Phillies to target position players early in draft
Major League Baseball's annual June draft begins Monday and the Phillies will not pick until late into the night with the 40th overall selection. That pick will most likely be a position player, assistant general manager Marti Wolever said.
Phillies to target position players early in draft
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Major League Baseball's annual June draft begins Monday and the Phillies will not pick until late into the night with the 40th overall selection. That pick will most likely be a position player, assistant general manager Marti Wolever said.
The Phillies also plan on spending their entire pool of $4.9 million for bonuses in the first 10 rounds of the draft, which represents a significant increase from previous years.
"Oh, definitely," Wolever said.
Under new rules, MLB has assigned each team a set pool of money they are not to exceed in awarding bonuses to their first 10 rounds. The Phillies spent approximately $4.7 million to sign 30 of their picks in 2011. They will spend more on their first 10 alone in 2012.
Part of that is because of baseball's new regulations. Wolever isn't sure how many teams will spend their entire pool — the Phillies' is the 21st largest of 30 teams — but the Phillies will spend more on the draft than they have since 2008.
For an organization that has depleted its farm system with trades, it's the best chance to infuse talent. With such a lack of position player prospects at the higher levels of the Phillies' system, Wolever hinted the team could look at a polished college player early.
"It's always about balance for me," Wolever said. "Everyone always says, 'Marti, you're a high-ceiling guy.' I certainly am. But on the flip side, you forget about a lot of guys over the years, from Jason Donald... to college guys that are a little further along and may not have quite the ceiling as the high school guys do but they're going to be good major-league players. That's how we look at it."
Since 2001, when Wolever assumed control of the draft, the Phillies have taken a college player with their first pick only three times: Joe Savery in 2007, Mike Costanzo in 2005 and Tim Moss in 2003.
Wolever has met in Philadelphia with his amateur scouts for the last week.
"We tried to identify some weaknesses in the organization, depth-wise," Wolever said. "We like to have a little bit of everything. But I would like offensive players. There are a couple kids we've targeted. If they're there and it's a fit, we'll look there first. If not, we'll probably go to the pitching board and see what we can find there."
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"tried to identify weaknesses"... that couldn't have been too hard...it sucks from top down -- destroyed in 3 short years by the clueless rube— warbiscuit- The draft priority should be to draft a player who can hit in the clutch— shawnmac
- Did Wolever really say anything here?— eman
- please just pick some guys who know how to play baseball, instead of "high ceiling" dudes who don't, and probably never will, have a clue about a quality at-bat.— nyphilliephan
- Pitching first...Holliday's done....Hamels is leaving via free agency....Cliff Lee isn't cracked up to the hype that he is the greatest.....soooo that leaves Blanton and Kendrick....need more be said ? Pitching !— jefferson
- I propose a new rule: You have to know the players' names to have an opinion on them. His name is Halladay, and when you say done, I think you mean that he is currently injured. And as far as Cliff Lee goes, you're absolutely right. When he tossed 10 shutout innings that night, I was thinking a really great pitcher would have given up negative one runs and won that game. — Thon1990
- Amaro is NOT the GM that can rebuild this team! He had a open check book & some good minor league talent to upgrade and now he has no money & no prospects on the farm
.. It's his own doing so lets not feel sorry for him or the Phils.— bill poore - A player who can hit and hit with power. Enough of these cream puff hitters.— fanup
- "Since 2001, when Wolever assumed control of the draft, the Phillies have taken a college player with their first pick only three times: Joe Savery in 2007, Mike Costanzo in 2005 and Tim Moss in 2003." -- Not a very good track record there, eh?— scribbles
- Letting Amaro have anything to do with this draft is like having a fox watch the chicken coop, you know it will be empty when you need it.— BigT
- Why don't baseball teams ever trade players for high draft picks?— guitarman
- You're not allowed to trade picks in MLB. — Thon1990
- As with all drafts, but especially the baseball draft, you should always take the best player available. prospects can be traded for positional needs later.— Thon1990
- This team has become stagnant. Change needs to be done first by firing Manuel, Dubee, Gross. Bring up Sandberg and let him select a coaching staff. Afterall his numbers as a major leaguer are just a tad better than Manuel's 4 HRs and .198 average. Maybe Jamie Moyer could serve as pitching coach. The team could be in a state of limbo until the young aces come up but they must trade off the veterans for some young position players with power especially for leftfield and thirdbase. Rollins should bat at the bottom of the order for two more years and play his stellar defense. The job should be Galvis' and second should be Hernandez in the future. Howard still has a few years ahead of him. They need to resign Pence and Hamels although we know Hamels will fly so trade him for some ready prospects. Valle is the heir apparent to Chooch. But as noted power is needed at third and in the outfield.— Phillip Phan
