17 Tim Lincecum
18 Jacoby Ellsbury
19 Jimmy Rollins
20 Matt Holliday
21 Grady Sizemore
22 Jose Reyes
23 Justin Upton
24 Victor Martinez (1B)
25 Joey Votto
26 Roy Halladay
27 Mark Reynolds (1B)
28 Dustin Pedroia
29 Brandon Phillips
30 Adrian Gonzalez
LIKES:
Wright - Regression to the mean. Unlike Tom K, I think 3B is a weak position after you get past ARAM. Wright was a top 4 pick last year. What has changed? He's had 4 kick ass years followed by one subpar year. Now he's the 16th best pick. I personally attribute the subpar year to "pressing"...which would 100% explain the rise in strikeout rate.
Where would he be going if his one subpar year was 5 years ago and he just had 4 kickass years in a row?
It's hard to trust sometimes, but "regression" in this case is GOOD. Rollins - When was the last time you could get a great SS in the mid 2nd? 3 of the last 4 years, he's had over 20hr and over 35sb. If he gets lucky with his BA on "balls in play" this year, a .290 average would make him a top 5 pick at a scarce position.
DISLIKES:
Halladay - I'm a Halladay fan, don't get me wrong, but mid 2nd? The only way I can see that is if you are "punting" hr and rbi (like I did in a draft). If C.Carpenter managed to throw the same innings as Halladay last year, he would only have 29 less strikouts. Carpenter is going in the mid fifth round.) I just think the offense you are passing in the 2nd round is a bit too much). Even Childs said he'd pass on pitching (INCLUDING Lincecum unless it was the 3rd round).
Martinez - I liked Martinez a bit more about 6 weeks ago. Martinez is hitting in a nice lineup, but with the addition of Beltre to the diamond, Martinez's days at DH are limited at best. Shandler noted Martinez's offensive splits when he was catching as opposed to DH'ing and it wasn't pretty...
As catcher ---> OPS of 783
As DH ---> OPS of 942
Also, it's been noted that catchers break down more easily than other position players due to the grueling nature of catching, esp in the summer months.
