Scoresheet - Year 2 of Rebuilding Project

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Published on March 10, 2009

Anyhow, this was Year 2 of the rebuilding project. Year 1 was a mixed bag - as I knew going into the draft, I wasn't going to win last year, and that came to fruition. I skewed too young in the draft, but it did net me three keepers - Manny Parra, Yunel Escobar and Travis Snider. I was able to trade another 2008 draft pick, David DeJesus, into Matt Wieters. On the flip side, a pre-draft trade for Rich Hill blew up in my face, I failed to pull the trigger on a midseason trade that would have sent a slew of non-protects for a relatively early pick (around a 12th rounder or so), and didn't spin off Manny Ramirez for a guy that could have been a potential future cornerstone when I'm close to returning. A number of early picks also failed (Josh Fields, Carlos Ruiz, Chris Duncan and Joaquin Benoit were all in the first 14 rounds).

I think that I've learned a little more about building a competitive squad in such a tough environment. Here are my results.

|STAR| = keeper

Swingmen: Jorge Campillo, Clayton Richard (both currently targeted for the bullpen, but are essentially next in line to start for their respective teams)

RP: Matt Thornton, Francisco Cordero, Jensen Lewis, Steven Shell, Alex Hinshaw, Logan Kensing

C: |STAR|Matt Wieters, Kurt Suzuki, Shawn Riggans

1B: James Loney, Gaby Sanchez, (Yonder Alonso)

2B: |STAR|Aaron Hill, Aaron Miles

SS: |STAR|Yunel Escobar, Emmanuel Burriss, Brendan Ryan

3B: Ian Stewart, Aubrey Huff, (Matt Dominguez)

OF: |STAR|Manny Ramirez, |STAR|Travis Snider, David DeJesus, Denard Span, Dan Murphy, Travis Buck

I think that this a better effort than last year's squad - there's more playing time across the board. I should be able to handle more platoon situations. Defense is a problem - either Manny or Huff has to be in the field at any given point, and nobody really wants to see that. The problem is exacerbated once Snider is ready to play every day, as he's nobody's idea of a plus-defender. But I'm solid defensively up the middle and when Stewart plays at third base.

Drafting Buck when I did (Rd 24, pick 9) could be a pretty good value, but he's a luxury item. I'd have been better off taking another pitcher here instead.

Speaking of the pitching, I'm one starter short of being comfortable with my depth. I'll have to address that in the first supplemental draft (and we're having |STAR|five|STAR| two-round suppelementals this year, so I can address that depth issue more quickly).

Is this a contending team? Probably not - there's not enough elite hitters in the lineup, and there's too many things that have to go right (Snider stays up all year and continues off his September trial, Snell bounces back, Bailey reclaims his top prospect status, etc...). But I should be better and have plenty of assets to move for future picks or an upgrade among my keepers. In fact, Manny could be on the block right now for the right offer, as far as I'm concerned.