Pirates finally ready to give treasure to top draft talent
Drafts are supposed to help teams like the Pirates, who haven't had a winning season since 1992. They draft high (second overall this year), and that means they're supposed to get one of the best players available. That means they have to take the best player available.
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| In the past, the Pirates would have passed on Pedro Alvarez. Will they this time? (US Presswire) |
That's not the way a draft is supposed to work, and supposedly this year it's going to be different. According to sources, this year the commissioner's office is encouraging all teams to draft the best available player, no matter what his contract demands are.
We'll see, but the early indications are good.
As of Tuesday, the thinking was that Tampa Bay would use the first pick on Tim Beckham, a high school shortstop from Georgia. The Pirates, it's thought, would then use the second pick to take Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez.
Alvarez is considered a top prospect. He's also expected to ask for a contract for anywhere from $7 million to $12 million, a price tag that certainly would have scared the Pirates away in the past.
"We're putting ourselves in position to take the best player," Pirates scouting director Greg Smith said, without saying who that best player would be. "We're not going into this draft with limitations or restrictions. We're looking to make an impact."
Smith won't say it, but he has to know that all his peers will be watching carefully when he picks. They know that Frank Coonelly is now the Pirates' club president, and they also know that Coonelly previously was responsible for setting up and policing the hated "slotting" system run by the commissioner's office.
The idea was to limit bonuses paid to amateur players, but the effect was to send many top players away from teams drafting early and to richer (or bolder) teams drafting later.
Last year, the Pirates passed on Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters, who was then drafted by Baltimore and signed to a $6 million contract. Meanwhile, the Tigers were able to use the 27th pick on Rick Porcello, a high school right-hander who may well have been the top talent available in the entire draft.
Porcello was advised by agent Scott Boras, who also counts Alvarez as a client.
The Porcello pick might have been the one that caused baseball's apparent change in philosophy. The irony is that Coonelly, who devised the system that caused Porcello to slip, might now benefit from the change because his team will be able to select the best player.
Some executives from other clubs have already called Coonelly a hypocrite, because now he's running a team he doesn't want to adhere to the system he supported before. But others see the supposed new system in a different light, saying that it's an effort to make the draft work as it should.
"We're trying to maintain the integrity of the draft," one scouting director said.
But not everyone is sure it will work. According to one scouting director, both the Mets (who draft 18th) and the Yankees (who pick 28th) watched Alvarez intently this spring. That's even though they knew that the only way he could fall to them is if the teams above bypassed him because of his reported contract demands.
Remember, that's not supposed to happen now. The draft is once again supposed to send the best players to the weakest teams.
"We'll see," one executive said. "Will there be high-caliber first-round guys that slip?"
The first sign will come early, when the Pirates pick second. If they take Alvarez, as it seems they will, it could be a sign that the draft is once again going to work the way it should.
