Due to the Cardinals stubborn philosophies in the past in respect to drafting young players with high ceilings and low risks, we are now behind in the youth movement. We can definitely see this by taking a look at our draft history. Rarely do we see our top draft picks make a splash in the big leagues. Just to name a few that did: J.D. Drew, Adam Kennedy,Rick Ankiel and the best pick ever, Albert Pujols. On the flip side we see that the majority of our best/star players as of recent memory have been acquired via free agency and/or trade. For instance Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Reggie Sanders, Larry Walker, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, just to name a few. We have never relied on drafting which has been one of our biggest downfalls. As we move into the future, we see that there is a movement towards drafting young players, mainly high school players, and I am happy to say that the Cardinals are partaking in this trend. But once upon a time, as said before, the Cardinals relied on getting "that guy" at the July trade deadline (i.e. Larry Walker) who could put us over the top or sign "that ONE" starting pitcher in the off season that will put us over the hump in the N.L. Central. Not that what we did during that stretch was bad because it led to a World Series Championship, another World Series appearance in 2004 and numerous NLCS and NLDS appearances. But because of that success, we have definitely paid the price for the the lack of drafting young players with bright futures up until a couple of years ago. For the most part, the majority of the other teams have believed in the youth that is available out there and they have taken strides ahead of us. There are some teams out there that still rely on their check books, for example the most obvious ones, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs. Boston is a little different because they dabble in both worlds drafting very well, but also signing some of the top free agents. For us, the Cardinals, we do not have that luxury to write everything off in our checkbook especially with the way that the economy is looking. We are tightening up our payroll as well as drafting young, low risk and very high reward players and it is about time.
When we received Mark McGwire at the 1997 trade deadline, we didnt realize how much of an adverse affect it would have on us. We were very complacent of where we were. We were also submersed in the world of the long ball and who could reach and ultimately smash Maris' record of 61 home runs, that we forgot what our main goal was and that was to win a championship. Take a look at some of the players we drafted during the McGwire Era.
1998 - 1st Round - J.D. Drew - 5th Overall - OF - Highest Level: MLB
1st Round - Ben Diggins - 32nd Overall - Pitcher - Highest Level: MLB
2nd Round -Chad Hutchison - 48th Overall - Pitcher - Highest Level : MLB
2nd Round - Tim Lemon - 55th Overall - OF - Highest Level : A
3rd Round - Gabe Johnson - 78th Overall - IF - Highest Level: AAA
4th Round - Robert Smith - 108th Overall - OF - Highest Level: N/A
5th Round - Steve Stemie - 138th Overall - Pitcher - Highest Level:
1999 - 1st round - Chance Caple - 30th pick overall -Pitcher- Highest level: A
Supplemental: Nick Stocks- Pitcher- Highest level : AAA- Chris Duncan - 1B - Highest Level: MLB (Carl Crawford was still available - 2nd Round - 52nd Overall)
2nd Round - Josh Pearce - Pitcher- 82nd pick- Highest Level: MLB
3rd Round - B.R. Cook - Pitcher - 102nd overall - Highest Level: AAA
4th Round - Ben Johnson - OF - 127th overall HighestLevel: MLB
5th Round - Melvin Williams - CF - 162nd overall - Highest Level: N/A
2000 - 1st Round (2 picks)-Shaun Boyd-IF-13th Overall-Highest Level: AAA (Chase Utley was picked 15th Overall. Was signability a factor? I hope so because why else would we not draft him?)Blake Williams - Pitcher - 24th Overall - Highest Level: A
2nd Round - Chris Narveson - Pitcher - 53rd Overall - Highest Level: MLB
3rd Round - Chase Voshell - IF - 83rd Overall - Highest Level: A
4th Round - Yadier Molina - C - 113th Overall - Highest Level: MLB
5th Round - Josh Axelson - Pitcher - 143rd Overall - Highest Level: AA
2001 - 1st Round- Justin Pope - Pitcher - 28th overall - Highest level: AAA
2nd Round - Dan Haren - Pitcher - 72nd overall - Highest Level: MLB
3rd Round - Joe Mather - 3B - 104th overall - Highest Level: MLB
4th Round - Josh Brey - Pitcher - 134th overall - Highest Level: A
5th Round - Skip Schumaker- OF - 164th overall - Highest Level: MLB
I do not need to reiterate the fact that our philosophies about drafting has set us back a few years. The majority of these picks, even though some they say highest level: MLB, have come nowhere near to being regulars for the Cardinals. Although for four straight years we had below average drafts, we decided to go a different direction and it is paying off. Ever since the 2005 draft, we have picked Colby Rasmus ('05), Tyler Greene('05), Daryle Jones('05), Bryan Anderson ('05), Mitchell Boggs ('05), Adam Ottavino ('06), Chris Perez ('06), Jon Jay ('06), Clayton Mortensen ('07), Brett Wallace ('08). All of these guys have a chance to help us in the near future. I can think of a few reasons why we are drafting well. The first one being, as previously stated, the need to involve ourselves in this "youth movement". The second reason is the downturn of the economy which has forced us into tightening our budget and therefore, drafting young, low risk, high reward players who are relatively cheap which makes them more appealing. Lastly, the cracking down of PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) which has elongated the careers of some players to play into their 40's and who have suckered most teams into believing in them and therefore, giving them lucrative contracts (not that the Cardinals have done a lot of that), but this has become a catalyst in the youth movement. I really do believe that the Cardinals have a bright future ahead with the players that we have in our minor league system. Is it due to the transition of Walt Jocketty to John Mozeliak? Who knows, but it really seems like we are headed into the right direction.
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I like the youth movement as well. It's good to note how far up the minor league system has come up from worst to 8th under Moz. It will lead to some success. Just a littler hairy starting out. As for the minors I couldn't be more pumped at the direction and depth we have. Also loved your coment on the pujols alou story on stltoday.
ReplyDeleteI wanna start off by saying I respect what you're trying to do here, and I can see what you're getting at. This isn't the forum and I'm not a dick, so I'm not gonna come at you like some of them.
ReplyDeleteBut I think you're off base in some of your reasoning. I think even if the McGwire Era created longball hysteria at the major league level, you really can't expect that it somehow translated to the draft, at least not in the way you're saying it did. The men running major league franchises are professionals, and as such it'd be a little far-fetched to assume they somehow didn't devote time and effort to the draft process because they'd rather watch McGwire hit home runs.
That said, I agree that the Cardinals had a number of extremely unimpressive drafts from that period of time, especially in regards to high draft picks. That, I'd be willing to bet, though, was a product of simply bad scouting as opposed to neglect. Signability, as in the Shaun Boyd-Chase Utley example, probably also played a factor, I agree. The franchise is notoriously frugal, and sometimes that comes back to bite them. Utley is certainly a walking example of that. But I think your Crawford example is the problem with putting too much criticism on a front office for their draft history - the draft, in a lot of respects, is a crapshoot.
The list is far too long to post here, but the number of players drafted below the first few rounds that have gone on to have great major league careers is impressive. Even in today's game, guys like Jake Peavy (15), Jason Bay (22), Nate McLouth (25) fell between the cracks. Think about that - every team passed on Peavy 14 times! Even Albert, whom you called "the best pick ever", was a 13th rounder. Calling him a "top draft pick" is a bit of a stretch. The reality is that some players just don't pan out, while some who don't project highly turn out to be, in Albert's case, the best player in the game. If not for trades, this year's Cards team could boast six starters on opening day from that list of busted draft picks - J.D. Drew, Yadi Molina, Dan Haren, Chris Duncan, Joe Mather, and Skip Schumaker. I realize that's a bit of a stretch logistically if those players had to fill out an actual lineup, but the point is that the draft has still produced some major leaguers, even in it's low points.
I'm not necessarily defending the Cards FO in all of this - some of those drafts are devoid of any guys with name recognition, it's true - but to say that it was due to McGwire might be off-base. That said, I'm also excited about our future in the hands of Jeff Lunhow (I think he might deserve more credit for the organization's replenishment than Mo at this point, if only slightly) and I also think the system is headed in the right direction. Cheers.
Rather than focusing on the picks, you really should have focused on the change in philosophies - prospects in the time period you looked at were pretty much trade bait. Very few made it to the Cards. Look at the guys you mentioned:
ReplyDeleteMcGwire - prospects
Edmonds - Kennedy was the key prospect
Walker - Narveson plus 2 other prospects
Rolen - Bud Smith was the prospect here
Wainwright - he was the rare one at the time, where we got a prospect instead of giving them up.
Now the organization is willing to use their prospects to fill holes, partially due to the change in the rest of base and partially as a cost cutting measure.