Why the draft matters more than ever - Tom Verducci - SI.com

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S.I. Verducci: Why the MLB draft matters more now than ever before
Published 6/4/2008 at BBTF's Baseball Primer Newsblog
Uhh...maybe to you, but the Braves selecting Fabian Mang in 1966 still matters to me (and other thirsting Psychotronicans out there!). We have to change the way we look at players as they age—again. The Dodgers, for instance, have just begun a statistical analysis of how hitters age through their mid- and late-30s—but their research is concentrated on the pre-Steroid Era. The rules of the game have changed; there actually are rules now. Do the changes mean players are getting to the big leagues faster than ever? That’s hard to say with absolute certainty across the board. The stud player, be it Dwight Gooden or Alex Rodriguez or Miguel Cabrera, always will force his way into the ...

Baseball Today: Thursday, June 5
Published 6/5/2008 by Art Martone (amartone@projo.com) at Projo Sox Blog
... DRAFT DAY: Used to be the annual baseball draft was the anonymous selection of no-names who, if they were lucky, might make it to the major leagues in four or five years . . . and it was treated as casually as one might expect. Not anymore. SI.com's Tom Verducci explains that "[given] the growing inefficiency of the free-agent market . . . the demise of the late-30s ballplayer, and the trend to tie young players to long-term contracts, you'd better get the draft right if you want to build a sustainable winner." And players picked now are making it to The Show ...

Countdown to the Draft
Published 6/5/2008 by Mike (noreply@blogger.com) at A CITIZEN'S BLOG
... Others say the Phillies will go with Andrew Cashner, a six foot six relief ace from Texas Christian who almost certainly would have a shorter path to the major leagues than Hewitt or Collier. I'm banking on the Phillies being more interested in developing a player in the long-term. That's why I am going with Hewitt, whom is the person Baseball America says is going at #24. I really liked this article from SI's Tom Verducci about why the MLB Draft is so important now that we live in the post-steroids era. Meanwhile ... Don't be fooled by Brett ...