Dejan Kovacevic talked to Tim Beckham’s father, Jimmy. Jimmy Beckham says the family has met only with the Rays and Pirates, and he expects his son to be drafted by one of those two clubs.
I’m surprised they are so certain. Isn’t it possible that the Rays draft Buster Posey and the Bucs opt for Pedro Alvarez?
All kinds of good draft info surfacing today. Let’s take a look.
All kinds of draft links today.
There’s been quite a bit of conjecture that the Pirates will draft Pedro Alvarez with their #2 pick. Alvarez, a Scott Boras advisee, may require a Major League contract. The Bucs’ new management team will be making a statement to fans if they pony up for Alvarez.
Devan Kovacevic did a Q&A on the draft with Pirates GM Neal Huntington and team president Frank Coonelly. He didn’t shy away from tough questions, touching on the Matt Wieters subject. Kovacevic also referenced Alvarez, asking how a player demanding a big league deal would impact the team’s draft choice. Said Coonelly:
The preference is to sign any amateur player to a minor-league contract. It gives the club more flexibility. With a player signed to a major-league contract right out of the draft, you have to use an option immediately to get him to the minors. If he has a minor-league contract, you can have him for three years in the minors before having to use an option. Does that mean I’m saying the Pirates would never consider that? No. We would if there were a unique set of circumstances.
So…is Alvarez special enough to warrant it for the Pirates?
With last year’s top pick, David Price, making his pro debut yesterday, we are now two weeks from the 2008 "Rule 4 Draft" and the top of the draft is not as clear this time around. There are five candidates that could go in the top slot: Buster Posey, the FSU catcher; Vanderbilt’s third baseman Pedro Alvarez; San Diego lefty Brian Matusz; Southern California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, and Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham. Earlier this week we heard that the Rays were leaning towards Posey or Alvarez, while the Pirates were said to be torn between Alvarez and Beckham with the second pick. Recent mock drafts from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, have Beckham going to the Rays with the top pick.
Let’s take a look at what is being said about the upcoming draft in the Blogosphere…
Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.
Here’s today’s link collection.
Today from Buster Olney’s blog:
I talked to a couple of folks with rival teams who say that their understanding is that Tampa Bay is leaning toward picking either Florida State catcher Buster Posey or Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez.
Olney apparently hasn’t heard much about the Rays considering shortstop Tim Beckham, though other insiders such as Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo have him in the mix. Mayo says "it’s still very much in the air" among five candidates for the Rays.
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo is making a splash today, posting a brand new top 20 mock draft. He’s also conducting a chat that begins right about now (I’m sure the transcript will be up after). Some interesting nuggets from Mayo’s latest mock draft:
4:45pm: Updating the Tavarez item – the Boston Herald reports that he’s accepted a minor league assignment in order to buy the Red Sox more time in trading him.
10:38am: Here’s today’s link collection.
The Cardinals have the 13th pick in the June draft. The team’s VP of scouting and player development, Jeff Luhnow, says "there’s a real possibility that we go college pitcher." MLB.com’s Matthew Leach admits that Aaron Crow will probably be gone. Ditto Brian Matusz. Christian Friedrich or Shooter Hunt remain possibilities.
Leach also suggests the Cardinals could take one of the many first baseman and move him to the outfield (Yonder Alonso, for example). Baseball America’s May 16th mock draft projects the Cards will take Zach Collier, a high school outfielder.
