Hamels -- with significant results. They were all selected 17th or higher.
The Phillies have drafted 27 players 16th or higher. Eight never played a game in the majors; the last being Chad McConnell, an outfielder from Creighton University selected 13th overall in 1992.
That makes this particular pick an important one for assistant general manager Marti Wolever and his amateur scouting staff.
A list of the 12 picks since Floyd was drafted at No. 4:
| Year | Rnd | OvPck | Pos | WAR | G | AB | HR | G | W | L | Type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1 | 40 | Shane Watson (minors) | RHP | HS | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 1 | 54 | Mitch Gueller (minors) | RHP | HS | |||||||||||
| 2011 | 1s | 39 | *Larry Greene (minors) | OF | HS | |||||||||||
| 2010 | 1 | 27 | Jesse Biddle (minors) | LHP | HS | |||||||||||
| 2008 | 1 | 24 | Anthony Hewitt (minors) | SS | HS | |||||||||||
| 2008 | 1s | 34 | *Zach Collier (minors) | OF | HS | |||||||||||
| 2007 | 1 | 19 | Joe Savery (minors) | LHP | -0.3 | 23 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 4.88 | 1.27 | 4Yr |
| 2007 | 1s | 37 | *Travis d'Arnaud (minors) | C | HS | |||||||||||
| 2006 | 1 | 18 | *Kyle Drabek (minors) | RHP | -0.4 | 34 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 34 | 8 | 15 | 5.34 | 1.67 | HS |
| 2006 | 1s | 37 | *Adrian Cardenas (minors) | SS | -0.3 | 45 | 60 | 0 | .183 | .552 | HS | |||||
| 2004 | 1 | 21 | Greg Golson (minors) | OF | -0.6 | 40 | 41 | 0 | .195 | .458 | HS | |||||
| 2002 | 1 | 17 | Cole Hamels (minors) | LHP | 28.2 | 219 | 450 | 1 | .169 | .404 | 212 | 91 | 60 | 3.34 | 1.14 | HS |
| 2001 | 1 | 4 | Gavin Floyd (minors) | RHP | 13.2 | 194 | 54 | 0 | .056 | .145 | 194 | 70 | 66 | 4.46 | 1.33 | HS |
D'Arnaud was a primary piece in the Roy Halladay trade. Collier, Hewitt, Biddle, Greene, Watson and Gueller all remain in the Phillies system. Biddle is currently the lone legitimate prospect of the bunch.
The Phillies finished 2012 tied with Arizona, but the Diamondbacks will pick 15th because the tiebreaker is awarded to the team with the worse record in 2011. Pittsburgh has two picks in the top 14 as consolation for not signing its first-round selection last summer.
The top 10 picks are protected from compensation. But, beginning this winter, a free agent is subject to compensation only if his former team offers a one-year qualifying offer of approximately $13.3 million. That should limit the amount of free agents that will cost draft picks to sign.
The old designations of Type A and B free agents no longer exist.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
What is the likelihood of them holding on to this pick? My understanding of the MLB Draft rules is that only the top 10 picks are protected. Correct me if I am wrong but if they go after a type A Free Agent(Bourn, Upton, Hamilton), they will have to give up this pick.— edjsull925- Type A is no longer a consideration. Under the new CBA, teams will only surrender an unprotected pick if they sign a free agent who rejected a qualifying offer (at least $13.3 mil) by his former team.
Take BJ Upton for instance, if the Rays offer him a qualifying offer of $13.3 mil or more (which they certainly will not), and he rejects it, the Rays would be compensated with an unprotected pick from the team who later signs Upton. If a qualifying offer is never offered, any team can sign that player without losing a pick.
Hope this helps to clarify— SteveP - "the Rays would be compensated with an unprotected pick from the team who later signs Upton"
. . . rather, the Rays would receive a compensatory pick at the end of Rd 1 and the team who signs the free-agent would forfeit their unprotected first rounder. The 'forfeited' pick would not go to the Rays— SteveP - The rules just changed about FA's and pick compensation. I don't have that info, sorry. Maybe Matt can enlighten us in the comments. As for FA's, if Swisher doesn't want a rediculous contract, I'd go after him. Then trade Howard to NY for Arod. Bad contract for bad contract. Start Ruf at 1b, spell him with Swisher if he can play there. Still need a CF who can field the position. Stay far away from Upton, Victorino,Hamilton. Throwing money in the fire with them.
- "Then trade Howard to NY for Arod."
And what makes you think that the Yankees would want Ryan Howard?— PhightinPhil - And what makes you think we'd want ARod? He's done so well in the playoffs. — mike l
- Billi, you're being Silli.
1. Swisher is not the answer for many reasons, not the least of which is the ludicrous contract he is seeking.
2. If the Yankees eat half of the A-Rod contact, it would still be a terrible move. We're trying to get younger, not older. He is a post-HGH shell of the once great ball player, and a terrible distraction for everyone around the club. Must find a way to acquire an impact 3rd basement, david wright is not out of the question, despite what you have read on the philly.com blogs.
3. Sign Pagan to a 2 year deal as the CF, then roll the dice and hope Gillies and/or Collier continue to develop into contributing major league players.
4. Go with Ruf and Brown as a plattoon, and hope one of them develops into an everyday player.
5. Trade mayberry for a middle reliever and a lap dance.— CosmoK - I agree with Silli and CosmoK that the usual suspect FAs -- Upton, Vic, Hamilton -- aren't the way to go in CF. Pagan would be OK, as would Denard Span or Dexter Fowler, although either of the latter two would have to come via trade rather than free agency.— Dave Clemens
- I would keep the pick and go HS pitcher with upside. The phillies have been decent at drafting pitchers in this slot so go with what your good at. Valle should be packaged with another player for middle relief pitcher. I would see if Franco keeps gapping up in his development and if he is hold off on throwing money at 3B.
If Phillies address middle relief we are looking at a playoff team. But stop gashing the minor league systems - it is now just recovering from all past trades. Now is time to restock that system.— Tripod691 - We should have kept Kyle Drabek because the frontrunner has been a major disappointment.— lonewolf 10
- Matt, How long does a team have to decide on offering the qualifing offer? Knowing our luck, Amaro will sign one of the CF early (say Upton) and then once the other team (in this case TB) knows the player is gone, they will offer the qualifing offer and get our 17th pick. I'm all for finding stop gap solutions for 2013 and having Asche and Gillies or another young CF come up in 2014. Find a guy or two for the bullpen, figure out a way better contigency plan for Utley/Howard than 2012, and roll the dice with the young kids in the bullpen. No need to overpay someone for 3B or CF who will just block our younger prospects in a few years (see SS with Rollins, Jimmy).— sjuhawk416
- I think teams only have until five days after the World Series to make a qualifying offering to their impending free-agents. I'm not 100% certain on that, but fairly certain — SteveP
- "Detente" -- really? Dictionary (or history book), anyone??— sportswriterwanted
- There's not much chance of them keeping this pick. Whether I agree or not, whatever centerfield they get will most likely cost this selection— FlyerAdam30
- Free agent compesation is very different now. Teams have to offer a qualifying offer (usually very high) to receive any compensatory draft pick if the player leaves to sign elsewhere. It makes free agency a bit more legitimate. BTW lonewolf, Roy Halladay has had two Cy Young type seasons (last year he was injured), and Kyle Drabek just had his 2nd TJ elbow surgery. Yeah, we sure should have "kept" Kyle Drabek. And I'm sure you wanted to keep Carrasco/Madsen too to join him for more TJ elbow surgeries.— drhoffman
