Baseball Update: MLB Draft & More

The MLB Draft Starts Tonight: The MLB Draft starts tonight and the Pittsburgh Pirates are on the clock. Jonathon Mayo of MLB.com is already saying the Pirates will draft pitcher Gerrit Cole out of UCLA with the first overall pick. Of course Pirates fans already hate this pick because the Pirates have made bad selections in the past. Also here's Mayo's final mock draft. Mayo has always had a great track record at predicting who will go where, so I trust this mock draft.

From everything that I have read about this year's draft, there isn't a consensus number one overall pick but the draft is deep with talent. That's why I'm interested in this year's draft. While the Giants pick near the end of the first round, they should be able to get a talented player. Oh yeah, there's a Lincecum clone in this year's draft.

"What if?":  I'm a sucker for the "What if?" game. It was my favorite part of the Bill Simmons basketball book. It's always fun to look at the past and think in hindsight. That's exactly what Peter Gammons did today concerning the MLB Draft. My favorite "What if?" question Gammons asks is, "what if the Royals had selected Mike Schmidt over George Brett in the 71 draft? The Royals could have also selected Jim Rice in that draft. Not that the Royals made the wrong pick, but could you have imagined Schmidt in Royal blue or Brett in Phillies red?


Mount Zambrano Erupts: Getting away from the draft, Mount Carlos Zambrano erupted last night. The Cubbies were swept yesterday by the Cardinals and lost their second consecutive game by a walk-off. Zambrano had enough and went off on his team: "The problem wasn't Pujols," Zambrano said. "The problem was [Theriot's] at-bat. We should have known better than this. We are playing like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team and the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing, that's the word for this team."



Zambrano is right of course. The Cubs are embarrassing and their announcer Bob Brenly agrees with everything that Zambrano is saying.

Trade Targets, Pitchers: Fangraphs is looking at trade targets and their targets for pitchers make me cringe. I wouldn't trade for Erik Bedard if you gave him to my team for free. The other guys Dave Cameron mentioned like Jason Marquis and Jeremy Guthrie aren't exactly names that will get you excited, but their solid pitchers who can solidify your rotation.

30/30/100/100 Club: Guess how many Hall of Famers had 30 home runs + 30 stolen bases + 100 Runs + 100 RBIs in a single season? If you guessed one out of twenty one, then you are a winner. Hank Aaron is the only hall of famer in this exclusive club that includes Jeff Bagwell out of all people. Yes Jeff Bagwell stole 30 bases in one season. Guys like Howard Johnson and Bobby Abreu are also in this club.