Monday, June 06, 2011

Monday Questions

As part of a vain attempt to get back to writing about sports despite a pretty slow pace of things so here's the attempt/

1. MLB Draft

The MLB Draft has long lagged the hype and coverage of the NBA Draft or NFL Draft although that seems to be changing as of late - This year I think the interesting question surrounds Arizona - who is the first team to have 2 picks in the top 7. Obviously that's not enough to turn around a franchise but it does seem a huge opportunity.

2. BoSox Rebound
It seems like only a few months ago that the Red Sox were flailing about in putridity. However they have rebounded handily, sweeping the Rays , and now stand only one game back from the Yanks. It will be interesting to see how active they are in the trade market given their off-season acquisitions.

3. NBA Draft
Speaking of top picks, all eyes should be on the Cavs with their # 1 and #4 picks. However the #4 pick is really dependent on the crazy machinations of Kahn and Minnesota. What will they do? Make a pick? Fling feces? Who knows...

4 comments:

MJ said...

I heard about a week ago that the Cavs were interested in trading for the #2 pick overall as well.

On the one hand, I think that's inspired genius: none of the players on the current roster are anything absolutely worth holding onto since, whatever the Cavs become after this rebuilding phase, will likely not include many or most of these current players.

On the other hand, I see the following flaw in trading for the #2 pick and having three of the first four picks of the 2011 NBA Draft: this year's draft class just isn't that good so why commit money and time to developing players that aren't even necessarily better than the ones you'd be giving up?

MJ said...

As to MLB draft, it'll never be the spectacle that NBA/NFL drafts are because most people haven't heard of the draft prospects and because after they're drafted, they go to the minors where they're mostly forgotten about for a few years before they re-emerge (if they re-emerge...).

As for Arizona, most of the mock drafts I've seen have them taking college pitchers which is generally the second-safest pick (after college hitters). Drafting two college pitchers in the top 10 could actually turn around a franchise quite rapidly if both players achieve their talent ceilings. Adding a Danny Hultzen/Trevor Bauer (the two most commonly-associated names with the D-Backs) to a young but improving rotation of Kennedy/Hudson and one day adding 2007 first rounder Jarrod Parker to the rotation all within 12-24 months of tonight's draft could actually turn the D-Backs into the division's best team.

Mighty Mike said...

The trades I've seen would be the Cavs giving up the #4 pick plus some parts of trade-exception, eating contracts, players, in exchange for the #2 pick. So same # of picks but difference being having the #2 instead of the #4. That said there seems to be a lot of flux with Minnesota and Utah so it might that the player they want is still there at #4....

Gutsy Goldberg said...

just to follow up on Mighty... there's a chance for my dream scenario of Minnesota now taking Enes Kanter at #2, Utah taking a PG, and the Cavs getting Derrick Williams at 4! That would be awesome! Of course, Minnesota may also just trade out of their pick.

Also, maybe David Kahn will just trade down 2 spots in exchange for a steak dinner the day of the draft, who knows.