The Re-Incarnation of Live Thread

(12:30 PM) Heh, the Texas guys are all wearing the same shirt. Aaaand they just took Justin Smoak. Well, at least he won't be with the A's or the Dodgers.

I think Peter Gammons just said that Smoak is fully ambidextrous, except with his feet. Does that make him ambipedrous?

(12:38 PM) Oakland takes Jemile Weeks. Another overdraft, in my opinion.

(12:53 PM) The Dodgers take Ethan Martin. Selig looks like he doesn't want to be at the Milk House (heh) at all.

(1:26 PM) Andrew Baggarly with an article about Buster Posey.

(1:48 PM) 12 picks until the Giants select again. In the meantime, Posey now has his own Wikipedia page. If that doesn't say big-time, I don't know what does.

(1:59 PM) While we're waiting, I think it's time grace Posey with a nickname. Madison Bumgarner received MadBum from the McCoven within minutes of being drafted, so it's only fair if Posey gets the same treatment.

Starting off with the lame and obvious sobriquets:

• Buster "Ring Around the Rosy, A Pocketful of" Posey
• Busta Pose

And, that's all I got.


(2:39 PM) With the 37th pick, the Giants take Conor Gillapsie, a 3B out of Wichita State. Solid pick. From MLB DraftTracker:

He's a terrific hitter and has been over .400 for most of the year. His lack of power makes it hard to profile him anywhere other than a Bill Mueller-type third baseman. There are worse things to be, of course, and a team that values what Gillapsie can do will surely take him

From Goldstein and Bryan Smith, respectively:

A lot of people saw this as a first-round bat, but at the same time, there might be money problems. Giants looks to be ready to do the right thing in the draft.

San Francisco takes another player in Gillaspie in the sandwich round that’s going to hit for a good average and just a little power. I like Gillaspie quite a bit, though, and I think he’s really going to hit. The Giants really have improved their future today with Gillaspie and Posey.

(5:40 PM) Jim Barr has done a heck of a job with the draft so far. 4 rounds, 4 solid position players.

2008 MLB Draft Live Thread!

Whoo!

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(11:10 AM) Word is that the Devil Rays will pick Tim Beckham.

(11:17 AM) MLB.com predicts that the Giants will take Buster Posey, with Justin Smoak falling to 9 and the Washington Nationals. Come on, Giants, I want me some Smoak on the Water two years from now.

(11:23 AM) It's draft time!

(11:26 AM) From BA:

We feel good about our first four picks on the last Mock Draft: Beckham, then Pedro Alvarez to the Pirates, Eric Hosmer to the Royals and Brian Matusz to the Orioles. The problem with the mock draft is the Giants. They could go Justin Smoak, but BA’s Matt Blood reports from Orlando that he’s getting Buster Posey vibes at five.

(11:31 AM) BP reports that Posey may drop because of money demands. 12 million demands to be exact. Bluff?

(11:32 AM) The Tampa Bay Rays are on the clock.

(11:37 AM) The modern miracle of internet just failed me. Thanks a lot MLB.com. In any case, the Rays select Tim Beckham.

Now the Giants can't pick a promising high-school hitter and mess him up in their system. There's still Hosmer, though.

(11:42 AM) Pedro Alvarez is heading off to Pittsburgh. If Smoak wasn't available at 5, then I was hoping that Alvarez would drop. Oh well. Now this is where things get interesting. 1-2 were foregone conclusions, but the rest of the picks are up in the air.

(11:46 AM) Don't take Smoak, Royals. Don't take Smoak.

YES! Smoak is still on the board; Kansas takes Hosmer. Good pick. He has a real nice swing.

(11:50 AM) Choices: Smoak, Posey, G. Beckham.

(11:53 AM) The Giants are on the clock, the Orioles took Matusz. Smoak Smoak Smoak.

(11:59 AM) DAMMIT! Buster Posey.

(12:01 PM) Great. The Giants swap 30-40 home runs a year for maybe 10, "up the middle" defense, and $12 million draining out the their pocket.

(12:05 PM) What Goldstein says:

5. Giants take Buster Posey. If you heard Bud make the announcement, now you know why he goes by Buster. This is a fantastic pick at five for the Giants. Really great find at five, and I’ll bet anything right now that he doesn’t get $12 million from SF.

Because he'll get $11.9 million.

(12:08 PM) Okay, I'll stop being cynical now. It's not Posey's fault that the Giants can't address their needs properly. *coughcoughreadymadepoweratfirstcoughcough* Oops.

In all seriousness, Posey is a good pick. He has tremendous defensive potential and his power is decent. Pablo Sandoval will have a friend in A now.

Smoak is falling farther than I thought he would. The Reds and White Sox passed over him for Alonso and G. Beckham, respectively. Will Smoak fall to 37, perhaps?

(12:20 PM) Poor Smoak. I wonder why he's still sliding.

(12:22 PM) Why is it that all the draftee interviews are less-than-scintillating? You would think that they feel excited to be drafted by a major league team.

(12:25 PM) I'm going to throw something if the A's luck into Smoak (12). Something's going to burn if he falls into the Dodgers' laps (15). Oh geez, the Astros took Jason Castro. Overdraft.

Heralds of the 2008 MLB Draft

In no order: Alvarez, Posey, Smoak, T. Beckham, Hosmer, Matusz, G. Beckham

Time for a quick look around the blogosphere (yes, I said "blogosphere") for pre-draft day rumblings:

• BA has the Giants picking Justin Smoak. A first baseman who can hit for power and who can easily slide into the majors by 2010? Yes, please.
• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com goes with Buster Posey, who can hit for a little power but who is heralded for game-calling.
• BP and Anthony Goldstein projects Gordon Beckham, one of the two Beckham shortstops who can fill the Giants' gaping organizational holes at the position.
• RealGM sticks to the Giants' philosophy of stacking young arms and predicts Gerrit Cole at #5.
• The Giants have their eye on Kyle Skipworth, a high-school catcher, according to TSN.
• John Barr, the Giants' new scouting director, supposedly has Hosmer at the top of the draft board, followed by T. Beckham and Smoak.
  
• The Front-Row's brother blog hits big-time with their first Q & A with Justin Weyman. The former Penn State radio voice sheds some insight on several players who could don a Giants cap tomorrow.
• With all this attention given to the first round picks, you may start to wonder, what about the supplemental picks? Martin at OGC answers exactly that.
• For all the prognosticating and philosophying, only one source predicted 4 out of the first 30 picks correctly for last year's draft (I'm not counting David Price, who was the sure-fire #1 pick). The winner: John Sickels.

Get Some Coors Out of Your Fridge

Nellie's back!

Sliiider

Againts the Diamondbacks 5/28:

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
4	C. Jackson	85	Ball
5	J. Salazar	84	Ball
5	J. Salazar	83	Ball
6	C. Jackson	82	In play, pop-out
8	S. Drew	82	Ball

Not too much to speak of here, since Lincecum threw only 5 sliders. The only point of import to note is that he threw the slider to two lefties, Salazar and Drew, and one rightie, Jackson.

I don’t have the exact percentage, but I’ll take a wild guess that he throws the slider at a lesser clip than 17.9% and 13.6%, the respective rates for his changeup and curveball. Last season, those rates flip-flopped, because Lincecum gradually developed the change-up into one of his most effective pitches. As before, though the slider is this year’s “project pitch,” batters have not yet picked up on it. With the success he’s had so far, the number of sliders thrown should increase by the ending of the season.

Mo' Money Mo' Speights

What the Warriors need address during the offseason:

• rebounding, obviously
  
• backup point guard
• swingman

This year's draft class is weaker than last, especially outside the top 10. Even though the Warriors pick 14th, there is one player that can fill the void--Marreese Speights--who happens to fall right into the no man's land of the draft.



Speights, a legit 6'10 F/C out of Florida, has a developed body coupled with a long wingspan. Although he is still quite raw, which seems to be the theme of the draft, he was a highly productive player in college and has considerable upside. Two aspects of his game that would put him into Nellie's good books are his inside-outside game and his jumper.

How would he help the Warriors?

His wingspan lengthens the already stretchy frontcourt of Biedrins and Wright. The Warriors' big men aren't going to push anyone around anytime soon, so length will be the main focus to match the Lakers' Odom/Gasol/Bynum and frustrate the likes of Boozer and Duncan.

His jumper, as mentioned earlier, stretches the defense and allows Nellie to draw up some gimmick plays. If Wright can hone his jumper, imagine how difficult it would be for opposing teams to defend five players who can all stretch the floor. I realize that's putting conditional on conditional (if Wright actually plays, if Speights actually plays, if Wright and Speights actually play together), but it's nice to think about.

Additional links:
HoopsWorld: Pree explains Speights and the Warriors' other draft needs in a much more eloquent fashion than I do.
Draft Express
YouTube: Grainy and short, but displays Speights' athleticism

Ask the Magic Eight Ball

Mattel is the largest toy company in the world. You probably got a Hot Wheels car with your Happy Meal when you were 6. Nothing, though, not even the original 1959 swimsuit Barbie beats Mattel's Magic Eight Ball.

As we know, this spherical oracle is just a blue polyhedron floating in some liquid and is not meant for life decisions. But, it is pretty useful to determine the All-Star fate of a few chosen Gigantes.



Lessee, in 69.7 innings pitched pitched (including the rain-delay relief appearance), Lincecum has:

7-1, 2.33 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 76 K:28 BB

What good are numbers without some context?

• Every start he has pitched has been a quality start.
• The Giants are 6-0 when Lincecum starts after a loss.
• If the Giants continue their win rate for this season, they will win 69 games. If Lincecum continues his win rate, he will contribute 23 wins out of the 69.
  
• Currently, he is second only to Reds phenom Edison Volquez in ERA and tied with Volquez in strikeouts in the National League.

Barring an implosion of epic proportions, Lincecum is a lock for the All-Star team. Magic Eight Ball, you got it right.



Lincecum has a 2-to-1 shot at starting the All-Star Game. Him, Volquez, and Brandon Webb are the leading candidates, with Volquez in the lead at this point.



Last season, Molina had the numbers to make the ASG as at least a backup. But nooooo, Tony LaRussa favored Yadier instead. This season, his 10-game rampage with 23 hits, 15 RBIs, and .333 batting average is more than enough to make a case for a selection by Clint Hurdle.



Exactly. Geovany Soto leads the All-Star balloting, and rightfully so, followed by Brian McCann and Yadier. If Giants fans can overload the MLB's ballot counting computer, Clint Hurdle might select Bengie as a backup, though.



He's batting much better than I expected him to this season, given that he's played (or still playing) with an injured rib and has been beaned at least 3 times this season. Rowand has a previous All Star tag and his numbers are special enough for Hurdle to notice. The top 3 vote-getters so far are corner-fielders, so there is a chance that Rowand could make it as center-fielder.



* Thanks to the Magic 8 Ball