What would you have rather seen from this draft?

[southsider2k5]

Let's hear the overall opinions on the overall draft philosophy the Sox employed over the past two days.  Did they do it right, or could have they have done better?

[KnightsOnMintSt]

I think this draft worked out amazing for the White Sox and I have absolutely no complaints. Realistically, the White Sox just added two guys that you could argue should've been Top 12 picks. I also like that they're on completely different timetables.

Crochet should be a quick-to-the-majors kind of guy. I would imagine that the organization would like to have him on the big league roster in 2022.

Kelley is only 18 and was arguably the best high school player in the draft. He will have a ton of time for development and will most likely be on the same trajectory as Thompson and Dalquist. That is an impressive trio on the rise together.

[SoxBlanco]

Love what we did. Rounds 3-5 were going to be long shots even if we went slot. Grab two high ceiling pitchers and hope for the best. If one hits, it’s a success. If both hit, it’s one of the best drafts you could imagine.  

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

Honestly it depends how much Crochet comes in at and could we have had Abel/Howard at the same price?  BUT, I loved the plan of going for a 2 headed monster and forfeiting the last 3 picks.. Though i think Crochet may have been over paid.. But whatever, I love that we got both Crochet and Kelley

[Springfield Soxfan]

Love the strategy.  Shoot for the moon with some premium guys.  

[SkokieSox]

8 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

Honestly it depends how much Crochet comes in at and could we have had Abel/Howard at the same price?  BUT, I loved the plan of going for a 2 headed monster and forfeiting the last 3 picks.. Though i think Crochet may have been over paid.. But whatever, I love that we got both Crochet and Kelley

Abel nor Howard dropped far enough where both would be possible

[SoxBlanco]

4 minutes ago, SkokieSox said:

Abel nor Howard dropped far enough where both would be possible

I don’t think he’s talking about getting both. He’s saying if Crochet comes in at slot, then we could have had Abel/Kelley or Howard/Kelley, and he would prefer one of those combos. 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

13 minutes ago, SkokieSox said:

Abel nor Howard dropped far enough where both would be possible

I meant in round 1 over Crochet

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

8 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

I don’t think he’s talking about getting both. He’s saying if Crochet comes in at slot, then we could have had Abel/Kelley or Howard/Kelley, and he would prefer one of those combos. 

yes 

[hi8is]

Abel + Kelly is my “other” choice but I already changed my mind ( again ) and revert to what they actually did on draft day(s).

[Jerksticks]

I think it’s cool that they had a super laser-focused plan and executed it.  
 

The other teams were just making draft picks.

 

Genghis Hahn

[Quin]

If there were a full season, both of these guys could have theoretically been gone by #11, so I see this as a major win.

There's big risk involved, but there's huge upside.

Let's just list these names out:

Giolito, Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Rodon, Crochet, Kelley, Stiever, Dunning, Dalquist, Thompson, Vera

It also makes me glad we took Crochet once Detmers came off the board. I know you don't draft for fit, but he's the only significant lefty under 30 we've got other than Rodon.

[Bob Sacamano]

In a year with only 5 rounds, punting a few picks to get 2 of the best ranked is fine.

[bmags]

the teams I think had better drafts had something in common: comp picks.

Considering we only had 5 and a modestly good position at 11 I think getting two guys the sox may have well rated top 15 or 20 is a pretty good plan.

Now it was a deep draft. And it may be one of those ones where in a few years we look at each round saying "we could have had X!" if neither dudes pan out. 

But would much rather sox go hard for top talent than when we actively wanted to get already cheap talent for even cheaper.

[southsider2k5]

11 minutes ago, Quin said:

If there were a full season, both of these guys could have theoretically been gone by #11, so I see this as a major win.

There's big risk involved, but there's huge upside.

Let's just list these names out:

Giolito, Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Rodon, Crochet, Kelley, Stiever, Dunning, Dalquist, Thompson, Vera

It also makes me glad we took Crochet once Detmers came off the board. I know you don't draft for fit, but he's the only significant lefty under 30 we've got other than Rodon.

Crochet is the most interesting pick.  With a full season he could have been a top 3 if he pitched a whole season like he had started this one, or he could have been a mid-round pick if he had fallen back to his freshman and sophomore years output.  I think Kelley probably has the same ranking, but maybe a team is willing to take a chance on him higher if they seem dominate another HS season.  There is a real possibility that if 2020 had been played out both Kelley and Crochet were off of the board before we picked.  Of course that would have meant someone else slides, but it is an interesting counterfactual to imagine.

[Harold's Leg Lift]

This draft was so deep I would have liked them to play it straight.  They could have had a quality prospect in each round.  

[Dick Allen]

9 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

This draft was so deep I would have liked them to play it straight.  They could have had a quality prospect in each round.  

If Kelley is the man, punting on the 3rd and 4th round is well worth it. Go look at the Sox drafts the past 25 years. Not much from the 3rd or 4th round. Not much from any round really, except for Sale and TA. Hopefully, Vaughn and Madrigal and now Crochet change that. You can question if Crochet was a good pick. Some have doubts about Kelley, but IMO, the plan was pretty solid. If they got the right guys, they deserve a ton of praise.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Dick Allen

[Chicago White Sox]

I personally love what we did here.  If we get one TOR rotation starter out of a five round draft, which we have two legit cracks at, I will consider that a huge win for us.

[bigruss]

How does the UDFA pay work?  I gotta imagine it's not totally open since you could essentially pay over slot then.

[Dick Allen]

When you watch the draft on TV, it's hard to really put things in the proper perspective. Most of these guys will never sniff AAA let alone the big leagues. But you watch their highlights, all the pitchers throw close to 100. All of them have nasty breaking balls. All the hitters can hit it a mile, or at least will project to. They all seem capable of winning a gold medal at the Olympics with their speed.  The fact is, compared to other professional baseball players, the vast majority really don't stand out. 

I must of heard 3 or 4 times last night, "you could put this guy in a major league bullpen right now". OK, but not if you want to win.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Dick Allen

[Balta1701]

One thing I've been pondering for the last day...with so many different guys signed for 5+ years or covering positions for 6+ with arbitration, how much do the White Sox need "Depth"? 

If the Royals came away from this draft with 4 2-3 WAR players, that's a really good draft for the Royals. If the White Sox came away with that, they basically will have to trade a bunch of those guys because either they're going to be stuck on the bench or in the bullpen, and teams don't give up all that much in trades for guys who could be good but not great big leaguers, even if they have years of control.

What the White sox need is top flight guys, guys who can come in and take a spot at the top of the rotation or be traded for a guy like that. So maybe, because they have so many players already under control, swinging for the fences on every pick they can make is an especially correct move for them?

[southsider2k5]

10 minutes ago, bigruss said:

How does the UDFA pay work?  I gotta imagine it's not totally open since you could essentially pay over slot then.

$20k per player cap this year.

[southsider2k5]

1 minute ago, Balta1701 said:

One thing I've been pondering for the last day...with so many different guys signed for 5+ years or covering positions for 6+ with arbitration, how much do the White Sox need "Depth"? 

If the Royals came away from this draft with 4 2-3 WAR players, that's a really good draft for the Royals. If the White Sox came away with that, they basically will have to trade a bunch of those guys because either they're going to be stuck on the bench or in the bullpen, and teams don't give up all that much in trades for guys who could be good but not great big leaguers, even if they have years of control.

What the White sox need is top flight guys, guys who can come in and take a spot at the top of the rotation or be traded for a guy like that. So maybe, because they have so many players already under control, swinging for the fences on every pick they can make is an especially correct move for them?

FWIW, the Sox have used good players under long term contracts as a sweetener when it comes to trades, and not as a reason to not trade a player.  At this stage the contracts of players like Quintana and Sale were assets and the Sox put them to work to acquire more players.  If it gets to stage where there are players pushing established players with contracts, it could set up a scenario for the player in front to be dealt for assets, or the players behind to be dealt for filling any holes they might have at that time.

[gatnom]

6 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

One thing I've been pondering for the last day...with so many different guys signed for 5+ years or covering positions for 6+ with arbitration, how much do the White Sox need "Depth"? 

If the Royals came away from this draft with 4 2-3 WAR players, that's a really good draft for the Royals. If the White Sox came away with that, they basically will have to trade a bunch of those guys because either they're going to be stuck on the bench or in the bullpen, and teams don't give up all that much in trades for guys who could be good but not great big leaguers, even if they have years of control.

What the White sox need is top flight guys, guys who can come in and take a spot at the top of the rotation or be traded for a guy like that. So maybe, because they have so many players already under control, swinging for the fences on every pick they can make is an especially correct move for them?

This draft definitely feels like a Rick Hahn "diversify my risk portfolio" move. When he had a bunch of top flight talent from trades, he drafted a bunch of meh depth pieces. Now that much of that talent is graduating, he seems to be after more upside risk.

 

[Dominikk85]

Not bad but I wonder if the sox could have gotten abel at 11 and kelley at 47.

Slot value at 11 was 4.5 and bonus pool was 7.7 so that would have left 3m for kelley if they got 3 100k guys.

Would that have been enough?

Cant really judge that.