Quote:
Originally Posted by fleury
I don't believe it at all. Baseball is very much different from hockey and basketball when it comes to drafting. Certainly the top picks are good almost every year, but more often than not certain top prospects are avoided because of possible negotiating problems with their agents down the road (generally Scott Boras players). With the Jays bound to spend less in the upcoming years, tanking to get those very high picks won't help them since they probably won't want to pay the huge pricetag for an unproven commodity. Picking 15th overall is just as good as picking 7th almost every year. More than anything the Jays need to actually develop their own prospects and definitely beef up their scouting staff. JP's drafting was up and down like every other GM, so nothing much to blame him there, but his trades very often didn't work out and his FA signings almost never did. I really hope they build from pitching out and like others said, focus on small ball - speed and smarts. I believe the ship has said with Halladay and the best way to rebuild is to trade the best pitcher in baseball. As long as they get sure prospects, they'll be heading in the right direction.
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Very few teams choose to draft these players (NY, BOS, CHI, STL, LA). You still have to compete with 20-25 other teams. 7 spots is at the very least ahead of 2 more teams (and more likely 7, since those 5 don't tend to finish below .500). If you draft selectively, and pay the few highly rated Boras type kids you do draft, you can build a good team. Tampa did much the same thing. If they finished n the middle of the league for those 5 years they might have lacked the talent that pushed them over the top last year.
Trading Halladay is important I agree.
I also agree that more money needs to be put into the scouting department (probably more important in baseball than any other sport). It also reduces the problem you presented of draft picks being "unproven commodities".
Lastly, Small ball does not work in the AL east, no matter how much anybody wants it to. The rays probably play the closest to small ball in that division, and they still score a lot of runs and have a high team slugging percentage. The AL east demands a high OPS, high SLG, and power pitching. Defense is a luxury, and so is speed.
This team needs develop a Florida Marlins style plan. Amplify the cycles.
Edit: (Via MLBTR/ Klaw Twitter)
1 WAS 2 PIT 3 BAL 4 KCR 5 CLE 6 ARI 7 NYM 8 HOU
9 TOR 10 SDP 11 OAK 12 CIN 13 CWS 14 MIL 14A TEX 15 CUB
That is
5 teams between 9 and 16 that are small market teams. It's not like the Blue Jays are that low in payroll.
