Diamonds in the Rough

Sure, we all know that everyone grabs their future ML players in the first four rounds of the draft.  Heck sometimes an actual ML caliber-type player might even slip down to even as low as the 10th round right; but beyond this these are minor league lifers who will be gone about as soon as they arrived. 

There's no arguing this.  This is an indisputable fact..........or is it?

Here's a shocking look at some late round picks that managed to matriculate their way the ML level:

Player                     Season    Round    Pick         ML Years                 Awards
1B Louis Myers            5             25        785           1: S10                         none
RP David Pineda           7            22         715           8: S11 - S20            S17 All-Star
C Alan Merloni             5             21        681           6: S11 - S20               none
C Cory George             7             19        620           6: S14 - S20            S19 Gold Glove C
C Walt Patrick              6             18        568           4: S17 - S20               none
C Dewey Patterson       12           15        495           2: S19 - S20               none
SP Cy Cross                 9             15        493           1 day - S19                none
C Benji Price                 9             15        488           3: S18 - S20              none

   
*Special thanks to OneofPeace for the idea and research to support this post*

NL & AL Top 7 Power Rankings

NL
1)  Burlington Booya 
2) Tampa Bay Don Ceasars 
3) New Orleans Pelicans
4) Chicago Blagos
5) Scranton Squirrels
6) St. Louis Red Birds
7) Milwaukee Boomers              

AL
1) Wichita Rocks
2) Augusta Polar Bears
3) Jackson Colonels
4) Portland Portuguese Breakfast
5) Toledo Mud Hens
6) Syracuse Psychos
7) Toronto Frontiersman                      

ARod's All-Time IFA's

Given the recent drama surround the unbelievably huge IFA signing of  John Suzuki I felt it was appropriate to take a quick look at the biggest IFA signing in the history of ARod.

1. John Suzuki                           - $45 Million S20;  That's a ton of money.  Whether Mr. Suzuki will prove to be worth all that flow remains to be seen.  To put things into perspective, "The Big O" Omar Castillo was signed for the whopping sum of $10 million back in S2.  Wow, times have changed.  In today's market a guy like Castillo could command as much as $60 million.  My oh my!!!
2. Esteban "Lil" Guapo               - $22.7 Million S17; no awards, at AA.   
3. Alex Estalella                         - $21.8 Million S11; no awards. 
4. John "Ace" Ueno                   - $21.5 Million S14; no awards.     
5. Santos "Angel" Torres           - $19.4 Million S10; S18 All-Star, S18 1B Silver Slugger, 2-time AL 1B Gold Glove.      
6. Pedro "Hack" Bonilla             - $19.2 Million S7; S11 AL ROY, 5-time AL MVP,  7-time All-Star, 5-time AL 2B Silver Slugger and World Series Champ in S19.
7. Benito "Bam Bam" Rijo          - $19 Million S11;  2-time NL MVP, 5-time All-Star, 2-time NL SS Silver Slugger, 2-time NL 3B Silver Slugger, 2-time NL 3B Gold Glove.
8. Mariano "Lily"Padilla              - $19 Million S11;  S19 All-Star, S15 NL P Silver Slugger.
9. Neil "Doc" Moreno                - $19 Million S17; no awards; entering 3rd ML season.  
10. Vicente "Gonzo" Gutierrez     - $19 Million S19; S20 is ML rookie year.    
11. Pedro "High" Sierra                - $18.8 Million S15; S19 AL ROY.  
12. Junior Lee                              - $18.5 Million S4; 6-time All-Star, 4-time NL 3B Silver Slugger, 2-time NL 3B Gold Glove and World Series Champ in S15.
13. Geovany "Big Mol" Molina     - $18.1 Million S13; 2-time All-Star, 2-time AL CF Silver Slugger, S19 World Series Champ in first 2 ML seasons.
14. Sammy "The Bull" Nunez       - $18 Million S19; no awards, at AAA.      
15. Calvin "Sweet As" Sugawara  - $17.7 Million S12; S19 All-Star. 
16. Victor "No" Moya                  - $17.6 Million S15; no awards, still at HiA.
17. Dioner "Big Claw" Moreno     - $17.5 Million S15; S18 World Series Champ.         
18. "JJ" Juan James                       - $17 Million S11; no awards. 
19. Gio "The Hybrid" Hernandez   - $16.7 Million S13; 2-time All-Star, S16 NL P Silver Slugger, 89 wins in first 6 ML seasons. 
20. Victor "Cry Me A" Morales    - $16.3 Million S17; no awards, at HiA.
21. Kazuhiro "Super" Hiro            - $15.7 Million  S9; 2-time AL 1B Gold Glove; has averaged 44.3 HR/season in first 10 ML seasons.
22. Pedro Borges                         - $15.5 Million S13; no awards, entering 3rd ML season.
23. "The Sheik" Omar Estrella      - $15.5 Million S15; no awards, entering 2nd ML season.
24. Jose "Rule 5" Avila                 - $15.5 Million S16; no awards, S20 is rookie year.
25. Harry "Balls" Guerrero            - $15.5 Million S16; no awards, S20 is rookie year. 
26. Javy "The Kid" Alvarez           - $15.1 Million S16; no awards, S20 is rookie year.
27. "Scarface"Al Pascual              - $15.1 Million S18; no awards, at AA.        
28. Omar "Adios" Rios                 - $15 Million S10;  no awards.       

Hall of Fame - S20

Since the beginning of the official WIS ARod Hall of Fame our world has only been able to sneak two players into these hallowed halls.  There has been some discussion over the years, but nothing serious enough to captivate the voting imagination of ARod's owners.  Clearly, not talking about the HOF and the voting that needs to take place has left a number of candidates just short of the votes it takes to earn them their ultimate honor ---  a place in the ARod Hall of Fame.  We owners can all continue to communicate ineffectively about this issue and not get another player into the Hall or we can make it happen. 


We can only vote for 5 guys each.  Because of that I want to focus on the 5 guys that most deserve make the HOF this year.

Lets get these guys into the HOF this year:

1)  LF Bill Malone -  Bill "Sam" Malone made his name as part of the legendary Colorado Ballvalanche team that includes other monsters such as Roy "The Natural" Bell and "The Big O" Omar Castillo.  Malone helped his team to a World Series ring in S7 and then took home the AL MVP in S9 when he hit 63 HR's and had 189 RBI's, to go along with a .370 BA and a sick 1.249 OPS, not to mention 172 Runs and 207 hits; did I forget to mention 36 of 43 SB's?  Over his career Malone picked up 5 All-Star nods and 3 LF Silver Slugger awards.  In the end, Malone did it at the plate and on the bases and was one of the biggest bats in the biggest offensive juggernaut this world has ever seen.  His final number are as follows:

Season	Fran	Level	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Career	Totals	ML	1882	7223	1650	2310	431	73	552	1708	860	1153	207	68	.320	.394	.629	1.023

2)  SP Marvin Punto  - "Marvelous" Marvin Punto was 1/2 of the most dominant pitching combination the World of ARod has ever seen.  Punto helped lead The New York Mets (now da Booya) to 5 World Series titles in the first 6 seasons of ARod.    Punto won 3 Cy Young awards - 2 of which came during this magical WS run.  "Marvelous" is the winning-est pitcher by % in the history of the league as he won 77.7% of the decisions he was apart of 202 wins - 58 losses.  Punto was also a 9-time All-Star to boot.   There not much more Mr. Punto could have done to cement his place in the HOF besides being younger when the world was created---he was 28 and pitched till he was 40!! :)  Feast your eyes on these career numbers:

Season	Fran	Level	G	GS	CG	W	L	SV	SVO	Inn	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	OAV	OBP	SLG	WHIP	ERA
Career	Totals	ML	369	348	58	202	58	0	0	2498.1	2172	937	860	264	679	1771	.230	.286	.355	1.14	3.1

  
3) SP Johnny Vernon  -    Now meet the 2nd half of the most dominant pitching combination the World of ARod has ever seen, Johnny "Mount" Vernon.    Vernon was nothing short of fantastic during the Mets magical run as he picked in the S1 NL Rookie of the Year and then followed that up with 4 straight NL Cy Young awards, not to mention the 5 All-Star nods he was awarded.  "Mount" Vernon's line in S2 just might be the best this world have ever seen:  24-2, .096 whip, 1.88 ERA, 215.2 innings pitched, 27 of 32 were Quality Starts, and teams on hit .192 off of him.  Sick.

Season	Fran	Level	G	GS	CG	W	L	SV	SVO	Inn	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	OAV	OBP	SLG	WHIP	ERA
Career	Totals	ML	374	302	6	163	62	3	3	2033.2	1697	744	685	191	637	1594	.224	.289	.337	1.15	3.03

4) 1B Alfredo Sosa   -   Alfredo "Say it Ain't" Sosa is one of the true smash brothers that have come thru this world.  Looking at his stats from S3 thru S11, it's truly shocking that Sosa only picked up 1 MVP---S5.  Despite not picking up a few more MVP's, Sosa definitely pickup up plenty of accolades along the way: S3 AL Rookie of the Year, 6-time All-Star, 2-time Home Run Derby Champ and 4 Silver Slugger awards.  Think about this; Sosa averaged 60 Hr/year during the first 10 years of his career, and ranks 3rd all-time with 718 career bombs.  That's not all he did though---see the .315 career BA. 

Season	Fran	Level	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Career	Totals	ML	1900	7537	1552	2374	338	19	718	1869	854	1073	2	24	.315	.385	.651	1.036

        
5) SP Nicholas DeWitt  - While Punto and Vernon were tearing up the NL, "The Czar" Nicholas DeWitt was handling his business in the AL.  The Czar snagged back-to-back AL Cy Young awards in S5/6 respectively, under the guidance of new owner barjaz.  DeWitt was dominant during these two seasons throwing 26 complete games, pitching almost 500 innings and winning 44 games.   His stats may not be as gawdy as some others---another victim of being 28 yrs old when the world was created, but he was a bright, shinning star while he was here, locking up 5 All-Star appearance and a Silver Slugger award.  Check out these numbers and then give the man your vote!!

Season	Fran	Level	G	GS	CG	W	L	SV	SVO	Inn	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	OAV	OBP	SLG	WHIP	ERA
Career	Totals	ML	363	323	85	177	76	0	0	2401.2	2341	1077	938	261	618	1715	.253	.303	.380	1.23	3.52