The problems with rushing draft picks, Southside Eckstein, Pods Back On The Market, and the Price On Dontrelle Willis.

The Problems With Rushing Draft Picks

One of the things that I’m noticing in recent years is the rushing of draft picks.

Usually, this is done with relievers, who are viewed to be almost ready made, a practice that has gone back since the Nationals brought up Chad Cordero months after being drafted.  However, this practice is taking it's toll on the prospects, mostly because teams feel that these college kids should be ready to start immediately.

This has recently been found out the hard way by the Detroit Tigers, who are now paying the price of rushing Andrew Miller, who has been awful his last few starts.  The warning signs were there with Miller, who has walked more batters than he struck out and was regarded to be still raw coming out of college.

A better example would be Craig Hansen and Joey Devine, two players selected in the 2005 draft that were called up to the Majors quickly.  Too quickly.

Devine was destroyed in limited time with the Braves and only recently has begun to show signs of coming out of his shellacking.  Hansen isn't as fortunate and is in danger of possibly being dealt or cut by the Red Sox, who made the mistake of calling him up too soon.

Often times Clubs will be a bit overdependant on their system to provide them with help in their hours of need, oftentimes too soon for the kids to do much good.

And often times, those kids may never recover.

So, let it be a lesson, even a cautionary tale, of why sometimes you might need to look elsewhere rather than within, less you render your own internal asset useless for the rest of the future.

Eckstein Southside?  Sounds Like A Disaster.

According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, shortstop David Eckstein has become the top off-season target of the White Sox, who are now tired of Juan Uribe’s lack of production (is it possible to be out hit by Adam Kennedy?  It’s starting to look like it.) 

I’m not sure if that’s a great idea, even if the shortstop market is looking dismal.  Eckstein will be 33 heading into next season, and he’s begun to break down, with more and more time on the DL due to injuries.  Big money would be a mistake, especially when you consider that Eckstein lacks lower and as a leadoff man is very depended on slapping the ball and hoping his speed will let him beat it out.  That’s not going to last much longer, especially as he begins to lose speed next year.

Another nugget to consider is that Eckstein may be classified as a Type A Free Agent, and would warrent the White Sox surrendering their Second Round Pick, something that the Whtie Sox may give pause to, especially as they begin what is likely a rebuilding process that will require all the high picks it needs.

The White Sox, really, should begin to look around at the various farm systems in the league (Kenny Williams has scouted several systems and knows the prospects he wants from each one religiously) to see if there is any way to net a shortstop prospect that is near ready, but blocked.  A young player would be much better as it would give the White Sox payroll flexability and the potential to groom another face of the franchise around them.

Pods Back On The Market

Scott Podsednik is going to be available soon.

The White Sox have begun playing Josh Fields in left field.  This likely means that

Joe Crede will be brought back for his final season.

Podsednik is out of a job, as the White Sox have fallen in love with Darin Erstad (big mistake) as their fourth outfielder.

Does Pods have any value?

Some, but not enough to start him.  He'd make a decent fourth outfielder on a team that has several established ones and he's got the speed to be a decent pinch runner.  With his stock down, his price will be cheap as well.

Pods has really had only one good year, but beyond that, he's prett y much useless as a starter.

And to think, I got the most hate mail over my view of Pods as a backup.

Heh.

The Price On Dontrelle

Dontrelle Willis has had a difficult season in Florida, and with his price increase coming in arbitration, followed by Miguel Cabera's impending raise, Willis could finally be out there for the taking.

The Marlins have kinda messed up this situation a bit, as Willis was at the peak of his value last off-season and would have netted a nice haul.  However, Willis has lost some of his luster and teams may be less willing to give up the farm for him.

However, there still will be a great deal of suitors, as Willis is a power pitching lefty on the right side of 30 and has a reputation for being a horse as well as an innings eater.  Someone will bite.

The Marlins have indicated that they want pitching and catching in return in exchange for Willis.  Is there a match?

Somewhat.

The Mariners have catching prospect Jeff Clement to offer up and potentially Wladmir Baltentin, a centerfielder, that they could offer back, but no real pitching of consequnce.

The Mets could offer up an outfield prospect and potenitlally Philip Humber and Mike Pelfrey, but no real catching prospects exist in that organization.

The Rangers could offer back Gerald Laird, who has been displaced by Saltalamacchia, but the Marlins would demand Salty instead, along with top prospect Eric Hurley, a package that would scare off the Rangers.

The Yankees will likely be mentioned, but will only offer up end of the rotation starters such as Tyler Clippard and Jeff Marquez, while the Marlins would demand either Ian Kennedy or Joba Chamberlain.

The Dodgers could be interested, but their only real prospect of value of Clayton Kershaw and he's untouchable.

Perhaps the Rockies and Diamondbacks, teams in need of starting pitching, could make an offer with some of their depth of positional prospects, but no pitching options are available to make a fit possible.

The Marlins are thus in a touchy spot.  They could let Willis leave after this year and reap the two comp draft picks, but if he's signed by a crappy team, all they'll get is a second rounder and a sandiwch pick.  If they trade him, they'll want to get what Willis was worth last season, and not what he's worth then.

So, it's going to be interesting to see how the Marlins operate this, to put it lightly, delicate situation when they've handled so many of their public relations issues with bazookas.

ESPN The Magazine's Tim Kurkjian reported on The Dan Patrick Show that the White Sox were "extremely close" to trading for Nationals outfielder Alfonso Soriano.  The asking price is likely starting pitcher pressed into relief Brandon McCarthy.  In my opinion, if this goes down, it's likely that a Player To Be Named Later would also be included into the deal.  If the White Sox do get Soriano, it's likely that Scott Podsednik will be shifted to centerfield in order to take the underperforming Brian Anderson's place. 

What this would do for the White Sox is give them an even more monsterous lineup that they already have.  The amount of runs that Soriano would supply batting fifth behind Jim Thome and Paul Konerko is almost astounding.  And while I doubt that the White Sox will retain Soriano (he's almost certainly going back to the Yankees), this type of deal would pay off very well in the short term.

However, I wonder what this would do to the White Sox in the future.  McCarthy's got a great arm and would be a solid No. 2 starter on any team.  If they do in fact trade him to the Nationals, the Nats will have a solid pitcher to build around while also giving them another young player with years of control left on him. If they can trade Austin Kearns to another team for a solid pitcher (possibly to the LA Angels for Ervin Santana perhaps?), the Nats would be in business.

Again, a more thorough breakdown will be done if and when the trade goes through.