Rays Could Take Catcher No. 1 Overall

That would be a terrible selection first overall. They have the pitching and position talent in the minors that they can trade for a skilled backstop. Posey may very well go onto have a fine major league career he isn't Pedro Alvarez, Smoak, or either Beckham.

i wouldn't put too much into this speculation. The Rays have always said they would not draft for need in the first round and will always take best player available. Two years ago many thought they needed to draft a college pitcher, but drafted Longoria instead.

I would not be surprised if they shied away from a Boras client, but my guess is Tim Beckham unless one of the college pitchers steps up.

Time and time again, GMs say that you never draft for "organizational need," and you always just take the best player available. Drafting a catcher because you think you need one is silly... it will be much easier to trade for one with the mountain of talent the Rays have in their system. It takes years for a player to develop from the draft to the majors.

Oh, and for examples of why you don't trade for "need," look at the Pirates.

Never is the phrase "Draft the best player possible, not for need" more pertinent than it is with the first pick in the June Draft. These guys are all such huge crapshoots most of the time that drafting for need has almost no motivations at all. And when you have the first pick in the draft, the choice to select a potential middle of the order beast (Alvarez, Smoak), a potentially top notch middle infielder (Beckham), or a potential top of the rotation starter (Crow, Matsuz), why would you choose the catcher rated probably in the top 10-15 prospects in the draft, simply because he's a catcher?

Just take Beckham and teach Brignac to play second. Bam your middle infield positions are set.

Your link for Tim goes to Gordon Beckham, SS for UGA, who is also going to be a top pick, and likely the Golden Spikes winner this year.

Remember last year there was a lot of hype leading into the draft that the Rays wouldn't take Price...but it ended up being a red herring and they did take him.

Oops...fixed the Beckham link.

Pure speculation. Weiters would have been a much better catcher choice than Posey and they still picked Price. Navarro should be fine when he comes back. Andrew Friedman and co. are smarter than to do something like this. When everyone thought they had enough bats, they went for Longoria. When everyone thought they had enough arms, they went for Price. They'll go for whoever they think is best, and that won't be Posey.

From what I've read, Posey is killing the ball, has looked great defensively (despite his inexperience) and has been moving up draft boards quite a bit. Right now, the conventional wisdom is that there isn't a clear #1 overall pick like Price last year, but rather a top tier of 4 players (Alvarez, Tim Beckham, Matusz, and Crow). But I honestly don't know how much those guys have separated themselves from the pack with guys like Posey, Gordon Beckham, Hunt, Smoak, etc. If the gap isn't that large, then it wouldn't shock me if some teams saw a guy like Posey and bump him into the top tier. He really is killing the ball and you have to wonder if he has gold glove potential as a catcher, just because he is athletic and has come very far in a short time.

Why would Buster be such a terrible pick? We're talking about a kid who is hitting .470 with 13 HRs and a SLG% of .848 (and on OBP of .573). He's also thrown out almost 43% of runners against and picked off 6. Heck, he's been clocked at 1.8 seconds from Home to 2nd. All of those numbers are off the charts (and yes, I realize its college ball).

He will win Catcher of the Year, he (and Beckham) are considered top candidates for the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser awards. Most rate him as one of the top 5 players in college baseball... so it's not like they are dropping to the #20 pick in selecting him.

There is no consensus #1 player (for those of you who think Alvarez is tops), and it would be dumb on the Rays part to pick - from among the top 5 or so - a 3b (seeing as how they just locked up Longoria).

Having watched Buster play for 3 years, the kid is a natural athlete. He is solid defensively, has one of the best arms I have ever seen (including in the majors) and clearly can hit for avg/power. For those of you who think his power lacks, he has hit two hrs over the scoreboard at our stadium, making them an estimated 470-490 feet.