Grading the Draft

Someone should tell AC you don't get points for defense.

With the 2009 CWFLB Draft all but over, it's time to get out the red pen and do some grading. In-draft trades may affect grades. In no particular order...

Snapdragons (3B Alvarez, 1B Morrison, C Santana, SP Walden, SP Latos, 1B Carter, SP Holt) -- One of the league's newbies made a good first impression in his first supplemental draft, taking the opportunity to build a strong farm system in the eyes of Baseball America. The team came out of the expansion draft with mostly flying colors and Pedro Alvarez, Logan Morrison, Carlos Santana, Jordan Walden, Matt Latos and Brad Holt (who's apparently been compared to Mike Pelfrey as if that should impress anyone) make for a strong young nucleus, any of whom (Holt excluded) could vault into top-10 prospect status next year. Alvarez is a stud, but with these 7 prospects aren't going to help a team that has a very real shot at the playoffs this year. GRADE: B

MattroStars (SP Ynoa, SP Marshall, OF Dukes, 1B Alonso, C J.Montero, OF/1B Morales) -- The Stars' offseason netted them Chipper Jones and the 1.2 pick where they reached for Michael Ynoa. The 17-year-old has been called "the best Latin American prospect in a decade," and he aims to get to the majors by 19 like new teammate King Felix. Of course that's if everything goes right, but he's a long way off and a lot can go wrong. Still, the upside is undeniable. 6-foot-7 teenagers who throw in the mid-90s don't exactly grow on trees. The stars also went young with 18-year-old "catching prospect" Jesus Montero. Montero has no shot at being a catcher, but the bat is special and advanced for his age. 1B prospect Yonder Alonso, the No. 7 overall pick in the MLB draft, could be a .300/.400/.500 1B if he proves he can handle lefties. The rest of the draft saw the Stars go after some talent that can help them now. SP Sean Marshall, 26, leads the running for the fifth starter job on a good Cubs team. OF Elijah Dukes, 24, is a 20-20 to 30-30 candidate depending on who you talk to. Cuban Kendry Morales, 26, takes over for Texy in Anaheim. He put up monster numbers in winter and spring but has yet to prove he can handle the majors. GRADE: B

T-Baggers (SP Matusz, SS/2B G. Beckham, RP Bell, DH Cust, C Hernandez, 2B Hill, two TBA) -- The biggest prize from the T-Baggers draft didn't turn out to be a pick at all but rather 1B Mark Teixeira, who along with 2B Gordon Beckham and injured SP Kelvim Escobar, came over from the DLB for a package of SP Johnny Cueto, SP Trevor Cahill, 1B Justin Smoak, OF Jermaine Dye and a pick that turned out to be 2B Felipe Lopez. The Baggers filled two holes, Beckham at 2B and Heath Bell at closer. It netted them the stud bat their lineup desperately needed. And they did it without having to break up the 3 L's, Lincecum, Lackey and Lester. Not to mention adding Matusz and Escobar. This is a team on the rise my friends. It took them a few years to rebuild, but rebuild they have. They're one of several Dykstra Division teams with serious playoff aspirations. GRADE: A

Elephant Balls (OF Choo, RP Devine, 3B/C Inge, 3B Moustakas, SS Greene) -- The E-Balls sleepwalked through this one, taking the highest ranked MLB player as expected in Choo, who had a monster second half. 3B Mike Moustakas was his draft's saving grace. Devine is the potential A's closer, but he's hurt. Otherwise, Brandon Inge seemed like an autopilot pick, especially for a team with Jorge Posada in a year with so many good catching prospects. Khalil Greene won't play over Jeter at SS. The worst part of the draft, and what earns them this grade, is keeping non-prospects Deolis Guerra and Chuck Lofgren instead of drafting better. The E-Balls say baseball is just something they do to pass the time in between football championships. We say "thanks for the donation." GRADE: D

Daddy's Little Boys (1B Smoak, 3B Kouzmanoff, SP Niemann, 2B Lopez) -- Justin Smoak could be the next Texy, but Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jeff Niemann don't have particularly high ceilings. The big haul for the DLB came via trade, adding SP Johnny Cueto and SP prospect Trevor Cahill to an already strong rotation. Still, last year's lineup of McCann, Texy, BJ Upton, Drew, M.Cabrera, Soriano, Crawford, Bay, Ortiz seems a lot more formidable than McCann, M.Cabrera, Cano, Drew, Kouzmanoff, Soriano, Crawford, Upton, Dye. If the DLB rotation weren't so strong, this could be a step back to take two steps forward kind of year. But there's still too much talent there for them not to repeat as division champs, especially in the inferior Mookie Wilson Division. GRADE: B-

Bashful Satanists (3B Wallace, C Posey, SP Brackman, 3B Beltre, OF Joyce, C Shoppach, RP Lowe) -- Brett Wallace and Buster Posey are already top-20 prospects, and both being of the college variety, are poised to help the Satanists sooner rather than later. Brackman is 6-10 and flirts with triple digits, but he's a 23-year-old returning from a failed basketball career, hasn't dominated since high school and walked 25 in 34 Hawaiian Winter League innings. In other words, high risk, high reward. It's an Adrian Beltre contract year, but this time he doesn't have the juice to help him out. Looks like Heck sees the same things in Joyce that Tampa Bay did when they dealt Edwin Jackson for him. I'll believe it when I see it. Shoppach's a part-time player, but Lowe could sneak away with the Mariners closing job, not bad for the 72nd pick in the draft. GRADE: B+

Limerick Lynchmob (SP Purcey, RP Gonzalez, SP Wolf, SP Davis, OF Fowler, OF Crisp) -- An oft-injured closer in Gonzalez, an oft-injured outfielder in Coco Crisp, the next Coco Crisp and three back-end rotation guys make up the Mob's underwhelming draft. The Mob also played their part in the longest 5th round draft pick in league history. Definitely safe picks that provide some much-needed depth, but there's not much upside here. Still, it should be enough for yet another second place finish if they can fend off the Satanists behind the DLB in the Mookie Wilson Division. GRADE: C

Brooklyn F'ing Blunted B (SP Zimmermann, 1B Blalock, RP Franklin, SS Valaika) -- Jordan Zimmermann is a potential top-of-the-rotation fixture, although that might not mean much until the Nationals start winning. From there, their draft went downhill, nabbing retread Hank Blalock who has hit when he's healthy outside of a brutal 2006. Ryan Franklin is a waste of a pick and while Valaika might actually be a better pick than Gun Show first-rounder Elvis Andrus, for a SS prospect, he's a good 2B. GRADE: C

Isotopes (SP Kawakami, SP Lannan, 1B Sanchez, SP Davies) -- Having traded their second-rounder, only Kawakami is likely to help them much this year, but for a guy that's compared to Kiroki Kuroda, that should be a big help. The others have some upside, but that's about all they have. The Topes did their damage pre-draft, adding Ortiz and Dunn to a lineup that already included Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. GRADE: C

AC's Gun Show (SS Andrus, OF Francoeur, OF Schafer, SP Betances, 2B Cabrera, RP Koji Uehara, 1B Baker) -- AC & JB built the original, pre-destruction Gun Show squad by filling their roster with high ceiling prospects. This Gun Show teams seems to have filled theirs by reading the headlines on MLB.com. In reality, Andrus is a defensive SS whose ceiling is Edgar Renteria. Francoeur still looks lost after a horrific year. Schafer is an admitted steroid-user. Cabrera is a backup fantasy 2B, Uehara is a Japanese middle reliever and Jeff Baker isn't even starting for the Rockies. This draft looks like there was as much thought put into it as there was in destroying the team. GRADE: F

Jackrabbits (RP Hanrahan, RP Motte, RP Nunez, RP Corpas, RP Soriano) -- Well that's one way to address a weakness. If everything goes right, the Rabbits could have 8 closers. Unfortunately it's much more likely they have 2 closers and 6 setup men as only Joel Hanrahan and Brad Ziegler are the favorites for a closing gig. They now employ more relievers than starters, and that's counting Rich Hill has a starter. Put more simply, more than 1/3 of their roster is dedicated to relievers and more than 1/4 to current setup men. In a year where closers were devalued, I'm not sure that this is the best strategy. GRADE: D

Hell's Kitchen Herzogs (SP Huff, 2B DeRosa, SP Mazzaro, SP Harrison, SP Hampton) -- The Herzogs pitching staff was raided in the expansion draft so they set about fixing it by going after some MLB-ready prospects. David Huff, Vin Mazzaro and Matt Harrison are all back-of-the-rotation prospects at best. Mark DeRosa is underrated and eligible at several positions. Unfortunately one of them isn't starting pitcher. GRADE: C-

The H Tree (1B Hosmer, SP Arrieta, 3B Encarnacion, 3B Viciedo, RP Arredando, OF Schumaker, SP J.Garcia, SP Bonser) -- The H Tree draft started early by netting top-20 prospects OF Mike Stanton and SP Chris Tillman from the MattroStars for the 1.2 pick and Chipper Jones. The Hosmer pick makes that three top-20 prospects. Arrieta was among the top prospects at the time of his pick. Encarnacion and Viciedo fill the 3B hole nicely, but the rest is waiver wire fodder. This grade includes Stanton and Tillman. GRADE: B+

Norris Slum Lords (SS T.Beckham, SS Cabrera, SP Moyer) -- Another team who dealt for help pre-draft, the Lords netted SP Michael Bowden and RP James McDonald from the DLB. No team has ever made as much noise with a more insignificant draft, and they'll always be remembered for the one-hour 5th round pick thanks to the Jake McGee trade, non-trade, trade. Getting Beckham with the 13th pick was a blessing in disguise as the Lords also wanted the light-hitting Andrus. Cabrera's a capable stopgap and Moyer is waiver wire fodder. They've gotten better, but they're still not a playoff team. GRADE: C