The diaries have been bursting with draft link goodness for a couple of links now. Here's the MVN mock draft, the Minor League Ball community draft, and an MLB.com mock draft. Here's a link (subscriber-only) to Joe Sheehan explaining why he's voting for Rafael Furcal at shortstop on his All-Star ballot, and here's a link to a YouTube video of "In Da Club" remixed with "Yakity Sax" as the background music. Neither of the last two is relevant to this particular post, and they're only related to each other by sharing a unique brand of inanity. I just thought I'd share while in mad linking mode.
Of the mock drafts, though, the one that caught my attention was the one from MLB.com, which has the Giants going for three pitchers in the first round. If that were to happen, this site would resemble the scene from Airplane! where Julie Hagerty asks if there are any passengers who know how to fly a plane. The Giants need hitting. There are hitters available. It almost seems like the second no-brainer in the history of mankind.
But there are some forces of nature at work, too. The Giants haven't drafted a first-round quality hitter since Matt Williams, depending on how much credit you'd want to give Bill Mueller's peak. The Giants haven't drafted a first-round quality outfielder since Chili Davis. They have a long history of not producing hitters, and I feel as if I should win some sort of award for pointing this out for the first time.
The Giants know what they're doing with pitchers. Early rounds, late rounds; it doesn't matter. The Giants current staff has three starters picked in the first round, a closer picked in the first round, a setup man who was the first player from his draft class to make the majors, and various other relievers have come out of the system as needed. They've also sprinkled quality pitchers around the league like organizational dandruff. It seems like every team has a former Giants draftee making a difference for their pitching staff.
The logic: If the Giants can only draft quality pitchers, they should draft pitching and trade it for hitting as needed.
The difficulty: The Giants haven't shown any idea that they can follow through with a plan like that, that they would want to follow through with a plan like that, or that they could succeed with a plan like that. Part of trading good pitchers for good hitters is recognizing what constitutes a good hitter.
The twist: I can't imagine Brian Sabean sticking around for too much longer. So whoever takes his job will make the decision on what to do with an organizational surplus.
Comment starter: What to do? Best player available? Concentrate on the top hitters on the board, even if that means a couple of overdrafts? Go with pitching, as that's what the organization has proven it can develop?