Phillies' first draft selection is No. 39
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Phillies' first draft selection is No. 39
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- The cost of signing Cliff Lee was $120 million, and a first-round draft pick. So instead of selecting 33d, the Phillies will not have a first-round pick in this year's June entry draft. Texas will make that pick.
The Phillies' first choice will come at pick No. 39 -- one reward for losing Jayson Werth to free agency, Major League Baseball announced Thursday. That is in the compensatory round, or better known as the sandwich round. Mmm.
Werth was a Type-A free agent, so the Phillies should have received another first-rounder for losing him. But because he signed with Washington, which has the sixth overall pick, the Phillies are compensated with a second-rounder.
Why? The top 18 picks in the draft are protected from being used as compensation. Thus, Werth will net the Phillies pick No. 66 in the second round, which was the Nats' property. Their first (true) pick comes at No. 90, the last selection of the second round.
Last year, the Phillies took local lefthander Jesse Biddle with the 27th overall pick.
Tampa Bay possesses 10 of the first 60 selections in this year's draft and, well, that's just crazy.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for easy access to all of our Phillies coverage, plus app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.
Tampa's status is the farm team for New York and Boston is in fine standing...— Grazman- Will the Rays be contracted before the draft? If so, how will those picks be distributed?— psuflyers
- #39 come on down— shawnmac
- The Phils shouldn't get hosed for the Nats being in the Top-18, then have to turn around and give Texas their 1st round pick. Why not drop the pick down to #19 and move everyone else up? Does the NFL do the same should a team sign a player who was tagged as a franchise player?— dankil13
- Agree with dankil13. A team should have to weigh the ramifications of signing a type A free agent, regardless of where their draft position may fall, i.e., what is more important, the player or the pick?— Bella914
- Sorry, I'm not done.
Essentially, we were ripped off cause the Nats are so bad...that just ain't fair. We are being held back dozens of potential choices because of another team's inability to win baseball games...
Yet, a team that actually went to the World Series, and only had a guy for 15 starts + post-season, gets our first round pick...
I just don't get it...Why can you go out and drop $125mil on one player, and still be protected?— MFPhils - Do the Phils get the Wash 2nd rounder (66) and the sandwich pick (39) for losing Werth? That balances losing their first rounder (33).— P Even
- So Werth's compensation will be #39 and #66. No too bad the way the Phillies have been drafting lately. Don't know where Tampa Bay is going to get the money to sign all those picks. I know they left Crawford walk and trade A. Gonzalez but 10 out of the first 60 picks is going to cost them some serious money or some of the picks.— EL Zorro
- In baseball, is there really that big of a difference between the 33rd pick and the 39th pick? The MLB draft is different from other sports. You have a lot more later round picks that become successful. Roy Oswalt was a 23rd rounder for example! Albert Pujols? 13th Rounder! Some teams also pass on drafting someone for fear of not being able to meet their signing demands, so a good player can drop for such a reason. Not to say you don't have draft busts in other sports, but the baseball draft is still a lot more of a cr@pshoot. "High ceiling" guys don't reach their ceiling, and others come completely out of nowhere. I'll take Cliff Lee and the 39th pick over the 33rd pick any day.
— diggitydek - Love that bit on Tampa Bay. On account of these bad picks, Philly needs to do what NY and ATL have been doing (successfully) for years--heavy recruiting in Latin America. NY's best talent on the farm didn't arrive through the draft. That's what happens when you have low picks (due to a good record) and sign type-A free agents. Gotta improvise.— pillsbury
- Schmidt, Rollins Wolfe were 2nd round picks Howard a 5th. Top farmhands Cosart, Colvin May and Singelton were not 1st round picks. Neither was Brown. Phills have been making good draft decisions. I do wish they were more active in the Latino market.— Don w
