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Wednesday, September 27, 2017

The Choices That Define a Franchise

A common talking point with some of my baseball fan friends is the draft.  We always enjoy playing the "what if" game. Some years are easy with the likes of the the Trout's and Pujols, but every team passed on them. The years that hurt are the ones where you miss on your first round pick and one of the picks close to there turn into complete studs.  

In 2008 the Pirates had the second overall pick. They had been linked to Pedro Alvarez for quite some time leading up to the actual pick so it wasn't a big surprise when they took him. While some scouts were skeptical of his swing, the pick was by no means considered a reach.  

The Royals would go on to take Eric Hosmer with the third pick which in hindsight would have been pretty nice.  The big one was the 5th overall pick by the Giants when they took Buster Posey.  Oh how I would love the Pirates to have Posey. 

Pedro wasn't without some nice moments, but his career got derailed when he started to get the yips at third base.  At peak he could put up a 3 WAR season, but once the defense went he became replacement level.  

Still to this day I will try and search for some new Pedro cards. He only signed a few times during his Pirate tenure so with no autos to chase it was pretty much base and some patch cards.  Last week I finally snagged a center piece type of card for under $10

 2016 Museum Collection Quad Patch /5

Pretty fancy!!! 
2015 Panini Elite Pedro Alvarez Auto

This is pretty much it for him with autos. A pretty nondescript ugly card that I paid $2 for.  I think he may have signed a few things once he became an Oriole, but I'll stick to this lone auto. 

Do you ever play the what if game in regards to the draft?

Thanks for reading. 

19 comments:

  1. Only $10 for the sweet patch card? What a steal!

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    1. Yeah I was happy to add the card. These are the type of high end cards I enjoy.

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  2. Nice patch! Are you not including his Razor Letterman autos because they're unlicensed?

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    1. I definitely have some autos from the Razor set. I was just referring to cards with him in the Pirate uniform.

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  3. Sweet patch. I think as fans it's hard not to play the "what if" game. Although... if I could, as an A's and Padres fan... I'd avoid it altogether.

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    1. The A's have actually produced a decent amount of high end talent they just can't keep it around. They need a new stadium!!!

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  4. Joey Votto instead of James Loney AND Greg Miller in 2002....sigh.

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    1. Yeah Votto was a big miss by a lot of teams. Plus the guy is one of the biggest students of the game. He has a good opportunity to age well and not make that huge contract look so bad.

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  5. 2008, the very same draft where the Yankees drafted Gerrit Cole with their number one pick (and we both know the rest of that story).

    Meanwhile after NYY picked Cole there was... a lot of nothing actually. Unless you consider missing out on Casey Kelly (top BOS prospect sent to SD in the Adrian Gonzalez trade who went on to be nothing) and Lonnie Chisenhall a huge failure (it's not).

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    1. 2008 was very weak for sure. Lot of good players decided to go to college and only a few of the first round picks had significant mlb time.

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  6. Nah, I am happy the Twins picked Mauer instead of Mark Prior.

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    1. Mauer has had a great career. Imagine taking away the concussion issues.

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  7. As an NBA fan, the fact that Michael Jordan was taken third, after Sam Bowie, is a topic that comes up several times a season.

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  8. The dodgers took Bill Bene in the 88 draft, passing on robin Ventura and a chance to solidify the hot corner for a decade or so. I was very disappointed.

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  9. I had no problem with the Pedro pick because the power seemed legit. I thought we were getting the next Mike Schmidt, but with worse defense.
    Danny Moskos, the year before though....aaaaargggghhhh. I wanted Wieters or Mesoraco. I really wanted a catcher in the system badly and I think that's why I fell in love with the idea of Tony Sanchez in 2009. I wasn't crazy about Posey from what I remember. I guess that's why I'm not a scout tho

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    1. Baseball is still the hardest sport to draft in. It is too bad we didn't tank harder and we could have had Harper and Strasburg....

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  10. That patch is a beauty! I love the thievery of it all! Very "piratey" of you.

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