College shortstop Christian Colon was always the Royals' top choice at #4, writes Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. The Royals told Dutton that links to Yasmani Grandal and Chris Sale were a smokescreen.
The Royals' assistant GM of scouting and player development, J.J. Picollo, told Dutton the team feels Colon's price is within reason. Colon is a Scott Boras client, but he may sign quickly and head to A ball. ESPN's Keith Law says, "I believe the Royals' selection of Colon at #4 indicates that they've already worked out the parameters of an agreement." Rival executives tell Law's colleague Buster Olney Colon could be in the Majors as early as next year.
Baseball America writes that Colon profiles as a "future big league regular, best suited as an offensive second baseman." Picollo, however, explained that reports of Colon having limited range and speed stemmed from a broken leg last year.
Picollo will be on the clock again shortly, as the Royals pick fourth in the second round today.
If we can maybe pull off AJ Cole, Allie, or Aviles coming up, consider it a great draft. Considering we’ve paid 1st/2nd round money to Chris Dwyer (4th) last year, we should be able to put some cash into them.
A smokescreen? Who were the trying to fool? Were the Nats/Pirates/O’s seriously going to snap up Colon because they heard that the mighty Royals wanted him? Sounds more like a lame cover story than a brilliant master plan.
What do you expect from the Royals? There is a reason they haven’t won since 1985…If you wanna brag about them beating my team. Then have fun, because I’ll take the 10 other titles gladly over 85 KC.
Not that you’re defensive or anything.
Stupid Cardinal Fan, bringing up 1985 AGAIN.
This had nothing to do with the top three. Not all teams want to discuss who they want to select to get the draft boards of all the other teams clean. The Royals had no questions about being able to select Machado or Taillon. It was obvious they were going to go top three.
@MattHoliday you have no idea what you’re talking about or anything about the Royals besides what you hear on ESPN, so do some research before you start talking.
That’s exactly what I mean. The first 3 picks were crystal clear. What possible competitive advantage could they gain from making others think they were going to take Grandal or Sale? I don’t get it. What was this “smokescreen” supposed to accomplish?
Nothing other than it keeps other teams scrambling, and keeps the Royals thoughts more private. It wasn’t nothing to gain, but it never hurts, and it helps out as the draft stretches along. No one had the Royals taking Colon, but it was a smart pick nevertheless.
The Royals are total morons. I cant say The White Sox are much brighter but it seems like KC works against themselves.