Base Hits: Draft Surprises, Draft Hysteria, The New Aubrey and Cal the Selfish

So late Monday night while everyone was waiting to see if the Nats would sign Stephen Strasburg, the Orioles received a much bigger surprise than the Nats would get. 2nd round pick Mychal Givens signed with the Orioles after all.

This deal looked dead as Dillinger in the days leading up to the signing deadline but it turns out that both sides (especially scouting director Joe Jordan) were just playing hardball.

Joe Jordan on the tough negotiations:

"I don't know if it was any tougher than anything else. It became apparent to us several days ago that this was going to go down to the end. And I had to put a negative spin on things and then try and hopefully create a situation where we could get it done."

I think there was another factor involved. Givens was committed to Oklahoma State and I would imagine that Joe Jordan's been there. I have. Maybe if Givens was committed to Miami or USC
Jordan would not have been so bold in negotiations. But I'm guessing he was counting on the kid taking the money instead of going to play ball out in the middle of nowhere for the next two years.

The Orioles signed 25 of their top 30 picks including 10 of the first 11. In the first 11 picks, Baltimore added:

2 college righty starters
1 high school righty starter
1 college lefty starter
1 high school lefty starter
1 college righty reliever
1 college catcher
1 high school catcher
1 college first baseman
1 high school shortstop

Not a bad haul, especially when you consider that they made some high upside picks in the later rounds.

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While we're on the draft, ESPN's Jayson Stark with a pro-owner/anti-player screed about how the draft is broken and needs to be changed. I don't like to pick on Jayson Stark since I used to read his work way back when in Outside Pitch. So I will agree with his assertion that draft picks should be able to be traded. Anything that gives the teams another avenue for building their farm system is fine with me.

I was going to write about Stark's rehashing of all the ideas many have thrown out to revamp the draft in recent years but Shysterball can do that better than I. (Good comments on this post too...)

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Baltimore lost an Aubrey but gained one last night when they recalled 1B Michael Aubrey from Norfolk.

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Matt Albers was sent down and Kam Mickolio was recalled from Norfolk.

Against all statistical evidence, I have believed (and still do) that Albers is a major league pitcher. He's got good stuff and just needs to learn to control it. It looked like he had turned a corner earlier this season but has fallen back to his old ways. I'm still pulling for the guy but if you can't find the plate, you can't really expect success...

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I found this story comparing the selfishness of Brett Favre to the selfishness of Cal Ripken during The Streak. I refuted the argument in the comments and it turned out to be pretty long. Here's my argument in favor of The Streak:

What everyone seems to forget about Ripken's streak is that he was easily the best choice to play shortstop, offensively and defensively, every day he came to the ballpark. In the days before Nomar, A-Rod and Jeter, a bat like Ripken's was invaluable for a shortstop and his glove was top notch, one of the best of his generation at short. I have always failed to see how the Baltimore Orioles would have been better off with Manny Alexander or Tim Hulett in the lineup. Batting slump or not, Ripken was always contributing stellar defense. A run saved is at least worth an RBI.

I have also failed to see how a game or two off would suddenly rejuvenate a "tired" player. If that was truly the case, one or two games aren't going to help. Ripken often had a better second half than first half over the course of his streak. He often left the game in blowouts to get some extra rest. To assume that he would have had better numbers with a couple of extra games off is quite a leap. Again, this argument forgets Cal's defense.

There wasn't much juicy to write about Cal over the course of his Hall of Fame career so writers fell back on two criticisms: 1) Cal's streak is hurting the team and 2) Cal is not a fiery leader and that's why the Orioles lose. Both were simple, silly and designed to sell papers, not provide analysis. Olney and Ken Rosenthal loved these angles.

Peter Handrinos (an unabashed Yankee fan) makes the assertion that Ripken's poor September cost the Orioles the AL East in 1989. What he fails to remember is that the 1989 Orioles were a ragtag team of rookies and journeyman. They were not expected to contend at all and played above their head all year. To blame their collapse on Ripken's streak is ludicrous. Trading away Mike Boddicker and Eddie Murray (for minor leaguers and spare parts) in 1988 doomed the '89 season before it started. Management did not believe in the team and started to rebuild. The Streak had nothing to do with it. Handrinos seems to want to enhance Lou Gehrig's streak by diminishing Cal's.

And Bobby Bonds' criticism is hilarious. Bonds was a hard drinking partier during his playing days and aged badly as a result, possibly ruining a shot at a Hall of Fame caliber career. Ripken was a diligent trainer and kept in top shape during his career. Which player was truly selfish? Which player was letting his team down? Ripken slept at night...you don't need as much rest when you get a good night's sleep.

Yes, Ripken was lucky to escape injury but as Seneca said, "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity." Ripken put himself in the best possible position to play every day. To compare Gehrig's streak and Ripken's in silly anyway; to even come close to Gehrig's streak, let alone break it, at shortstop instead of first base is far more impressive.

There’s certainly some room to wonder how historically important the streak was but to paint Cal as selfish in this regard is way off base, no pun intended.

The Oriole Draft 2009: What They're Saying

I am no draft expert and I'm no scout. So I won't pretend to be an expert about the first three picks the Orioles made yesterday. But what I will do is offer a layman's opinion on the picks and gather up opinions from the baseball blogosphere.

1st Round - Matt Hobgood - RHP - Norco HS (CA)

This guy was nowhere near the Orioles during mock drafts leading up to the draft. I only heard his name connected to the O's for the first time yesterday. If Brian Matusz was a pick that was going to move quickly through the system, Hobgood will be the opposite.

ESPN's Keith Law, a guy whose opinion I respect a lot, has said that, all things being equal, he would lean toward drafting high school pitchers these days because college coaches tend to overwork their best pitchers and drafting a guy out of high school gives a team more control over his development. That's what the O's have now in Hobgood.

Hobgood had been projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick so this pick may be a bit of a reach but the last two drafts have been good for Baltimore so I'll trust Andy MacPhail , Joe Jordan and the scouting staff for now.

Roch Kubatko gets Joe Jordan's first quotes about Hobgood:

Joe Jordan, the Orioles' director of scouting, deliberated between Matt Hobgood and Zack Wheeler before settling on the California high school product earlier this afternoon. He said signability wasn't an issue, but also believes Hobgood will be pitching "early in the summer" and could start out one level higher than normal for a prep selection.

If Jordan is telling the truth about Wheeler, this move is not a pure "signability" concern because Zack Wheeler (who pitches just down the road from me in Dallas, GA) wasn't considered to be a tough sign either. There's more:

"This is not a money saver," said Jordan, who compares Hobgood to Kevin Millwood. "I knew I would be asked that because this wasn't a name guy that people kept seeing every day in the paper. We scouted this guy all year long. I saw him the first time early in February and saw him a few times after that. It had nothing to do with money. Look at what we've done lately. This isn't about money. It's who I want and who our staff wants."

That seems pretty definitive. It is nice to see that they think this kid will sign before the deadline and play some ball this summer, probably in Bluefield or Aberdeen.

MASN's Steve Melewski has a link (that i guess was on Oriole's Hangout originally) to a video of Matt Hobgood and family leading up to his drafting.

You know you're getting old when 18-year old high school seniors look like middle schoolers to you. Dude still has braces!

From the Baseball Analysts live draft blog:

Rich: Hopgood was named the 2009 Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year yesterday. He is a big bodied pitcher who can also hit. Baltimore clearly liked him better than any other team. He is committed to Cal State Fullerton but is likely to be a fairly easy sign at this spot.

Marc: It's the first of the really surprising picks... but BA (Jim Callis) nailed it within an hour of the draft. A surprise that BAL went with signability this year after taking prospects like Wieters and Matusz in recent years.

In the Oriole blogosphere, nobody does the draft better than the guys at Camden Depot:

Not a huge fan of the pick, as we had Hobgood down in the Mid- to Late-1st Round range. We'll have more on Hobgood this evening -- to Jordan's absolute credit the raw materials are there for Hobgood to be a Joba Chamberlain-type talent. It will be interesting to see if he can follow Joba's lead with regards to trimming down some and attacking the pro lifestyle with vigor. Remember, Chamberlain didn't start to whip himself into shape until after a knee injury and three years of college. Jordan trusts his scouts, and I've liked his picks in the past, so he gets the benefit of the doubt from me -- I'd be curious to know why Wheeler was not the selection.

ESPN's Keith Law on today's chat:

Prep pitchers are unpredictable enough that calling taking the number-18 overall guy instead of the number-8 overall guy "embarrassing" would be wrong. Sure, I liked Wheeler more, and I would have taken him, but Hobgood is in the discussion.

And finally, Baseball America's Jim Callis from an ESPN chat today:

I think we were light on Hobgood all spring. Don't know if I'd put him right with the elite HS pitchers (Matzek, Turner, Purke, Wheeler, Miller), but he's not far behind. The Orioles say ability drove that pick, but his signability relative to the other HS arms couldn't have hurt.


2nd Round - Mychal Givens - SS - Plant HS (FL)

I'm a big fan of taking the best talent available (and givens may have been, I have no idea) but this origanization needs middle infielders and now we have one.

He was announced as a pitcher but Joe Jordan later stated they see him as a shortstop.

"We have a fallback plan, but that's what we're doing," Jordan said. "It's shortstop tools. He's a close to, if not above-average, runner. And he obviously has enough arm to play shortstop. I think there's power there down the road. He's an athletic kid."


3rd round - Tyler Townsend - 1B - Florida International

He played some outfield at FIU but these guys usually slip toward the wrong end of the defensive spectrum when they hit the pros. I'm calling him a first baseman.

Camden Depot:

Pure hitter with power upside. Almost certainly a 1B/DH, I'd imagine. Fine pick -- looks like Jordan and Baltimore had the same thought in looking for a power corner bat here.

Frost King Baseball has a thorough rundown of links about the Oriole draft.

Weaver's Tantrum isn't familiar with Matt Hobgood's body of work but isn't that impressed with the work he puts toward his body.