In Their Own Words: Draft Classes Reviewed By MMDA Managers

With the 2014 draft fresh in mind, some of the participating managers discuss the thought process behind their selections. Teams presented in alphabetical order.

For reference purposes, here are links to rounds one through seven, and here are all the supplemental picks after round seven.


Brooklyn Dodgers

As with most others, I was very happy with my draft and was able to get card value and get some prospects in the fold.

Round 1. With the early picks going as expected, I was hoping one of Christian Yelich, Anthony Rendon or Michael Wacha would fall to me. Rendon was my #8 player on my board so getting him at #12 was huge. He can platoon at 2b vs LHP this year and hopefully be a regular at 2b/3b in the future years. I'm betting on him to show solid plate discipline with good contact skills and hopefully the power develops. Hoping he is over his ankle injuries that plagued him at Rice and in the minors.

Round 2. Going into the draft I figured one of the young SPs would make it to this pick due to the depth of this year's pool. With Didi Gregorius unexpectedly falling, the decision at #32 came down to Gregorius and Kevin Gausman. While it would have been nice to take an upside guy to add some youth to my older rotation, it ultimately was too hard to pass up a 1 at SS with a nice card versus RHP. He's young and he fills a hole. He will probably never hit lefties but the combo of him and a half season of Hanley Ramirez should be more than solid at SS.

Round 3. Two 3rd rounders and no 4th rounder so really looking to fill some holes here. Needing to badly fill catcher versus RHP to platoon with Chris Iannetta, I grabbed Dioner Navarro with the #52 pick. It was a guy that I had targeted at this spot during draft prep and that weren't really any viable options at catcher until Nick Hundley. Great plate discipline stats last year and he has the everyday job now in Toronto. Not especially young at age 29 but hopefully he can give me a few decent years.

With SP#5 and COF vs LHP left needed to fill I took Rajai Davis because of his strong record of hitting lefties plus the 2 range in LF and speed on the bases. Also considered taking Kolten Wong, Josmil Pinto or Nick Franklin at this spot but couldn't afford to take a luxury pick with no 4th rounder.

Round 5. Now time to fill out the rotation. There wasn't a ton of SPs with good card value going into the draft beyond the young guys and Tyson Ross. With John Lackey and Charlie Morton off the board, waiting this long pretty much left me Jeff Locke. He has a reverse card this year so he should be able to fend off right handers decently. Will probably look to upgrade this spot at some point through the season.

Round 6. The pen was already strong (Jason Grilli, Sean Doolittle, Joaquin Benoit, Jordan Walden, Jake McGee) going into the draft which left me feeling comfortable waiting this long to add to it. Was pretty happy to add Brian Shaw who I had as a top 10 reliever on my board.

Rounds 7-9. Just taking fliers on guys at this point. Would have gone James Paxton but he got taken the pick right before me. Allen Webster is a top 100 prospect and has great stuff just needs to make the adjustments to the major league level, chance to start but most likely a reliever. Al Alburqurque has great strikeout rates and is set for a high-leverage role this year in Detroit, also has usable innings this year. Erasmo Ramirez currently has a rotation spot and has very good control, doesn't miss a ton of bats but hopefully can be a usable back-end guy. (—Tim Ednoff)


California Roadrunners

The California Roadrunners went into the 2014 draft with the idea of drafting hitters as this has been a glaring problem with this team over the last many years. Yasiel Puig at number 1 made the most sense even though Jose Fernandez would have been a major addition to a rather weak starting rotation.

With pick # 22, knowing that starting 2B Aaron Hill and SS Jhonny Peralta losing many at-bats for the 2014 season, the Roadrunners wanted to draft a young player who could play both positons and that need was filled with the drafting of Brad Miller from Seattle.

Pick # 41 was another player the team had their eye on and as he was still available, Leonys Martin of Texas became a Roadrunner and joined fellow Cubans Dayan Viciedo and Yasil Puig. Martin will platoon with Ben Revere in CF.

Pick # 42 was Tanner Roark from Washington. I liked the idea that he can not only relieve but can start as well. Having only 4 relievers going into the draft I felt I needed to address the shortage on an early selection. Needing a closer, I thought I better do something in the 4th round and with my 1st of 3 picks in this round, Danny Farguhar of Seattle was the 62nd pick of the draft. Outside of Trevor Rosenthal, Cody Allen, and Tanner Scheppers, I thought Farquhar ranked with the best relievers in the draft.

With pick # 71, Khris Davis from Milwaukee was our next selection. A fine hitter vs. LHP and RHP, he will give me 150 at-bats or around 40 games. With pick # 72, I went back to address the shortage of relief inn. by drafting J.J. Hoover of Cincinnati. He will be used as my main setup man.

Not having a 6th round pick, I had to do a lot of thinking on who would be my 5th round 82nd pick overall. I knew I still needed a decent starter and thought about drafting Charlie Morton or Scott Kazmir, but passed on both to draft Darin Ruf. Ruf will give me more needed power as he hits RHP to the tune of a .263 avg. .363 obp .500 slug. Ruf has hit well in the minors, but has been hard pressed to make the Phillies roster. I watched Morton go to The Hornets at pick #90 and later Kazmir go to the powerful Stars at pick # 116. With the 7th round nearing, I had to get ready for my pick.

With pick # 122, it didn't take me long to decide on Jorge de la Rosa as he basically saved the day for the Roadrunners as he gave me enough inn. to be my 5th starter. I was hoping to use Tom Milone in the bullpen this year, but he will be put back into the starting rotation as my 5th starter. With the last pick of the 7th round, the Roadrunners opted for a catcher, Oakland's Stephen Vogt. With John Buck and Carlos Ruiz nearing the end of their careers, I am hoping Vogt will get some good bats with Oakland and that Ryan Lavarnway can finally put things together in Boston or elsewhere.

Pick # 141, Jason Frasor from Texas was chosen. A low WHIP and decent era helped in making the decision.

Puig, Miller, Martin were my top 3 and I was able to draft them. I was hoping Tyson Ross and or Tony Cingrani would have lasted to the 3rd round as either 1 would have been my # 42 pick. Overall I felt it was a good draft for a team that has only made the playoffs one time out of its 13 years in the league. Good luck to all. (—Mike Siddon)


Cape Cod Breakers

Going into the draft, pitching was my biggest need. I was expecting to take Xander Bogaerts or Jurickson Profar, with Jose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig and Wil Myers projected to go top three.

After my first round pick (Bogaerts ) I thought I would have a good shot of getting a starter in the 2nd round. When 11 pitchers went before my next pick I basically flipped a coin between Jackie Bradley and Travis d'Arnaud. I was happy to get both in round two. I liked Matt Davidson and was happy again when he was there in the third.

With no 4th round pick I just tried to patch together some pitching after that. I feel lucky that David Carpenter was there in the fifth. I got 6th round relief help (Chad Qualls), and in the 7th round I got more innings and platoon help in the outfield (Adam Warren and Derrick Robinson).

Unfortunately, I never got the pitching I needed to move up in my division and fell further behind the Huskies and the Bluejays in my division. (—Steven Tresca)


Columbus Clippers

Ok, for starters, to be honest I wasn't going to do one. But I got to thinking it's probably a good idea to see what my thoughts were (in print). So here it goes.

Going in, I was pleased with my 3rd place finish last season, BUT not the won/loss record. So I was wanting to look for a pitcher first. BUT then a funny thing happened on the way to the draft. I thought Chris Davis was available and so I changed my plan to pick him first. Alas, it was the other Khris Davis that was available. What an idiot? I should have double-checked.

Anyway, I naturally panicked after I found this out, regrouped and selected who I thought was the best available starting pitcher, Shelby Miller. We wills see this season. My next move was to select an infielder and I like, Evan Gattis, so there you go. After that was outfield needs. I selected based on best available or future potential—Brandon Barnes, Juan Lagares, Charlie Culberson, plus catcher Tim Federowicz.

Basically from there I felt like I was playing a reverse whack-a-mole, trying to pick the best player as he came up. In the end I close with 2 RP's (Chad Gaudin, Carlos Torres) primarily with the highest IPs I could find. Well, that's it. Not much planning, still learning. (—Jim Pardee)


Death Valley Drivers

So this was DVD’s second draft. Going in, our “field a team” needs were: 20 starts and about 150 relief innings, including a closer. Future needs included second base and SS since my current starters are sporting big ole 4’s.

The X-factor in all of this was having 5 picks to work with.

First round: Gerrit Cole. Thanks to a loaded draft, I knew Shelby Miller, Cole, Jurickson Profar or Xander Bogarts would be there at #7, which was just fine by me. Bonus: By getting Cole, I filled my starts need, which opened up the later picks.

Second round: Jedd Gyorko. Ecstatic to get Jedd here. I had figured Scooter Gennett would have been the guy but when I saw Jedd falling, I started hoping against hope. He’ll never be a gold glove second baseman, but getting some pop from 2nd would be a huge help in the future. He’ll get some seasoning in Triple-A Scottsdale this year.

Third round: Tyler Thornburg. Here’s where need started taking over. After debating a bunch between Thornburg and a couple other SP prospects, I went with Tyler because he could fill the Strat bullpen innings while hopefully earning starts in the real world this year.

Fourth round: Paco Rodriguez. As this pick was approaching, I was dreaming of a young, flame-throwing bullpen with Danny Farquhar and Rodriguez. When Farquhar went a few picks earlier, I went with Paco. He’s not completely helpless against righties, so I’m very happy to add him to the pen

Fifth Round: Mariano Rivera. A few years back, I kind of had a mental breakthrough with Strat and the leagues I was in. After spending draft after draft slugging through Excel spreadsheets and prospect lists and hemming and hawing over the 120th player in the draft, I remembered that this needs to be FUN. So I stopped agonizing over every little pick, especially in the later rounds.

So here we are, in the 5th round and I need a closer. There’s Mariano, Kevin Gregg or LaTroy Hawkins. No-brainer for me. I’ll have fun with Mariano for a year. If the team doesn’t contend, I’ll flip him at the trade deadline. Plus, in theory, Joakim Soria will be back to closing games this season, so I won’t need to repeat this process next year.

Eying like a vulture: Jake Odorizzi. Was debating taking Jake in the 3rd and then he just kept sticking around. Tried to trade back into the draft but the stars didn’t align.

Going into the season, I’m cool with my rotation and happy with my bullpen. The question will be, “Do I have enough offence to be better than .500?” I’m thinking of carrying Adeiny Hechavarria and Alexi Amarista as defensive subs, but they bring nothing to the table with their bats. That will force Avisail Garcia and Charlie Blackmon on the Triple-A shuttle throughout the year.

Elysian Fields Flying Dutchmen

In Year Two of the "expansion team" build for Elysian Fields, the early rounds brought three players we were surprised to see available when our turn came:

3. Wil Myers
23. Zack Wheeler
43. Carlos Martinez
63. Nick Franklin

Martinez being moved back into the rotation would be a huge boost. If Franklin is dealt to a team that will let him play every day, Brad Miller being at shortstop and Cano now at second for the Mariners, we could have long-term regulars at every position but catcher. We'll make do with Kurt Suzuki and Nick Hundley this year, having deemed Wheeler the superior option to Travis "If He's Healthy" d'Arnaud in the second round. Not often you can call a pitcher a safer bet to avoid injury than a position player.

Adding those four 2013 draftees Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Andrelton Simmons, and Prince Fielder (acquired in trade after the season), puts the foundation in place. 

Living in San Diego, I was please to acquire Robbie Erlin, Dale Thayer and Burch Smith. Moving the fences in at Petco balanced the scales a bit but the park still favors pitchers. It was an incredibly deep draft, which made the late rounds more mining expedition than drudgery. L.J. Hoes could have a Strat career as a platoon player and Josh Fields is said to be in the running for the Astros closer job, so we took shots there. (—Clyde Elkins)


Fighting Irish

The Fighting Irish are seemingly always on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs go. I have made trades the past few years around mid-season to try to push into the top 8, it has not worked either time. Last year I traded for Json Kubel, which didn't show any results and he ended up being a cut this year.  Two years ago I traded for Victor Martinez who hit .395 for me, but still couldn't get me over the hump, but at least I have him for more than half a season. With that in mind, the three-year plan has become the four-year plan and I fear that heads will roll at Dublin Downs if the playoffs are not reached this year. On to the draft . . .

I came into this draft needing a 2b/3b who could hit righties, a 3b who could hit lefties, some OF at-bats and relievers from both the right and left side.

Round 1. I really wanted either Gerrit Cole or Shelby Miller with the #11 pick. I assumed that one of them would fall to me and if not I would still be able to grab Jurickson Profar or Christian Yelich. No go on all accounts, which was actually OK. I have 6 starters already over 170 IP so I didn't need a starter, but liked the idea of adding one to go forward with. Since Michael Wacha was available, I took him and I think he is a decent consolation prize. He will work out well, because I needed some IP out of the bullpen and he has a good card.  Plus he is shooting for a spot in the Cardinals rotation, which I imagine he will get.

Round 2. So while I missed my round 1 targets, I had 2 targeted for round 2 and 1 was actually available.  I was shooting for either Nolan Arenado or Scooter Gennett. Luckily Gennett fell to me. I like Gennett's age, numbers, position, and that he is a LHB, so all of those made this a solid pick for me. He also had good numbers against righties which my team needs.

Round 5. I wanted David Carpenter here, but that didn't work out so I bolstered the pen by adding Nick Vincent. He has decent numbers, and while I would have liked more innings out of this slot by adding Wacha in the first that was not as big of a deal.

Round 5. David Lough was the pick here. He will get me some OF AB and has some upside. The Orioles have been discussing batting him leadoff, which hopefully works out. He is a LHB which is helpful and played each spot in the OF.

Round 6. We were hoping to land a LH RP here and had our eye on Caleb Theilbar, but he went a few picks before. We settled on Dane de la Rosa who is a little older, but he does do well against LHB.

Overall I think the draft went OK. I filled most of my needs and I think I will field a competitive team this year. I felt a little out of my element drafting from James' basement, and I tend to do some research on the fly, which was not possible because we couldn't find James' Wifi password, with that in mind, I think it went as good as could have been expected and I hope the Fighting Irish can squeeze into 8th place this year. (—Ryan McCabe)


Goldenrod Gators

First, I won’t bother you with discussing all 15 picks. I was on a mission to not take any pitchers. I had enough innings and I just wanted to work on the team on the field. I was in a hotel in Tallahassee so I was out of my baseball command center.

Weakness going into the draft: No real center fielder on my team. No starting SS on my team.

Round 1: Oswaldo Arcia. If he wasn’t there, I may have taken Hamilton in the first.

Round 2: Billy Hamilton. This pick made my draft. It was either him or Jonathan Villar at this point. Had Villar made it to my 3rd round pick, I would have been thrilled.

Round 3: Jordy Mercer. Villar goes the pick before me!!!! Mercer is the best SS left. I almost thought that Gregorius would make it here too!

Round 4: Pedro Florimon. I can put Clint Barmes in the minors now after this pick. I like small-ball players like Pedro.

Round 5: Aaron Hicks. It was almost 100 picks into the draft and he’s got skills.

I did get 3 pitchers along the way, and Brett Oberholtzer, Louis Coleman and Jake Diekman will take up most of Ian Kennedy’s 199 innings.

Five rounds into the draft and I have my holes filled with 2 starting shortstops and 2 starting center fielders, potentially. When I took Mercer, I thought, well at least I have a backup at 2b. I ended the draft with 7 guys who can play 2B.

My last 3 picks were names that were scribbled on a small scrap of paper in front of me. I was sort of burned out and couldn’t think so after a few prompts from Matt, I figured if I wrote them down, I must have liked them at one point during the draft. Ryan Goins, Caleb Gindl and Ramiro Pena. Pena actually puts Rizzo in the minors for a block or two. (—John Lamanna)


Jersey Blackhawks

Going into the draft I'm feeling pretty good about having a competitive team for the first time in years so I'm looking for card value as much as possible. Needs were a SP, backup C and decent defensive CF who's not an automatic out at the plate while also contemplating an offensive upgrade at 2B if I could find someone interesting.

1. With so many good young arms I was assured of getting someone who could help this year and still have potential down the road. Was hoping that Gerrit Cole or Shelby Miller would have made it down to my pick but then had to decide between Michael Wacha and Julio Teheran. Teheran got the nod because I really needed the innings so I could move Dempster into the bullpen to eat up innings and spot start if needed.

2. Looking for the center fielder I somehow botching it up trying to draft Brett Gardner. On the clock, I got myself a little flustered and took Junior Lake. He's good vs LHP but as I looked at some of the other guys were available I was disappointed that I didn't have a better plan or this pick. The plus side is he's a Cub and should start this year. I need some more of them even if they don't turn out great but hoping for the best. Time to forget about it and get ready for my 3rd round pick.

3. Looking at the available CF's with AB's who can play defense I decided on A.J. Pollock. He's a 2 outfielder with 443 ABs who's not an automatic out. I wish he was a better bunter but at least his DP numbers are pretty good.

4. With 2 of the 3 real needs met I'm looking to see if there's a good PH with C on his card. Jonathan Lucroy has 521 AB's so I can just put him in and let him play. Josmil Pinto has had good numbers in the numbers in the minors and is a very good PH option in tough series so even though he has limited AB's I figure he's worth it here.

5. Just trying to get my team a little better so (in spite of the fact that he's not a strikeout pitcher) I decide to go with Seth Maness for my bullpen. He's seems to have excellent control and a good age so I hope he will be somewhat consistent and be in my pen for a few years.

6. Trying to upgrade my lineup vs LHP I decided on Josh Satin. He seems to have good doubles power, a decent eye and very good card. Besides he's on the Mets (I can watch him here) and they don't seem to have anyone that stand out above him.

8. Huskies had my 7th pick so I used the 8th round to just get someone who might be able to pitch for us down the road. As always I'm looking for someone with good control so I take a flier on Taylor Jordan. Hoping he gets a chance with the big club this year but just trying to get a young arm with decent upside here.

As I mentioned before I'm just hoping to have a competitive team for a change and I think my draft helped. The BEST part of the draft though was having my youngest son (Evan, 14 y/o) help me the whole time. Just spending the time with him and talking about baseball on my birthday was AWESOME!!! God bless. (—Eric Campbell)


Miami Manatees

1. I presumed Jose Fernandez would be the first pick in the draft. Thus left me with a decision of Wil Myers vs. Yasiel Puig. The nod went to Myers. This was a good thing anyway because I have a need for a solid right fielder. When Fernandez wasn't picked first all plans went into reboot mode. Do I fill the biggest need or take what I perceived as the better pick in the draft. So after the coin toss, Fernandez was selected.

2. The intent here was to fill the right field void. The player I hoped would be there at #21 was Oswaldo Arcia. Missed it by a couple of picks and took the next guy on my list who could fill the position and also had upside potential: Marcell Ozuna. The 2nd pick in Round 2 (#35) was going to be Travis d'Arnaud. I have Jason Castro but saw a lot of value in d'Arnaud. He was not available so I also needed to get some relief pitching help. Cody Allen was there and he from these eyes has a great deal of upside and can contribute immediately.

3. Not having a 3rd and 4th round pick. The next was the 81st pick in the 5th round. I did not think Jarred Cosart would be available and had ranked him pretty high on my list. You can never have too many young arms and I really couldn't fix any immediate needs. Cosart was the choice. The second pick in that round was Jordan Danks. I needed some at bats in the outfield.

4. My 6th round pick was a need based relief pitching pick. Bruce Rondon was both that and an upside.

I got some solid prospects and I am mildly optimistic as there is a lot of work to be done on the Manatees. I would grade the draft for the Manatees as a C+.
(—Tom Edwards)


Mohawk Valley Lions

The Lions had gaping holes to fill in the lineup and also wanted to acquire prospect depth, particularly in the form of infielders and/or catchers. 

No. 18: LF/3B Nick Castellanos. He's not carded at 3B, but that's the position he'll play for the Tigers this season. With just 18 at-bats on his card, he's a pure future pick. Castellanos has shown the ability to hit for average and power in the minors, hitting .278 with 18 homers as a 21-year-old in a pitcher's park at Triple-A Toledo in 2013.

Alternate universe: I also looked at RHP Zack Wheeler at this pick, but I favored the position player based on team need and general batter vs. pitcher health forecast.

No. 38: C Yan Gomes. Lions scouts like Gomes' potential to continue hitting for power and playing strong defense, so they strongly recommended him in the late second round. The first Brazilian to play in the majors, Gomes offers a minus-3 arm and a 26 H / 36 OB / 41 TB card versus RHP. The Lions looked past his age (25) and lack of prospect pedigree in selecting Gomes, recalling the value the Huskies received from Allen Craig in the late second round of the 2012 draft. Craig had been similarly dismissed as a prospect.

Alternate universe: The Lions would have looked hard at Travis d'Arnaud or Kevin Gausman if they had dropped this far, but Gomes fills a glaring hole on the roster, so he might have been the pick, regardless.

No. 51: SS/2B Chris Owings. Owings has no clear separating tool, so he could settle in the tweener wasteland, but he also possesses no clear weakness when judging his physical abilities. (The low walk rates are another matter.) The Lions like his bat potential and sought to add SS depth, so Owings got the call. 

Alternate universe: The Lions also considered taking card value here (Marlon Byrd) or perhaps a different prospect than Owings, such as Kolten Wong or Khris Davis or Cody Asche. Owings' SS glove and line-drive bat won out, even though he has no real card value for 2014.

No. 58: LF/RF Ryan Raburn. The Lions addressed a lineup deficiency with this pick: offense versus lefty starters. As a bonus, Raburn has a good enough card versus RHP that he won't be reflexively pinch-hit for, but its the 26 H / 45 OB / 59 TB vs LHP that the Lions truly coveted. 

Alternate universe: I debated Raburn versus Rajai Davis (better defense, great speed) at this pick, but I preferred the former's power and lack of crippling platoon-split issues. I also would have considered Cardinals reliever Kevin Siegrist here if he had miraculously fallen, but with Byrd off the board I wanted to make sure I got a RH bat.

No. 78: LHRP Neal Cotts. The LH relievers the Lions really wanted were Paco Rodriguez and Alex Torres (or Siegrist, of course), but management settled on Cotts, owing to his 57 innings and skill at collecting strikeouts and avoiding extra-base hits. He's one of the more balanced relievers in the draft pool on that count. Adding another bullpen arm provided flexibility to the roster in that Garrett Richards and Alexi Ogando are now freed to work out of the rotation, as needed.

Alternate universe: If not a reliever here, then I probably would have rolled the dice on a wild, arm-strength starter, such as Jarred Cosart, James Paxton or Allen Webster or taken 2B/SS Eric Sogard, who would have made a nice platoon partner with Erick Aybar.

Supplemental picks: RHP Brandon Workman, UT Cliff Pennington and RHP Brandon Cumpton. Pennington was a pure need draftee—he's got a 2 at SS and 2B with low E totals, he can run, he switch-hits with no platoon issues—while Workman and Cumpton are more speculative picks. I admired Workman's mettle in pitching the 8th inning in the World Series, and also his 4.0 SO/BB ratio in the minors and sharp breaking ball. Cumpton is more of an extreme groundballer with potentially plus control. The Lions value swingman pitchers with SP and RP ratings because they help fill holes late in the season. Their ceilings are modest, but both could fit as No. 5 starters or quality relievers if they miss more bats in 2014. (—Matt Eddy)


Northeast Huskies

Going into the draft, the needs were 400 innings (a starter with 100+ innings & 5 relievers) and position flexibility

20. Chris Archer was one-third of the innings & the starter
40. Erik Johnson. I liked his minor league #'s
64. Mike Carp. After Jordy Mercer was taken, went with the best offensive card available
80. Brandon Kintzler. Reliever with a good card & high innings
120. Blake Parker is another RRP with less innings
127. Randy Choate. LHP was reliever No. 3, good card low innings

Supplemental draft picks

Andres Torres & Jayson Nix were for INF & OF position flexibility
Brandon Maurer is a late round flyer
Juan Perez. A 2nd LRP with a good card & low innings
Anthony Varvaro. A backward RRP with innings was reliever 5 (—John Tresca)


Northwest Stars 

The Stars came into the draft wanting to select 3 relief pitchers, a starter, a solution at 2B and an outfielder. I was not sure who the team's first overall selection would be but based on draft trends I figured it would either be Anthony Rendon or Julio Teheran. With both players already gone there was a future projected #1 type starter in Taijuan Walker so being a Mariner fan the choice was very easy.

The team's second pick was someone who was slotted into my draft plans being Trevor Rosenthal a closer with extremely nasty stuff. Northwest team's have traditionally always had a deep bullpen and Rosenthal is the type of pitcher who fits the blueprint of the franchise.

The team's third first-round pick may be considered a reach in Mike Zunino, but he is a player that was Baseball America's #17 top rated prospect in 2013. The Mariners brought their top prospects up one or maybe even two years too early last season. Zunino should not have appeared in a Mariner uniform last season except as a September call-up. I contemplated drafting another starter and that would have been Chris Archer, but I drafted the player who I like. It's more fun to draft players you like and watch them progress. Jedd Gyorko was another possibility, but I hate having a "4" defensive rated player especially up the middle on defense.

My original plan was to draft two relievers in the 3rd round, but with no second baseman that plan was changed. The draft was deep with talented bullpen options and my choice boiled down to Tanner Scheppers or David Carpenter. I selected Scheppers because he had more innings, a balanced card and a minus hold. Also all of the comments about him are positive. Carpenter really fell in the draft and has an electric arm. With the second pick in the draft to fill the void at 2B I drafted Brian Dozier. There are a lot of things to like about him, but can he do it again?

The 6th round was stay deep with possibilities and I selected Scott Kazmir, who should perform well in an Oakland uniform this season. Still needing one more reliever to deepen the bullpen I drafted LaTroy Hawkins who despite the fact is ancient does a good card and plenty of innings. If I did not need the innings I would have definitely drafted Brian Wilson.

With the final pick the Stars choose Daric Barton to be the backup 1b who will come into the late innings for defense. This was a need pick. Overall, the Stars had a good draft, drafting players for potential value and filling some immediate team needs. This was the deepest draft in many years and if I totally realized how deep it was then I would have cut Brandon League and maybe one other player. (—Ray Ross)


Rochester Pilots

1st. With two of the top eight picks I knew we'd get two guys I really like, I just had no idea who they would be. I figured Jose Fernandez and Yasiel Puig would be off the board by #5, but the rest of my top five were Jurickson Profar, Xander Bogaerts and Wil Myers. Things ran true to expectation and four of them were gone. I was happy to take Profar, who gives me a top prospect that can also fill the role of backup SS, as I had only J.J. Hardy on my roster to play short. I was hoping to get a position player and a pitcher, and had Gerrit Cole, Shelby Miller and Christian Yelich as my next three guys. By my turn at 8 the two pitchers were gone, so I went with Yelich, who is a favorite of mine after having him on my last few BA Marlins Top 30s.

2nd. Again I was confident I'd get guys I like, having two picks in the second round. It was such a deep draft. I got Tony Cingrani at #25. He was my fifth-ranked pitcher behind Fernandez, Cole, Miller, and Taijuan Walker. His numbers at every stop have been dominant. At 36 I deliberated between Yordano Ventura and Carlos Martinez, finally going with Ventura because he seems more likely to start.

3rd. With the 45th pick I was very tempted to go with Jake Marisnick (another Marlin), but went with Kole Calhoun instead because I like his track record of getting on base. Guys like him always seem to play up in Strat.

4th. Having missed out on a pitcher in the first, I was desperate for innings. John Lackey is a guy I had made some trade inquiries after in years past. He gets the job done this year with a low OBP, and at 35 is still young enough to maybe have a couple more decent years left. Even if not, he fills a huge hole this year.

6th. For a brief bit near the end of the fifth round I couldn't believe some of the guys still on the board. I made a hasty deal with Tom (Manatees) for one of his early 6ths, hoping Aaron Hicks would still be there. He had an awful rookie year, but he should/could have been in Triple-A instead of Minnesota. I think he has some upside. So I was disappointed that he went late in the 5th. Instead I plugged a bullpen opening with A.J. Ramos and his 80 innings. I think he's got room to get better yet, so hopefully he's not just a one-year Pilot. Three picks later I took a shot on Jake Odorizzi, who should factor into the Tampa rotation at some point soon. Seems like more of a 4th starter type, but if he's a good 4th starter that's an improvement over what I had going into the draft this year. At #111 there were a few intriguing guys left. I decided to go with Henry Urrutia, a somewhat older Cuban who hit well in the Orioles system last year. If he hits, this is a steal. If not, it's not much of a loss.

7th. With my final pick, I took a shot on White Sox utility infielder Marcus Semien, who has gotten on base in the minor leagues and shown some pop as well as an ability to steal a base. Could be another 7th-round bargain like Todd Frazier in 2012. About then, realizing Ryan Webb and his 80 pretty good innings were still on the board, I tried to make a deal for a pick, without success. I have enough innings, but Webb would have made it a little easier to manage my bullpen this year.

Overall I was pleased with the haul, though with so many young players taken it will be at least until midseason before I have a real feel for how well I came out. (—James Bailey)


Rosehill Hornets

I was going to take Didi Gregorius with my 2nd pick, but with 11 SP already taken and me needing innings I decided to grab Tyson Ross. The 1st & 2nd round went about as I projected. I thought Nolan Arenado & Gregorius would be available for me and I was surprised that Michael Wacha wasn't drafted higher. I took Arenado because he is an everyday player, his defense and he always hit in the minors and I'm sure playing in Colorado will help him. In round 5, I was ready to take either Darin Ruf or Jarred Cosart, then they both went right away when we came back from break. I took Charlie Morton with the hope he returns to form.

I took Wily Peralta in round 3 to give me a young pitcher with upside and innings and in round 4 Justin Wilson was taken to give me another quality lefty RP. Jonathan Pettibone was taken for his 100 innings and his youthfulness (might be Phillies #5 starter) and Cesar Hernandez was taken for his 42 OB chances vs RHP. (—Jim Derer)

St. Louis Maulers

St. Louis has made the playoffs two straight and have the core team to do it again. The Maulers approach to this draft is to field a team with no holes in for the 2014 draft and only draft the best players available.

#39 (2nd rd) Projected to go 44th. Alex Wood (SP/RP). Best SP/RP available with a bright future. I was looking for a future SP to replace any SP on my roster than has a down year in MLB in 2014. I like him. Wood is projected to be Atlanta’s #5 SP in 2014.

#55 (3rd rd) Projected to go 45th. Kevin Siegrist (RP). Thought to be the 1st RP to go in the draft. Even though St.Louis already had its bullpen complete before the draft and had three LHP on the roster, this guy was too good to pass up even though I was looking for an OF. I stuck to my draft plan ... the best player available. Seigrist with Luis Avilan gives the Maulers very good 1-2 lefty bench! Siegrist is the Cardinals top LHP in the bullpen.

#61 (4th rd) Projected to go 60th. Corey Dickerson (OF). Dickerson is the closest I got to an decent hitting OFer vs RHP. Because of his defense he will DH with Ryan Howard vs. RHP. Dickerson has shown good minor league numbers  and is slated to be the Rockies #1 LF in 2014. He will be a welcome addition in the future.

#75 (4th rd) Projected to go 46th Cody Asche (3b). Asche fell far in this draft. Hitters were getting weak by this point and the prospect gone. Asche is slated to be the Phillies #1 3b in 2014 and a decent back up to the often injured & up and down Pablo Sandoval.

#135 (7th rd) No projection in draft. Davis Hale (SP). Hale is a sleeper who has good potential as a SP in Atlanta in 2014. I watched him in the late rounds and hoped he would be there! Could be a deep sleeper?

#155 (8th rd) Projected to go 85th. Josh Phegley (C). Phegley, like Asche, fell far in the draft. Again though I was looking for production from an OFer I felt Phegley had more upside being the #2 CA with the White Sox maybe beating out Flowers for the #1 spot during the season. Catcher at-bats are hard to find and could be a good back up to Matt Wieters. Potential to hit better is there. (—Mike Johnson)


Spokane Hooded Crows

1. I had thought that it would be either Hyun-Jin Ryu or Zack Wheeler at pick 14 unless someone really slid. Getting Ryu's innings gave me some flexibility for the rest of the draft

2. Missed out on Tyson Ross who went a few picks before me. I needed to fill 3b but had Kevin Gausman going 24-30. When he was still there at 35 I had to grab him. The Dodgers drafted him out of HS, but he went to college. They tried to trade for him in a deal that would have sent Andre Ethier to Baltimore. That's good enough for me

3. Had to fill a need here with Juan Uribe. It’s a one year card but another Dodger so that takes some of the sting out of it

4 I did not have a 4 but tried to trade for one as I really wanted David Carpenter. He really slid!

5. I was hoping for Nick Vincent or Mariano Rivera here. I might have taken Chris Withrow a little soon, but the card is good and I love his arm

6. At this point I was just looking for the best 2 reliever cards with over 45 IP. I liked Yoervis Medina but I was really hoping (and thought I would get) Brian Shaw. That was the second big disappointment. I don't expect Caleb Thielbar to repeat but the card is great. Jesse Chavez is old but the card is great.

7. Again looking for best reliever card to fill out pen, There were better cards than Matt Albers on the board but it's a good card and he's been a consistent set up guy that could do it again. with my late 7, at this point I really could not believer that Brian Wilson was still out there, so I would say I consider this my "steal" pick of the draft.

In the extra rounds, I needed an of to hit lefties and a catcher to hit lefties. I just missed on Wil Nieves and Derrick Robinson of Cincy so I took Carlos Corporan and Shane Robinson of St Louis instead. Nick Tepesch will help fill out innings as a swingman. Scott Van Slyke was a sentimental throwaway pick as I don't expect him to play much this year, but the card is pretty good and will enable Adam Dunn to sit vs a tough lefty.

Overall, The Crows are happy with their draft, but I think probably everyone is as this was an incredibly deep draft! (—Steve Frediani)


West Side Bluejays

The Blue Jays went into the 2014 draft with the "win now, mortgage the future" attitude. Without having a 1st or 2nd round pick (due to trading them to acquire current starters) we had some waiting until we could make our first selection.

3rd round. OF Marlon Byrd. LF was a position that we needed an upgrade in. Byrd was the best available LF in the 3rd round, and will step right in as the starter.

4th round. RP Tommy Hunter. The Blue Jays bullpen was basically shelled after last year due to players being injured, or just flat out having horrible years. With only 4 relievers being carried over from the 2013 season, the next few picks were strictly need.

5th round. RPs Alfredo Simon, Tony Watson and Jean Machi

6th round. OF/1B/3B Jeff Baker. Every team needs a guy who can play 6 to 7 different positions. Baker had a decent season and can provide some good fill in at bats,

7th round. RP Ross Ohlendorf. Still working on building a bullpen.

8th round. C Wil Nieves. With only one catcher on the roster, it was probably time to take a backup.

9th round. RP Tim Stauffer. Bullpen is still growing! Almost there!

10th round. OF/3B Matt Tuiasosopo. Another bat that can play a few different positions and give a little depth.

11th round. RP Manny Parra. I felt we needed one more lefty to round out the bullpen.

12th round. OF Moises Sierra. This was a straight "I like this guy" pick. It came down between him and Ryan Goins. Plus, I'm a Jays fan. I needed to get at least one of their young guys.

I went into this draft with 2 goals: 1) Get a quality left fielder, and 2) build a bullpen. I believe I accomplished both of those, so I think it was a success. However, ask me again in 5 years and I might have a different answer! (—Jim Gruttadauria)


Wilmington Razorbacks

The 1st thing I had to do before draft was assess whether I thought I could get back to the playoffs.  I felt it was kind of borderline ... I didn't have the perfect storm of card value from last year, but I still had a solid core of guys. So, I decided I would try to fill my holes with more of a focus on card value vs prospect potential.

For the 1st time maybe ever, I didn't have a 1st or 2nd round pick so it was really hard for me to figure out what I could get at the end of the 3rd round.  I needed middle infield help and a lot of bullpen help. I was looking at taking Danny Faruqar in the 3rd since my other closers had off years, but with Jonathan Villar available and a potential future SS and speed guy I decided to snap him up and save the bullpen for the 4th round. 

In the 4th round I took 3 LHP relievers (Alex Torres, Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup) to balance out my all RHP bullpen. I was happy with the cards, but in retrospect I probably should have grabbed at least one other more prospect type in this round. Given how things played out I could have grabbed another guy in the 5th with similar value.

In the 5th round I drafted for need again. Eric Sogard provided much needed SS ABs that were decent against RHP which covered a large gap on my team.  He joins a long list of middle-infield utility guys who have migrated on to my team.

The remaining rounds I was really looking for card value more than anything else, e.g. Jordan Schafer in round 7. I picked up some guys that would fill some holes. We'll see how it plays out.

Overall I think I could have done better prospecting but I think my team is still solid enough to be competitive after the 2014 season. I'll follow the path of the Phillies and keep patching an aging lineup until I implode! (—Jim Baker)