THE 2003 BCBL DRAFT
“The Real Poop”
Like the rites of Spring, its
time to predict the first round selections of our annual draft. (ALL IN GOOD FUN):
1)
Blacksburg: It appears the Buc’s fired the starting
staff, but kept the pitching coach when they made their roster cuts. Mark Prior, the second-coming of Roger
Clemens some say, would be a wonderful pick.
Logic says the Buc’s could use a good starting pitcher or two or four. History says differently. Except for that one time when Dennis shafted
the “Kid” by taking Jason Isringhausen, the Bucs like hitters and lots of
them. The Bucs could use a 3B-man and
Hinske fits the bill, but not withstanding any of the above, I will go out on a
limb as say it will be Mark Prior to buck (pun intended) tradition.
2)
Parkside: What to
do, what to do. This year’s version of
the once mighty Paladins is but a dim shadow.
Except for maybe SS, this team needs everything. Heck, they could probably use Marcus
Giles. Anyway, its always good to start
a massive rebuilding program with a power hitter and Austin Kearns is
that hitter and that is what Parkside will do.
3)
Boca Raton: The
Tigers could use a 1B-man or an OF, but none that are available are worthy to
go at # 3. Boca Raton is assembling a
good nucellus of a starting staff and Josh Beckett would give them
another potential # 1 starter to complement Roy Halladay. Solid pick.
4)
West Side: The
Wiseguys, in the middle of their decade-long rebuilding plan, have some good
starters, but have holes at SS, 3B and the OF.
Once Kearns is gone, nobody available will have an impact this year and
the SS position is too weak to waste a good pick on. Of the many things to like about Frank C., he
is also a White Sox fan. Of the four
good 3B-men available this year, Hinske is the most proven, but Crede came on
strong at the end of the year and the job is finally his to lose. Joe Crede will be the guy.
5)
Parkside: Like
West Side, the Paladins could use a good 3B-man. Of the three remaining, Burroughs appears to
be the best, but there is concern that he isn’t making an appreciable forward
progress. Blalock will hit and although
he could become a Jeff Kent-type hitting 2B-man if Texas moves him there to
make room for Teixiera, that’s not what I have in mind. Eric Hinske, although he may never hit
lefties, offers solid power and defense and solid is better than unrealized
talent any day of the week.
6)
Florida: The
Seminoles really don’t need much help, so they can cherry-pick. Now Lowell is solid 3B-man, but he’s not
really spectacular. With Crede and
Hinske gone, it appears Hank Blalock offers the combination of
high-average and good-power that anyone would love to have on their team. With Durham push the mid-30's, an eventual
move to 2B by Blalock would fit like a glove.
7)
Lake Michigan: In
recent history, the Landsharks have been knocking on the door several
times. Although they appear to be the
best team in the NL, one of several powerhouse AL teams would await them in the
world series. By comparison, some
additional offensive punch would help significantly. If Lake Michigan management agrees, the only
slugger that will provide a meaningful impact would be Josh Phelps. Given the Landsharks have three more picks to
take the best players available this move will help now and won’t hurt the
team’s future either.
8)
North:
Although the Twins’ OF is pretty uncertain at this point, Mike Cuddyer
will definitely see considerable playing time.
It would appear an OF spot somewhere is his to lose. Although Carl
Crawford has an open door to play this year, he is raw and untested. Cuddyer is a solid pick.
9)
Florida: The
Florida OF will perform just fine this year, but looking to the future, other
than Bergman they are getting old or in Erstad’s case are inconsistent. Carl Crawford would be nice pick here,
regardless of the fact that some nice starters are still available.
10)
Raritan: Once
Bob picks himself up off of the floor, he will blurt out the name Sean
Burroughs lickety split. After
trading Nevin several years back to God knows who for a bag of peanuts, the
Thunder will may have a solid 3B-man for the next 10 years. Burroughs will go nice with Sammy
Sosa...oops...he was also traded for a really big bag of peanuts.
11)
Lake
Michigan: After taking care of 1B with Phelps, the Landsharks can focus on the
best available player. In viewing the
draft landscape, it would appear that player would be Jake Peavy, the
best of a bushel full of good young pitchers the Padres have been growing
recently. This pick will be defiled by
the Surf for years to come.
12)
Woodcrest: At
one point, I believed Owls and Buccaneers management were related as both
avoided taking pitching like the plague.
In recent times the Owls have taken some good ones, most notably Mark
Buerhrle and Jarrod Washburn. Since all
of the elite OF’s and 3B-men have been grabbed, The Owls may decide to improve
the starting staff and if so Damion Moss would be the likely choice.
13)
Lake
Michigan: More picking for the future here and although his average won’t help
a lot this year, Kevin Mench had a decent rookie season and offers the
promise of better things to come in the future.
Take this one to the bank.
14)
Point Loma:
The Surf were silent in this year’s trading season, so the draft now offers the
only the avenue for improvement.
Although Point Loma has Steve Cox to handle 1B this year, he is offer to
Japan. In reviewing the roster the Surf
have no 2B-man, none. I t would appear
they would inclined to select Bobby Hill, who, although unproven, has
the biggest upside of the available second-sackers.
15)
Delray: Much
like The Seminoles, the Demons need not, but in the AL South division race,
every win will be important. Although
the starting staff has the likes of Schilling, Wade Miller and Matt Clement, it
is about 30 starts short of covering all 168 games with quality
appearances. I am guessing that Rodrigo
Lopez would solve that problem immediately.
16)
Raritan:
After dropping to the floor for a second time, Beardsley will again right
himself and nab 1B-man Nick Johnson, closing the lengthy void of
mediocrity since Keith Hernandez retired from the Thunder at age 64.
17)
Broward:
Luckily for Kevin, right about this time, brother Jim will be roll up to the
house in his 1963 VW Bug, just in the nick of time to make his own pick. After
trading Vizcaino away for a big bag of peanuts and noticing his starting
pitching staff is currently anchored by Steve Parris and Broward will grab (in
order for Kevin release his hands from his throat) John Lackey who will
immediately become the # 1, # 2 and # 3 starter for the Ballbusters.
18)
Fairfield:
The Foxes inherited a decent team, but it has some holes to fill. All the good 3B-men are gone and no catcher
is that worthy to be picked here, so Frank will opt to a speedy OF in the form
of Alex Sanchez.
19)
Maryland:
With only one pick in the regular draft, Daniel better get it right. With Sandy Alomar, Jr. as your only catcher,
it may be prudent to take another at this point. If so, the likely candidate would be Geronimo
Gil who has some punch and will start for the Orioles.
20)
Delray:
Positional age could be a factor with this pick as the Demons have good, but
aging veterans in Kent and Vizquel patrolling 2B and SS, respectively. A couple of good 2B-men are left, but neither
are going to be Ryne Sandberg. A low
first round is perfect time to try and hit a homerun. Although plenty of bad stuff has been said
about him, Angel Berroa could be it.
This could be a crash-and-burn pick, but maybe not.
21)
Lake
Michigan: As a Cub fan, Lary may not be able to resist grabbing Carlos Zambrano
with this pick. Huge upside, especially
if he can keep his walk ratio to a reasonable rate.
22)
Boca Raton:
Mike will be quite pleased that Carlos Pena slipped all the way to pick
# 22. Beckett and Pena in the first
rd? Not bad.
23)
Devon: The
Motorheads were pretty inactive in the trading market this year, most probably
due to having to spend large amounts of time negotiating all those Bug Tussle
trades. Devon is getting older in a
hurry and the only position worthy of being upgraded with this pick is 2B and
if so, I think it will be Orlando Hudson who already talks a good game.
24)
Alaska: After
retiring as Commissioner, the BCBL greatly anticipated Rick’s wild,
off-the-cuff articles accusing everybody of something, would be flying of the
presses. It appears the pen has dried up
or Rick is spending all his free time building some kind of
environmentally-safe nuclear device. The
Outs are in a phased rebuilding mode and with Eric Milton going down for a
considerable period of time (traded for him as a result of a Jedi mind trick),
Alaska may start by rebuilding the starting staff with the selection of Brett
Myers.
Well there it is. I only hope that I didn’t miss someone good
like Keith Osik who is sure to show in Courter’s annual draft article.
Bob Madiar...
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