ESPN has a list up of 100 worst draft picks ever..this one caught my eye.

 

 

8. Kurt Brown, Chicago White Sox (No. 5, 1985)

The baseball draft is much more of a crapshoot than basketball or football, but the first four picks of the '85 draft yielded four college players who had long and productive careers: B.J. Surhoff, Will Clark, Bobby Witt and Barry Larkin.

 

The White Sox then drafted a high school catcher from California named Kurt Brown; he never reached the majors.

 

With the sixth pick, the Pirates selected Arizona State outfielder Barry Bonds. From 1986 through 2004, the White Sox finished in second place nine times. How many years would Bonds have been the difference in making the playoffs? Using the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, we can compare the numbers of wins Bonds generated over an average left fielder to the White Sox left fielder each season:

 

THE BARRY FACTOR

Year Bonds wins White Sox LF wins Difference?

1990: 94-68, 9 games back Bonds: +6.5 Ivan Calderon: +0.5 No

1991: 87-75, 8 games back Bonds: +5.7 Tim Raines: +0.6 Probably not

1992: 86-76, 10 games back Bonds: +8.0 Tim Raines: +3.2 No

1993: 94-68, won division

1994: strike year

1995: 68-76, 32 games back Bonds: +5.6 Tim Raines: +0.5 No

1996: 85-77, 14.5 games back Bonds: +7.8 Tony Phillips: +1.9 No

1997: 80-81, 6 games back Bonds: +6.3 Albert Belle: +0.9 Possibly

1998: 80-82, 9 games back Bonds: +6.8 Albert Belle: +5.9 No

1999: 75-86, 21.5 games back Bonds: +3.0 Carlos Lee: -1.2 No

2000: 95-67, won division

2001: 83-79, 6 games back Bonds: +12.0 Carlos Lee: -0.5 Yes

2002: 81-81, 13.5 games back Bonds: +11.8 Carlos Lee: +0.7 Maybe

2003: 86-76, 4 games back Bonds: +8.5 Carlos Lee: +2.0 Yes

2004: 83-79, 9 games back Bonds: +10.9 Carlos Lee: +1.5 Yes

 

 

The White Sox had pretty good left fielders anyway, but if they had drafted Bonds and kept him, they probably would have won three more division titles and possibly five.

 

 

knowing now what we know about Barry....it might have been interesting to see him on South side. Then again....he would have been a tool (some things never change) and wouldn't have spent his whole career here.

Can he pitch? We had plenty of offense in 01-04.

Already posted in PHT.