As you may have heard, baseball's annual draft -- known variously as the First-Year Player Draft or the Rule-4 Draft -- will unfold on Monday night in New York City.
The draft has been part of baseball since 1965, and, as such, it's rich with history. Part of that history, of course, entails the making of cringe-worthy mistakes. And while the wielding of hindsight as cudgel is not particularly fair, it is particularly enjoyable.
So to get you in the proper state of mind (i.e., "coiled outrage"), let's take a quick walking tour of the worst "one pick away" mistakes from every first round that's ever been.
What's a "one pick away" mistake? It's committed by a team who selects what turned out to be an inconsequential talent the very pick before what turned out to be a hall-of-hame or hall-of-fame-ish talent.
So in ascending order of spit-take-inducing-ness, here are the top 20 first-round "one pick away" draft gaffes of all-time. Giants fans might want to stop reading at this point ...
20. 1971 - Mets take Rich Puig at #14, Red Sox take Jim Rice at #15
While Rice isn't a particularly deserving hall of famer, he is, well, a hall of famer. As for Puig, he played four games at the highest level.
19. 1982 - Twins take Brian Oelkers at #4, Mets take Dwight Gooden at #5
Put Gooden in the relative calm of Minnesota, and who knows how the rest of his career unfurls. As thing are, however, he still achieved near-greatness. As for Oelkers, he authored a 6.01 ERA during his brief time in the majors.
18. 1968 - Astros take Martin Cott at #3, Yankees take Thurman Munson at #4
Munson was a vital member of the great Yankee teams of the 1970s and, if not for his tragic death, might have been on a hall-of-fame track.
17. 1974 - Indians take Tom Brennan at #4, Braves take Dale Murphy at #5
To hear some tell it, Murphy should be in Cooperstown. To hear all tell it, he was orders of magnitude better than Brennan, who logged just 219.0 innings in his career.
16. 1984 - Giants take Alan Cockrell at #9, A's take Mark McGwire at #10
It gets worse from here, Giants fans.
15. 1995 - Rangers take Jonathan Johnson at #7, Rockies take Todd Helton at #8
Johnson's career 6.63 ERA is bad enough for a high first-rounder, but when Helton (among others) was still on the board? Just imagine those 1999 Rangers with Todd Helton at first instead of Lee Stevens ...
14. 2000 - Orioles take Beau Hale at #14, Phillies take Chase Utley at #15
Utley will wind up a borderline hall-of-famer even if his knees never permit him another game. Hale, meantime, went 25-28 ... in the minors.
13. 1995 - Giants take Joe Fontenot at #16, Blue Jays take Roy Halladay at #17
Yes, Giants fans, Halladay could've been yours.
12. 1998 - Giants take Tony Torcato at #19, Indians take CC Sabathia at #20
Yes, Giants fans, Sabathia could've been yours.
11. 1997 - White Sox take Jason Dellaero at #15, Astros take Lance Berkman at #16
As you'll soon see, Berkman's not the only great to fall into the Astros' laps.
10. 1990 - Giants take Eric Christopherson at #19, Orioles take Mike Mussina at #20
Imagine that the, say, 2003 San Fran rotation included the veteran Mussina passing his wisdom along to rising youngsters Halladay and Sabathia. Now add them to a 100-win team that already boasted Jason Schmidt at his absolute best.
9. 2004 - Padres take Matt Bush at #1, Tigers take Justin Verlander at #2
You may have heard of this one. Owner John Moores forced the Pads to take the local kid Bush in part because he would sign cheap. Well, Bush not only never made the majors but also turned out to be a bit of an idiot. Verlander, meanwhile, turned into Verlander.
8. 1987 - Tigers take Steve Peques at #21, Astros take Craig Biggio at #22
The same year the Tigers traded away a minor-league right-hander with control problems named John Smoltz, they passed on a Seton Hall catcher named Craig Biggio.
7. 1973 - Phillies take John Stearns at #2, Brewers take Robin Yount at #3
Stearns had a perfectly serviceable career across parts of 11 seasons, but imagine a Yount-Mike Schmidt left side of the infield in Philly.
6. 1967 - Giants take Dave Rader at #18, Orioles take Bobby Grich at #19
Grich is a criminally underrated performer who should absolutely be in Cooperstown. Rader was, at his best, a useful semi-regular.
5. 1989 - Cardinals take Paul Coleman at #6, White Sox take Frank Thomas at #7
Thomas didn't like playing first base. The Cardinals would've talked him into it.
4. 1966- Mets take Steve Chilcott at #1, A's take Reggie Jackson at #2
Chilcott never made the majors. Reggie, meanwhile, hit 563 homers and became a World Series legend and cultural icon. Yes, the Mets could've had Reggie and Jim Rice planted at the outfield corners for at least a few years.
3. 1992 - Reds take Chad Mottola at #5, Yankees take Derek Jeter at #6
Sure, four other teams passed on Jeter in 1992. Sure, the Reds had a hall-of-fame shortstop already entrenched. But it's Derek Jeter.
2. 1983 - Dodgers take Erik Sonberg at #18, Red Sox take Roger Clemens at #19
Question: What is 354? Answer: It's Sonberg's major-league win total subtracted from Clemens's major-league win total. It should be noted that 354 is also Clemens's major-league win total.
1. 1985 - White Sox take Kurt Brown at #5, Pirates take Barry Bonds at #6
Love him or loathe him, Bonds is one of the five greatest players in history. Brown is not. Bonds, the Big Hurt, Robin Ventura, and Tim Raines all in the same lineup on those '93 White Sox ...
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