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05-14-2010, 04:00 PM #1
Rays Draft Success
sitting here bored at work....I was looking through the past years drafts. Then for whatever reason I started looking at the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays past draft picks. I've come to the conclusion that they have some real masterminds working behind the scenes Their unprecedented ability to predict talent is how they have transformed from one of the worst teams in baseball to one of the best in a very short period of time. I'll let you see for yourself:
1999 - round 2 pick 52 - Carl Crawford
2000 - round 16 pick 466 - James Shields
2002 - round 1 pick 2 - BJ Upton
2004 - round 1 pick 4 - Jeff Niemann
2004 - round 3 pick 75 - Wade Davis
2006 - round 1 pick 3 - Evan Longoria
2007 - round 1 pick 1 - David Price
In closing, I'm not a Tampa Bay Rays fan, but I admire what they have done in such a short period of time. Look no further than the draft to see how this organization has done a complete 180. 4 of their current 5 starters were all drafted by the Rays. 2/3 starting outfielders were drafted by the rays and their Superstar 3rd baseman was a draft pick in 2006. Nice Job TB Rays!
Not so good in 1999 with Josh Hamilton and 2003 with Delmon Young, but you can't win them all.
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05-14-2010, 04:02 PM #2
They traded Delmon Young and another player a 2B for Matt Garza that was a win! so not a complete waste of a pick.
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05-14-2010, 04:04 PM #3
They benifited from being awful for so many years, and took the best player available, not so hard to do for a small market team
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Dan LeFevour PC 192/283
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05-14-2010, 04:09 PM #4
I don't think Hamilton was a bad draft pick. Hard to predict substance abuse and the talent was certainly there. You've got to keep in mind though, that these picks span multiple front office regimes, I don't know how much of the department turned over with the GM switch but if it is the same guys, they have a decent run going with their top picks
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05-14-2010, 04:09 PM #5
Dan, agree. But when you compare them to teams that were just as bad like the Royals and Pirates. There simply is no comparison. It is hard to do, whether you have the best picks or not. Look at the royals and Pirates....have they gotten substantially better? I wouldn't say so....
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05-14-2010, 04:12 PM #6
shortking98: Hamilton was a bad pick for them....they got nothing out of him. The Rays are not at fault, but it turned out to be a 'bad' pick.
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05-14-2010, 04:13 PM #7
Thats mostly from the fact when they do draft well, they trade the guys because they cant afford them, and the other part is the bust factor..it can work both ways, thats why bigger market guys dont always fall in love with their prospects look at Detroit, Miller/Maybin thus far have been busts, and they recieved Cabrera..it can work both ways, sometimes prospects pan out and sometimes they dont
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05-14-2010, 04:14 PM #8
I guess the point I was trying to make is that I don't know how preventable a pick like that is. Seems more like bad luck than bad strategy to me
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05-14-2010, 05:40 PM #9
They also got Bartlett out of that deal with Garza, so while Young was a bad pick for them, they traded him for two important pieces to their current roster.
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05-14-2010, 06:34 PM #10
I've gotta agree here. A team that finishes poorly will get the first picks of the best talent out there, yes. But how many times have hot-topic players gone downhill so fast. Todd Van Poppel comes to mind - highly touted prospect who was drafted relatively high in the proceedings but never amounted to more than an average pitcher at best. So the draft can be a gamble. The Rays have been lucky and gotten good results so far.
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Originally Posted by pootshwan 
