Winners and Losers of Draft Signing Day

To fans and the media, what a team does in the MLB Draft pales next to a big free-agent signing or blockbuster trade.

Part of that is the gaudy figures thrown around during the hot stove season. The Red Sox, this year's top spender in the draft, couldn't even buy one year of Gil Meche if they shifted their draft outlay to the open market. Most of it stems from immediacy, though. A big winter signing answers the question who will help me today? A big haul in the draft answers who will help me tomorrow, but in most cases tomorrow is years away, if it ever comes at all.

Still, as the cost of free agents escalates, the draft continues to become the most important way to ensure long-term success. With that in mind, and with the deadline to sign picks in the books, here's a look at three teams who won and three teams who lost in the 2008 draft

Winners

Red Sox: Ah, yes, those aforementioned giants from New England. Boston did exactly what it has done every year since Theo Epstein took the reigns -- spend, spend, spend. In fact, according to Baseball America's Jim Callis, the Red Sox spent in excess of $10 million on their 2008 draft class, likely setting a record.

The club handed out $3 million to first-round selection Casey Kelly, who could be a major leaguer as a shortstop or a pitcher (he's playing in the field for now), then spent another $3 million to go over slot and sign fourth-round pick Pete Hissey and fifth-round pick Ryan Westmoreland. As most fans realize, draft flameouts are common in baseball. Putting a lot of money into the draft allows Boston to gamble on multiple high-risk, high-reward players, while also reeling in talent that would likely go high in the first round if not for the pricetag.

It's a brilliant strategy -- one that has reaped many benefits for the Red Sox. While there were very few homegrown players on Boston's 2004 World Series team, the 2007 version featured key contributions from Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen.


Casual fans associate the Red Sox with the Yankees when it comes to spending, placing them in a separate stratosphere from all other major league teams. In reality, they've quietly slipped behind the Tigers and Mets in payroll, and they could slip further with Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling, and potentially Jason Varitek coming off the books in 2009. They've been able to let talent like that go and still contend for a championship by developing their own cost-controlled talent.

Spending big in the draft is a pittance when compared to the free-agent market.

Pirates: Considering this is the same organization that a year ago selected pitcher Daniel Moskos over Matt Wieters, currently the best prospect in baseball, Pittsburgh fans have to be thrilled. The Bucs made their first significant strides toward winning in years by spending almost as much as the Red Sox on their 2008 draft class.

After ducking Wieters, a Scott Boras client, in 2007, they decided to deal with the agent in 2008, inking No. 2 overall pick Pedro Alvarez with a $6 million bonus, and while they didn't sign secound-round pick Tanner Scheppers, they spent almost $2 million on over slot deals for sixth-round pick Robbie Grossman and 20th-round pick Quinton Miller, with the latter considered an top-round talent by some.

GM Neal Huntington also did well for himself at this year's trade deadline, allowing folks in Pittsburgh to start dreaming of a day where the Pirates are more than just a depressing diversion until the Steelers begin training camp.

Royals: Like Pittsburgh, Kansas City is facing a long road back to relevance. GM Dayton Moore is doing his best in the draft to get them there. The Royals gave third overall pick Eric Hosmer a $6 million bonus, injecting a potential impact bat into a barren system, and they also netted fourth-round pick Tim Melville with a $1.25 million bonus. Many evaluators considered Melville a first-round talent on draft day.

Losers

Yankees: First-round pick Gerrit Cole, considered by many to be the top high school pitcher in the draft, decided to go to UCLA. Adding insult to injury, the Bronx Bombers also failed to sign second-round pick Scott Bittle. In fact, according to Baseball America, the Yankees didn't hand out a single seven-figure bonus this year. Money isn't everything, as New York has learned painfully over the last few seasons, and that includes the draft. But it's awfully strange to see the Yankees sit idly by as their biggest rival spends record totals on the draft.

Nationals: Negotiations between the team and top pick Aaron Crow, a right-handed pitcher from Missouri, fell apart over less than $1 million. That's especially unfortunate considering that the Nationals' improving farm system has been dealt some tough blows this season -- from the struggles of Ross Detwiler to the injury to Chris Marrero.

Washington will have two picks in the top 10 next season as a result of its failure to sign Crow, but as ESPN's Keith Law points out, that doesn't mean it will get two top 10 talents, because the cost will be prohibitive.

Mariners: Seattle drafted Georgia closer Josh Fields in the first round as a player who could help in the major leagues almost immediately. As misguided as drafting a college reliever was for a team with such serious organizational depth problems, the Mariners have compounded that mistake by failing to sign Fields ... so far.

As a college senior, Fields is not subject to the August deadline like most top picks, so he will sign eventually with Seattle, but as the negotiations drag on, his development as a player suffers. It's unlikely he'll appear in the minor leagues this season now.