Starting pitching is one of the most valuable assets in the game and, as Peter Gammons explains at MLB.com, small-market teams usually have to rely on the draft to obtain it. Here are Gammons’ latest notes from around the league…
- A's GM Billy Beane says his current rotation, a group that’s more or less untouchable, could be as good as Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito were. Trevor Cahill has “become one of the best pitchers in the game,” according to Beane.
- "Let's face it, no small-market team can afford to go into the market to get starting pitching," Beane told Gammons. "To survive and compete, you have to draft and develop pitching, or go out and get it before it's on the Major League radar screen."
- Gammons reports that some expect the Pirates to take Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen with the first overall pick this June. Click here for MLBTR's Q&A with Hultzen.
- Georgia Tech Lefty Jed Bradley will likely disappear within the first ten picks of the draft, and Connecticut righty Matt Barnes will likely be a top-15 selection.
- The Royals are looking for a college starter who can arrive in the Major Leagues and make an impact in the rotation soon.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore agrees that you need pitching to go along with premium position players. “They're not going to win if we don't find young, affordable pitching," Moore said.
- The D’Backs, who hold two of the first seven picks this year (#3, #7), will take at least one arm early on and the Rays are also likely to take a number of pitchers with some of their many high picks.
has everyone actually looked closely at this year’s draft order? in a very deep draft, the rays, jays, and red sox are everywhere. and the yankees are laughing as always because they have the #1 slot in all upcoming ‘free agent’ drafts
without a major rule change or division realignment, i think we’ll probably see a ~95 win non-playoff team in the next few years. something’s gotta give in the AL east. or someone’s gotta go
99 reds won 96 and didn’t make the playoffs
gross
Realignment still would not solve the problem of Boston/NYY unless they went and moved teams out of their geographical regions. Talk was of this same issue in the late 70’s when Baltimore was a power house as well and nothing was done, same thing. How to move a team that resides about as far East as possible? Maybe draw straws for locations with regards to divisions/leagues for all the teams 😉
Instead of a realignment, how about a salary cap. Does anyone seriously think that NYY will be that good if there was a salary cap?
Can’t work in baseball and ruins the game. Football is the only sport where it really works.
How can it not work? Just cap those ridiculous contracts that guys are making. No more 23M+/year contracts and it would really help out smaller market teams like the A’s, Rays, Marlins among other teams that have good teams but because of salary discrepency, have a really tough time retaining their team for the long run. It would also make GMs like Brian Cashman go out of baseball because he doesn’t have a $200M payroll to work with. I seriously doubt that if Cashman had the restrictions on salary like Billy Beane or Andrew Fieldman that he would have the same success as he does now. All he has to do is throw out Steinbrenner’s money and get anyone that he wants.
Peter Gammons, prolly my favorite baseball analyst because he loves the pirates and sox but if the buccos take hultzen first and not rendon i am through with them.. Rendon gives them the potential offense to compete for the next 10 years in the central with him and alvarez at the corners cutch tabata marte in the outfield walker and sanchez only ? is SS as usual but if you think this is just a knock on hultzen thing think again he is a stud and any team who gets him not the pirates is a lucky one, the bucs have horrendous luck taking left handed pitchers 1st
Did you read Beane’s comments above? Good Starting Pitching is so difficult to find in the market. I really think the Pirates need to draft pitching plus Rendon doesn’t strike me as a hitter with great major league potential, unlike Bryce Harper.
Ok but only cuz the god of the small markets billy beane said it! I would think that Cole would be better than Hultzen though… just i hate to see the pirates drafting leftys makes me cringe
Yeah I know, Gammons really surprised me with that choice. I’ve been pushing for the Pirates to take Gerrit Cole for the past 3 months.
If we can develop strong SPs, we have a really good chance to contend in this division. Hopefully, our young hitters can mature as well.
A’s can’t go out and get Starting Pitching on the free agent market… but we have no offense either! Can we get that?
Dear A’s, go to your room, no soup for you. for some reason we can draft pitchers but not hitters… or we do, and then we trade them ala ethier and cgon… well kinda, since we traded for him
Michael Choice should be a great hitter. Meanwhile, I keep waiting for the Carter 1B to explode out of AAA.
choice is a beast, i hope he makes the big league club next year. Weeks seems to be the real deal too. I hope Carter can get it together here, it’d be nice to see him up next year with choice and weeks.
Carter is on the DL right now & Choice is striking out too much in high A ball. The way Mark Ellis is performing, Weeks is just a phone call away from the show.
Carter is hurt so it will be awhile for that explosion.Choice is struggling a bit in AA so far.Choice is the better prospect IMO…
Rendon or Cole
Well I hope the Pirates draft plan isn’t to draft the guy who’s hottest right now!!! I understand Rendon has had some injuries and Cole has had a couple rough outings but lets not base this decision on a couple week period. I’m hoping for Cole but would be OK with Rendon. If your allowed to trade down I think about Hultzen but that’s not in the rules. Please get this one right Pittsburgh!!!
I’m the opposite. Hoping for Rendon, but would be fine with Cole.
How would you feel about Hultzen?
I’m personally hoping that the Bucco’s take Cole. Any time you can get a guy who can throw it through a car wash without it getting wet…you gotta give him a go. Plus in a recent online chat with Pirates brass they expect Pedro to be at third for the long haul. I would be shocked if it’s not Cole. But then again they’ll probably draft Starling. Neil said it is the director of scouting’s final decision on who we take after all input. Who knows???