Milwaukee Boomers
Needs: 1B, SS, CF, SP, RP
It's time for Alex Colome to develop into the perenial all-star that he should be. At the ripe old age of 25, he should be with this team for a very long time. Paul Corino is a cheap option at 1B, but his lack of offense hurts. At 2B, bigjasiu is well covered with young stud Edge Edwards due to burst onto the scene. He is backed up by another couple of young talented defensive specialists. At 3B, while currently employing an under-talented and overwhelmed Bartolo Guillon, bigjasiu is ready to move young stud Phillip Morgan from 2B to 3B to make room for Edwards, helping to solidify the infield. At SS, steady veteran Pablo Diaz returns, but will soon need replacing. Bigjasiu has a couple of options sitting in AAA, but I think he is looking for someone with slightly better defense. The corner outfield positions are well covered with veteran Nigel Lidge in LF, and blue chip prospect Geraldo Valdes quickly rising through the ranks to take over in RF. In CF however, Benji Martin is struggling defensively, and is better suited as a utility player. The starting rotation is in need of a major overhaul, and is the primary reason this proud franchise is struggling. Bigjasiu has already started the rebuild signing super-stud IFA Juan Bennett to become his new ace. If he can keep building on this, we will see the Boomers once again rise to prominence. Although not quite in the same dire straits as the starting rotation, the bullpen could use some help as well.
Draft Expectation: Low-Moderate
While only having the standard 5 picks at the top end of the draft, bigjasiu does hold the third overall pick, with which he could make a big splash.
Draft Preparation:
With a player salary near the bottom of the league, bigjasiu is situated perfectly to mount a successful rebuild. He already has most pieces in place amongst the position players, and now needs to concentrate on building a solid pitching staff. With all the extra funds he has, he was able to max several departments, including college and international scouting. He sacrificed the high school talent pool, and as such was able to add even more funding to his prospect budget.
Prospects
Round 1 Pick 3 SP Stu McCurry
What a price to pay for a drafted prospect! However, this kid could be worth every penny. With one future ace already under wraps, bigjasiu has hit the jackpot on a second elite hurler. At this rate, in 5 years, nobody will want to play the Boomers. This kid has it all. Velocity, control, stamina, ball movement, variety of pitches, a good head, health, you name it. The kid is good for 20 wins a season.
ML Projection: 240+ IP/20+ W/200+ K/.180-.230 OAV/1.80-2.50 ERA
Round 2 Pick 60 SP Roy Coombs
A solid choice for bigjasiu's second pick, and another notch in his mission to rebuild his rotation, Coombs will make a very capable number 4 or 5 starter. Similar to McCurry, he has good velocity and control, but the talent curves diverge sharply from there. Coombs still has some other impressive numbers, but not on the scale that McCurry has.
ML Projection: 200 IP/12-15 W/150+ K/.250-.270 OAV/3.50-4.00 ERA
Round 3 Pick 92 SP Jay Graham
Graham walks that fine line between solid ML pitcher, and wild thing project that gives managers fits. His numbers all look good except for those nasty control problems. If he were able to harness that wildness, he would be a shoo-in for the future rotation, otherwise he remains a question mark.
ML Projection: 180 IP/10-12 W/100+ BB/.220-.250 OAV/4.00-4.50 ERA
Round 4 Pick 124 SS Luis Marin
A deceptively talented skill position player, Marin can provide quality backup at just about any position. The only things he can't do for you are hit home runs, and steal bases, but he should be very reliable as a utility player.
ML Projection: Utility Player
Round 5 Pick 156 LF Wilson Simpson
A pretty standard 4A player, Simpson will play out his career in AAA.
Hidden Gems: RP Mike Aldridge?
Overall Grade: A
The only thing keeping this grade from being an A+ was the fact McCurry was taken near the top of the draft, where he was expected to go. The other factors giving bigjasiu such a high grade revolve mainly around his adherence to the plan to rebuild his rotation.
No comments:
Post a Comment