Insider | Love Letters

Baseball's annual amateur draft, always an inexact science, appears to be even more of one this summer.

A year ago, University of Southern California pitcher Mark Prior, among others, was a standout, no-brainer pick. And Prior's ascent this season to the majors with the Chicago Cubs -- they picked him second overall -- so far has been not wholly unexpected.

This year? Well, let's just say that when the opening day of the three-day drafting affair arrives on Tuesday, more questions than answers will arrive with it.

"It's very up in the air," Kasey McKeon, Cincinnati's scouting director, says. "There's nobody that stands out, unlike previous years where you could just pinpoint and say, 'I'm getting one of these three guys, period.'"

A member of one high-drafting team's front office even jokes that this might be the year to emulate the NFL and trade down in the draft.

Being that that never happens in baseball, you can expect the draft order to remain the same. The top five picks belong to Pittsburgh, which picks first overall for the second time since 1996 (when the Pirates took pitcher Kris Benson), Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Montreal.

Barring any major surprises, industry sources expect Pittsburgh to take right-hander Bryan Bullington, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound junior at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., with the first overall pick. New Pirates general manager David Littlefield wants to build the club's pitching resources, and a college-aged pitcher should be able to make the jump to the majors much more quickly than someone younger.

Bullington, an Indiana native, went 10-2 with a 2.11 ERA for the Cardinals this spring. He allowed only 73 hits in 93 innings, striking out 126 and walking 17.

In three seasons at the school, Bullington, whose fastball is in the low-to-mid 90s with good sink, struck out a Mid-American Conference record 344 batters while issuing an astonishingly low 62 walks.

Tampa Bay sources say if the Pirates stick with Bullington, the Devil Rays likely will take high school shortstop B.J. Upton, from Chesepeake, Va. The Devil Rays, who are expected to take a high schooler because they remain financially strapped and can't afford a big signing bonus, also are interested in Jeremy Hermida, an outfielder from Georgia; Scott Kazmir, a left-handed pitcher from Houston and Adam Loewen, a left-handed pitcher from Canada.

Cincinnati, picking third, could wind up with one of those players, or with Rutgers right-hander Bobby Brownlie or left-hander Jeff Francis, a college pitcher from British Columbia.

• Lurking in the draft shadows and primed to re-stock their feeder system are the Oakland A's, who have seven of the first 39 picks in this year's draft. Of course, that could cost the A's several million in signing bonuses, too. Some think that's one reason for the Athletics' roster shuffle last week that saw outfielder Jeremy Giambi shipped to Philadelphia. A more likely reason why Giambi was traded: Sources say Oakland was tiring of his attitude, complaining about the departure of his brother, Jason, to the Yankees and that he became too loud on a flight home from Toronto last week following a 1-5 trip.

• In designating lefty reliever Mike Holtz for assignment, Oakland is prepared to eat the majority of a two-year, $1.8 million deal they gave him over the winter. Oakland is expected to listen to offers for lefty relievers Mike Magnante and Mike Venafro, though they won't trade both.

• Scouts continue to rave about the work of Los Angeles closer Eric Gagne, who has hit 101 mph on the radar gun.

• There is still talk that Cincinnati is angling to acquire Cleveland pitcher Bartolo Colon. If the Indians continue to falter, they're expected to trade Colon, Chuck Finley and first baseman Jim Thome. If the labor talks continue to lag, however, don't expect much action around the July 31 trade deadline.

• Mike Hampton, who signed a seven-year, $121 million deal with Colorado two winters ago and is just 2-6 with a 6.54 ERA this season, said to manager Clint Hurdle when Hurdle went to the mound to relieve him in the fifth inning of Monday's loss in San Diego: "I can't throw a strike."

• With Bobby Hill now in the majors, the Cubs would like to deal second baseman Delino DeShields but there's no interest. DeShields, in a 4-for-47 slump, was placed on the disabled list Wednesday with a sore right hip. The Cubs also are shopping catcher Robert Machado and infielder Mark Bellhorn.

• Slowly, the Minnesota Twins are getting back up to speed. Next up is second baseman Luis Rivas, who is due to return from the disabled list on Tuesday for the series opener against Cleveland. Assuming there are no setbacks, it will be just the second time since opening day that the Twins have their full lineup available.

• What do we have here, an anti-Brian Giles fan club? Giles, a consistent 35-homer producer during the past three seasons, didn't rank in the top 15 in this week's NL All-Star results, yet Pittsburgh outfielder Armando Rios, on the disabled list with a bruised knee, ranked 12th. Rios was batting .257 with no homers and nine RBI through midweek; Giles was at .317 with 12 homers and 28 RBI.

• San Francisco, already with shortstop Rich Aurilia on the DL, now will be without reliever Jason Christiansen longer than hoped. Christiansen, out since April 20 with elbow tendonitis, underwent Tommy John ligament transfer surgery this week and will be out at least a year.

• Angry that he wasn't in the starting lineup for the second time in five days Wednesday, Houston outfielder Richard Hidalgo emerged from a meeting with manager Jimy Williams and tossed a chair, a bat bag and messed up his locker. With Hidalgo is hitting just .249 (and just .174 against St. Louis this year), Williams gave Geoff Blum only his second career start in right field Wednesday.

• One reason why St. Louis has won 16 of 19 games is that Tino Martinez, who hit just .200 with no homers and nine RBI in April, has hit six homers and collected 19 RBI in May and has improved his average 26 points in the last four weeks.

• So kick the ball around a little bit, already: While St. Louis is 15-14 in games in which the Cardinals do not make an error, they are 15-9 when they commit at least one error. Go figure, huh?