[Westheim]

2002 AMATEUR DRAFT POOL

This year’s draft pool is just like the last. There are no starting pitchers, centerfielders and third basemen to be had. Thankfully, we are settled in two of those areas for the moment, but you can never have too many starting pitchers, right? Anyway, there’s a wealth of mediocre first basemen and catchers available this time. But there are a few gems in there, too. Here’s 360 draft picks condensed into the top dozen or so.

SP Bob Bowden (11/14/10) – yes, that’s the best!

RP Helio Maggessi (20/16/14)
RP Tommy Wooldridge (18/15/12)
RP Adam Riddle (18/11/11)
RP Jason Long (15/14/13)

C Rodney Gibson (19/5/20)
C Aaron Case (12/19/13)

SS Ieyoshi Nomura (20/6/16) – though you might want to move him to a different position…
INF/LF Dave McCormick (16/13/9)
1B/3B Pedro Reyes (13/12/14)

LF/RF Stanton Martin (16/16/7)
LF/RF Rodrigo Lopez (16/8/16)
RF/LF Clint Phillip (10/16/13)
OF Orlando Sanchez (11/12/12)

The Coons will pick seventh in every round, and we have no supplemental picks. The supplemental round has only 33 picks this time, the least it has had in ages. The Titans will have six of those picks, indicating the kind of bloodshed that took place in Mass this winter, including the last four consecutively in the supplemental round. In total they have NINE of the first 81 picks!

I like Maggessi, a right-hander, but he’s only 17, and 17-year olds are dicey. (Nick Brown was drafted as a 17-year old, but you know where he was drafted…) Rodney Gibson is the only other top pick willing to sign for slot, but OSA has him nowhere on their list. Well, all the relievers on this shortest shortlist are willing to sign for either slot or decent amounts (under $500k), and the best bet might be righty Tommy Wooldridge among those, whiffing 129 in 93 innings for Illinois State. He’s 23 already.

Stanton Martin would be a great choice, but he has the highest bonus demand in the entire pool with $2.875M, and we completely busted our budget wide open the last two years with the signings of Daniel Sharp and Chris Beairsto, respectively. I would like to not do that yet again, especially on an outfielder, where we already have a strong first suit in Roberson, Reece, and Brady, with Beairsto being much better in AAA than last August and September. The outfield is not our main field of issues, so blowing almost $3M on another outfielder at best one year away from the Bigs is not a prudent choice. We might pick someone like Sanchez in the second or third round. Although we have a terrible history with players named Orlando.

Nomura is another peculiar option. He’s a shortstop in high school, but his hands AND feet are not very quick. The bat potential is tremendous, though. He’d sign for $620k. (Our current budget room is less than $300k, by the way)

Yes, it’s not only a talent choice for the Coons, it’s also a money choice, and we should occasionally heed to that second area, too.

And to make things more complicated, only Rodrigo Lopez (#4), Pedro Reyes (#5), and Aaron Case (#10) rank in the BNN Top 10.

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Even though the season is slowly going into the gutters, we ask you to please come to the ballpark as we start a 7-game home stand this Monday. Pretty please. We will have the action here. Not necessarily on the field, but there will be action and gimmicks.

Tuesday, June 4 will be Scott Wade Bobblehead Night. First 10k fans through the gates 12 years or older will receive a brand new shiny Scott “Gobbler” Wade bobblehead. Get old #38 while supplies last!

On Friday, June 7, first 10k fans through the gates 12 years of older will get a free T-shirt “I went to a Raccoons game and lived through it!” with a dancing raccoon on the front.

Saturday, June 8, there will be a postgame concert by up and coming Portland indie band “The Broken Chairs”, a trio playing unplugged electric guitar, xylophone, and a cat. Can’t miss those boys!

Yeah, Maud is getting desperate. Not enough people coming to swallow crappy baseball and junk food. Slappy and I bought into the bobblehead, but the rest… We’ve been promised a Wet T-Shirt Contest for next month though. All contestants will be employees of that restaurant with the owl in the logo. I think Maud was making this up to get me to sign up those Chairs…