I see nothing illogical about what the Giants did.

With Jackson...the Giants under Sabean have made clear that strong defense up the middle is how they want to build a good team.  They signed Vizquel, Roberts and Matheny specifically for defense, and then when they signed Molina, it was the defense they quoted as to why, not the offense.

Also, as I've quoted before: drafting a good defensive catcher for a young pitching staff (especially ones who need to work on breaking pitch control) is like drafting a strong left tackle for your franchise QB.  I think every Niner fan can relate to that.

At 42, there weren't a large number of catchers available...there were two main options: A.) Grandal, a very good defensive high schooler who has MAJOR signability issues (as shown by how far he fell).  He also had explicit offensive questions as noted by MLB.com's scouting report.  Or there was B.) Canham, a guy I really liked who has even better intangibles than Williams and good offensive upside, but enough defensive questions that some thought he might not stick.

So, was it the good offensive player who might not stick at catcher, the high schooler with a high ceiling who probably wasn't going to sign, or the polished defensive catcher who could've been gone at 5 (no matter what BA thinks he was; as was pointed out to me so brutally and so often, teams will use the media to try and manipulate draft status)?

I don't see the Giants choice is out of character for them.  Whether or not it was an overdraft in talent, this was one case where it was better to overdraft and ensure you have than risk waiting and get a substandard part.

And how often do you see minor league free agents signed for short-season ball?

Culberson is a bit harder.  There wasn't the need there...of course, the Giants already had gotten Noonan.  I don't think this is a case of purely overvaluing someone.  Even BA admitted they had him 'a little low on their list' (while saying the Giants did have him high), and they do talk up his value.

Who did the Giants miss out on over him?  Obviously, Canham was still there, but with Jackson, he would've been superfluous.  Corey Brown is a legitimate talking point, though.  But beyond that?  Mangini was flawed; Fields had a bad year, Desme had injury issues, and Cozart had a lot of questions.  And heaven forbid the Giants had drafted Daniel Payne, whose MLB scouting report says Payne is the kind of athlete who gets dubbed as a "real baseball player" and then talks about him having instincts and being hard-nosed.  The people on here might think he has AIDS, pays off umpires and eats kittens with that sort of a description.

Bottom line: BA talked up Culberson a lot talent-wise, so he's not a bad player.  They also indicate the Giants had spent time looking at him recently and really liked him.

Maybe I would've taken someone else, but as has been brought up about Mills: The Giants looked at him in workouts right before the draft, and passed...thus they must have seen something.  I take the same logic: they didn't pick Culberson out of a hat, they saw something they liked, and they overpicked because they didn't feel he'd be there in the 5th.

I don't find that either hard to believe or a crime at all.  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

One other thing: the cheap thing.  First of all, how is drafting a high schooler late cheap against drafting a college player?  The high schooler has much more leverage in going back to school, and usually demand more.

Secondly, Culberson was open about his demands, they're right around $400,000, maybe higher.  The picks around 50 cost about $620,000 in the last year, so that $200K is appropriate.  It's not a world-saving amount.  $425K is about the 89 slot (where the Giants selected Tanner the following year), or, about one round's slot.  That's not a huge overdraft, money-wise.

It's not like this was unexpected, I'd been bringing up for a couple of weeks the gulf of picks between the sandwich round and the Giants next pick, and speculated they'd reach for who they liked.

I have no problem with that.  

According to that account, Culberson hit 6 homers with a wooden bat and impressed the Giants in that tryout.  

And presumably, the Giants could do additional things with him to "kick the tires" and do more due dilligence on seeing if they like his makeup and if he has "intangibles" they are seeking.  Get to know the young man they hope to draft.

So the Giants clearly has a leg up on any other team on how good Culberson is, since they are only one of two teams to get up close and personal with Culberson.  And given the Braves habit of drafting high school players in their local area, odds are they would have selected Culberson at some point, perhaps just before the Giants could select him in the 5th round, cause if the Giants thought he was good, probably the Braves would agree.

Given their private try out with him, I'm OK with the Giants "overdrafting" to get him.  Better to overdraft and have him, than to stick to principles and watch someone draft him away from you before you can draft him in the 5th round, presuming you didn't see anyone else you liked better than Culberson at #51.

According to a post-draft conference call with Sabean (on MLB.com somewhere), some reporter asked him if Boras was a factor in his picks, as Sabean avoided selecting Boras clients that many thought was a better talent, and Sabean froze him with a devastating curve by noting, "better according to whom?"  He stuck to the company line that has been said all season long about their draft picks:  talent first, sign-ability and agent is secondary.  They simply didn't agree that Boras's clients were better talents.

And time will tell if that is true or not.

But Boras is not the touch of Midas, there's always the example of Matt White, one of his clients drafted by the Giants and he screwed the Giants because there was an old rule that the prospect could declare free agency if the Giants didn't offer him some sort of documentation, maybe a contract of some sort, and so White became a free agent and sign a $10M contract with someone and basically flopped, I'm not even sure if he ever made the majors - served that team right for stealing our pick away.  

And do we need to mention all this Dodger signings, Dreifort, Brown, then Chan Ho Park to the Rangers.  He's probably as responsible for the Dodgers malaise during the late 90's as anyone with those pitchers sucking up a lot of payroll.  

Just because the Giants selecte prospects others don't like as much doesn't mean that they are overdrafting.