princeton's official 2004 draft

sorry for the late post, but I was in meetings the past two days. Every year I post a cyberdraft, except for last year when I surprisingly agreed with the Reds' choices. I still suspect that they drafted Pauly just to quiet me.

the reason that I do this is to figure out in a year or two to find out if anyone with a BA subscription could do better.

2004 was a rather unique situation for the Reds, since we were 12G above .500 with the best record in the NL when the draft began, in spite of obvious pitching deficiencies. So let me say this right off: I'd have called Boras's bluff and drafted Jered Weaver, because he fits the Reds' needs so well. I'd have offered him about $3.6mill or whatever MLB dictates for best pick in draft, gave him some backend guarantees, and offered him an immediate 25man spot so that his clock to arbitration starts ticking right away. If the Reds ever want to move him off the 25man, we'd have to compensate him richly. Such a contract gets him a year or more closer to earning FAcy than he would if he held out, while the Reds are one piece closer to figuring out what they need to compete. It's good for him, good for the Reds. If he turns it down, then so what-- we'd sign someone else, and prevented a horrendous signing bonus from happening at the same time. There were plenty of slipping talents that first round money could have been thrown at instead.

but since it's possible that the Reds FO was under orders to stay away from Weaver, I'll give a more "reasonable" draft with which we can compare the Reds' latest effort. Here goes:

1. Wade Townsend, RHP (went to Baltimore). Fastball's a bit slow but he wants the ball when the game's on the line. Close enough to the majors that he might be able to help while we still have Dunn and Kearns
2. Mike Ferris, 1b (went to St Louis). Sounds like Ben Broussard
3. Russ Ohlendorf, RHPer (went to Arizona). Fresh arm, fellow alum
4. Andrew Kown, RHPer (went to Detroit). Velocity climbs, like Jose Acevedo's
5. Troy Patton, LHPer(went to Houston). HSer yuk, lefty yeah


I still think that Weaver could have proved to be a key piece of a team with Dunn and Kearns in place. I know that I'll watch him closely to determine if he was a missed opportunity

mods, feel free to archive. Makes it easier for my fellow zoner's to throw this back at me

hey princeton, when do the other 45 rounds come out? :MandJ: :GAC:

I liked Ohlendorf from what I've read on him. Don't know too much about the others. After reading what you wrote, Weaver would have made sense for the Reds to go that route. Hard to pass on a guy that could have arguably gone #1 overall when you're picking #8.