2008 Amateur Draft

ESPN’s Keith Law has an article up in which he takes a look at the difference between signing a draft pick to a major-league deal rather than a minor-league deal. With all of the talk of draft picks and contract signings following Friday’s deadline, Law’s article is a good way of clearing up any questions readers may have on contract statuses.

Law uses the Orioles and their first-round pick, Brian Matusz, as an example as he explains the difference between signing players to a major-league contract and a minor-league contract.

Law also points out that even players who sign major-league contracts can still see time at the minor-league level, and that signing a major-league contract immediately places the player on that club’s 40-man roster, despite which level they are headed to.

We live-blogged the ’08 amateur draft last Thursday, and it was a lot of fun.  Over 4,000 people came along for the ride.  You can read the transcript here.

Immediately after each of the first 30 picks, I polled readers on whether the team "made the right choice."  We can keep the results for posterity and determine whether it’s fair to rag on a team for picking the wrong guy.  If most people liked the pick at the time it was made, it wouldn’t be right to criticize it in hindsight.  Here are the poll responses to the question, "Did Team X make the right choice by drafting Player Y?

1. Tim Beckham, Rays – 80% said yes.
2. Pedro Alvarez, Pirates – 89%.
3. Eric Hosmer, Royals – 63%.
4. Brian Matusz, Orioles – 80%.
5. Buster Posey, Giants – 68%.
6. Kyle Skipworth, Marlins – 54%.
7. Yonder Alonso, Reds – 33%.
8. Gordon Beckham, White Sox – 79%.
9. Aaron Crow, Nationals – 82%.
10. Jason Castro, Astros – 14%.
11. Justin Smoak, Rangers – 90%.
12. Jemile Weeks, A’s – 41%.
13. Brett Wallace, Cardinals – 65%.
14. Aaron Hicks, Twins – 79%.
15. Ethan Martin, Dodgers – 62%.
16. Brett Lawrie, Brewers – 62%.
17. David Cooper, Blue Jays – 26%.
18. Ike Davis, Mets – 55%.
19. Andrew Cashner, Cubs – 57%.
20. Josh Fields, Mariners – 65%.
21. Ryan Perry, Tigers – 53%.
22. Reese Havens, Mets – 33%.
23. Allan Dykstra, Padres – 28%.
24. Anthony Hewitt, Phillies – 32%.
25. Christian Friedrich, Rockies – 89%.
26. Daniel Schlereth, D’Backs – 65%.
27. Carlos Gutierrez, Twins – 21%.
28. Gerrit Cole, Yankees – 82%.
29. Lonnie Chisenhall, Indians – 17%.
30. Casey Kelly, Red Sox – 74%.

There you have it.  Readers agreed least with the Astros’ selection of Castro and most with the Rangers’ pick of Smoak.

Let’s take a look and see what is being said about the first round selections from day one of the Rule 4 Draft…

• Keith Law calls this year’s first round "unusual in a number of ways," noting that more than half of the picks were college relief pitchers, corner infielders and catchers, three areas that usually get little attention in the first round. Law also gives us his choice for the team that made the best pick (Rockies), the worst picks (Seattle, Minnesota) and the teams that picked players that could reach the big leagues quickly (Seattle, Detroit, Arizona, Chicago, Baltimore).
• Baseball America has their first round recap with a look at each of the draftees.
• Minor League Ball gives us their thoughts on a few sleepers from the 4th and 5th round of the draft.
• The D-Backs top pick seems to be the most vocal draftee in terms of wanting to be in the big leagues this season.
• Buster Olney provides a complete collection of local media reactions to each of the first round draft picks (will need an ESPN Insider password).

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

You can view today’s draft picks and live blog here.  Also you can see the top 30 with Keith Law’s analysis here.

More draft action for you today.

• ESPN’s Keith Law has an excellent draft overview, and it’s not behind the subscriber wall.  I wonder what kind of traffic ESPN would get if they freed up all their content.  Law also has his top 30 projections, if you’re a subscriber.
• Is Rick Porcello a problem?  Matthew Futterman implies that teams like the Brewers couldn’t possibly afford him.  But the Crew spent $42MM on Jeff Suppan.