2019 MLB Draft Thread

[Super]

Again, what assumption am I making?

these ones:

Another explanation is that maybe there was a split in the Braves front office. Before the draft the pro-Stewart people held sway but something may have happened that gave the Stewart detractors AA's ear. Such dramatic changes can and do happen overnight in the business world. I've seen it firsthand. If there were people who didn't like Stewart and after the draft their voice gained more strength, it would explain the "buyers remorse." Remember, we did fire Bridges and Clark after the season.

Another possible explanation is that the Braves didn't do their homework. Whoever it was that made the call did so without all the information. After the pick was made it's possible that information the Braves had in hand but hadn't relied on came to light and thus you had "buyer's remorse". You'd think this would be an incredibly rare occurrence. Why would a team make that big of a move without making sure the decision makers had gone over everything twice. I remind you the Braves made two runs at Hector Olivera based on scraps of data and were burned by it badly.

you even admit we do not know everything that transpired. it seems pretty logical and very likely that the Braves just didn't like the medicals they were only privy to *after the draft.* trying to create another explanation results in making assumptions that we simply have no idea about.

maybe AA called carter's girlfriend and asked her out on a date and carter yelled at him and AA didn't like it. could be! we'll never know, so i'll give this theory just as much credence as the extremely logical and likely theory. black eye on AA. shame on him.

[Super]

while we're on the topic - what assumptions are everyone else making?

[striker42]

The Braves signing a busted Carter would be an even worse result. And his injury is not something that would have been known beforehand. It's an unfortunate situation that the Braves made best of imo.

Signing a busted Carter would have been worse. However, I'm not going to cheer AA for not making things worse. Recognizing a sunk cost is basic economics.

However, I'm also not going to give the front office a free pass for drafting Stewart to begin with. That's what it comes down to. Guys like Super want to write it off as just bad luck and laud the front office for making great choices. I'm not going to do that.

The front office gets the glory when things go well, they get the blame when things go poorly.

[striker42]

while we're on the topic - what assumptions are everyone else making?

That the front office didn't screw up when they drafted Stewart.

I have no idea what all was at play when they made the decision. So I'm just going on how it turned out. You and others are willing to assume that the official reason, an injury they couldn't have discovered before the draft, is legitimate. There's no way to know if that's legitimate or a line the Braves are feeding.

So I'm not willing to give the Braves a pass. I'll hold them responsible at this point and if they salvage it I'll give them credit for that.

[Southcack77]

I was pretty salty about not signing Stewart.

I'm still keeping an eye on this in the future given what the GM did in Toronto with other first round picks.

that said, it now appears that signing him would have meant spending a top 10 pick on a third round talent. And evidently paying full slot value for that.

When you look at it that way, the argument for rolling the pick into the following year makes itself.

Maybe it's right that the 2018 draft itself goes down as an overall downer because you didn't have a headliner. I'm not sure that really matters though. Certainly does not matter if you sign a better player in 2019 than you would have signed in 2018.

[striker42]

these ones:



you even admit we do not know everything that transpired. it seems pretty logical and very likely that the Braves just didn't like the medicals they were only privy to *after the draft.* trying to create another explanation results in making assumptions that we simply have no idea about.

maybe AA called carter's girlfriend and asked her out on a date and carter yelled at him and AA didn't like it. could be! we'll never know, so i'll give this theory just as much credence as the extremely logical and likely theory. black eye on AA. shame on him.

I'm not assuming those hypotheticals are true. I'm only stating that there are other possible explanations and so I can't assume any are true.

If I told you 24 hours before the draft that we wouldn't sign our first pick, we'd in fact get into a dispute with him, and that we'd have to wait another year to draft a spot lower, would you have been excited about that result? If not, then you should be where I'm at. The result of the first round was bad. The FO is accountable for that.

I'll guarantee you AA is the first one who would tell you it's his responsibility.

[striker42]

I was pretty salty about not signing Stewart.

I'm still keeping an eye on this in the future given what the GM did in Toronto with other first round picks.

that said, it now appears that signing him would have meant spending a top 10 pick on a third round talent. And evidently paying full slot value for that.

When you look at it that way, the argument for rolling the pick into the following year makes itself.

Maybe it's right that the 2018 draft itself goes down as an overall downer because you didn't have a headliner. I'm not sure that really matters though. Certainly does not matter if you sign a better player in 2019 than you would have signed in 2018.

This is actually part of why I'm so hesitant to buy the official line. This is not the first time AA has gone through this.

[Super]

I'm not assuming those hypotheticals are true. I'm only stating that there are other possible explanations and so I can't assume any are true.

If I told you 24 hours before the draft that we wouldn't sign our first pick, we'd in fact get into a dispute with him, and that we'd have to wait another year to draft a spot lower, would you have been excited about that result? If not, then you should be where I'm at. The result of the first round was bad. The FO is accountable for that.

I'll guarantee you AA is the first one who would tell you it's his responsibility.

meh. it was an unfortunate situation. it happens and they're likely to get a better player this year.
creating hypotheticals based on absolutely nothing is stupid and pointless.

[Southcack77]

That the front office didn't screw up when they drafted Stewart.

I have no idea what all was at play when they made the decision. So I'm just going on how it turned out. You and others are willing to assume that the official reason, an injury they couldn't have discovered before the draft, is legitimate. There's no way to know if that's legitimate or a line the Braves are feeding.

So I'm not willing to give the Braves a pass. I'll hold them responsible at this point and if they salvage it I'll give them credit for that.

I think we know that either Stewart did not participate in pre-draft screening or it did not show significant injury.

I think we also know that the post draft screening did show significant injury.

I think there is a pretty logical conclusion to be drawn as to the Braves decision making in not signing him, but the most logical conclusion isn't always right. But it may well be the most probable.

[Super]

That the front office didn't screw up when they drafted Stewart.

I have no idea what all was at play when they made the decision. So I'm just going on how it turned out. You and others are willing to assume that the official reason, an injury they couldn't have discovered before the draft, is legitimate. There's no way to know if that's legitimate or a line the Braves are feeding.

So I'm not willing to give the Braves a pass. I'll hold them responsible at this point and if they salvage it I'll give them credit for that.

thinking they didn't screw up by initially drafting stewart isn't an "assumption."
it is a fact stewart was graded and ranked right around where he went.
it is a fact there were some possible medicals they wouldn't know about until after the draft.
those two facts alone point to the stewart pick being fine at the time it was made. your hindsight, however, is useless.
you're introducing these other "possibilities" that have no grounding in any kind of fact. yeah man, anything is possible, i suppose - brilliant.

[Super]

it is such a shame AA doesn't possess hindsight and the power to see the future. he should have known stewart had an injury. what an idiot.

[Super]

However, I'm also not going to give the front office a free pass for drafting Stewart to begin with.

why? because of what? what info do you or others have that they knew something prior to the draft? that there was in-fighting prior to the pick being made?
do you think they took him and purposely didn't sign him?
again, you are the one not coming to a conclusion based on useless, baseless possibilities and assumptions about what happened pre-draft. jokes.

[Super]

and i'll ask again, what could "salvage" it for you? the braves didn't lose a draft pick in the process. so is "salvaging it" simply drafting a player this year?

[striker42]

and i'll ask again, what could "salvage" it for you? the braves didn't lose a draft pick in the process. so is "salvaging it" simply drafting a player this year?

Salvaging it is not missing on a player at 9 (especially considering what Gorman is doing) as well as not having this problem keep cropping up in the future.

[Enscheff]

Another explanation is that maybe there was a split in the Braves front office.

Remember, we did fire Bridges and Clark after the season.

After the pick was made it's possible that information the Braves had in hand but hadn't relied on came to light and thus you had "buyer's remorse".

Honestly, the most likely explanation is that the wrist issue made the Braves uncomfortable giving him $4 million when they had the fallback of getting the 9th pick this year.
.

I heavily hacked your quote, but the parts I left sum up pretty well what I think actually happened.

The guys who got fired were probably let go because they called the Stewart shot and ended up being wrong after the MRI results were in. There was literally no other source of new information available to change the calculus.

The decision was likely a toss up, and AA went with the old school guys. When the additional information of the MRI became available, it was no longer a toss up and AA decided to punt the pick to next year.

So the end result on draft day was a toss up between Stewart and someone else (likely Gorman), and the guys who got fired likely pounded the table for Stewart. When the MRI results showed issues, AA decided he would rather pick 9 this year than pay for Stewart. Whether or not Stewart’s health was missed by the guys who got fired, they obviously lost their jobs in part due to backing the Stewart selection.

[striker42]

it is such a shame AA doesn't possess hindsight and the power to see the future. he should have known stewart had an injury. what an idiot.

AA should be judged based on results. I don't think that's unfair. He's going to get lucky at times (I don't think even he though Anibal does what he did last year) and he's going to get unlucky. At the end of the day it's the results that matter. I don't think that's unfair.

[striker42]

I heavily hacked your quote, but the parts I left sum up pretty well what I think actually happened.

The guys who got fired were probably let go because they called the Stewart shot and ended up being wrong after the MRI results were in. There was literally no other source of new information available to change the calculus.

The decision was likely a toss up, and AA went with the old school guys. When the additional information of the MRI became available, it was no longer a toss up and AA decided to punt the pick to next year.

So the end result on draft day was a toss up between Stewart and someone else (likely Gorman), and the guys who got fired likely pounded the table for Stewart. When the MRI results showed issues, AA decided he would rather pick 9 this year than pay for Stewart. Whether or not Stewart’s health was missed by the guys who got fired, they obviously lost their jobs in part due to backing the Stewart selection.

I agree that this is the most likely sequence of events. A wrist injury isn't usually going to be enough to convince a team that's all in on a pitcher not to sign him. A team that's already split on the other hand...

[smootness]

I agree that this is the most likely sequence of events. A wrist injury isn't usually going to be enough to convince a team that's all in on a pitcher not to sign him. A team that's already split on the other hand...

A pitcher who is ranked where he is almost entirely on the spin rate on his curveball?

Yes, a wrist injury could absolutely be enough to convince a team to take the 9th pick next year instead.

[Southcack77]

I heavily hacked your quote, but the parts I left sum up pretty well what I think actually happened.

The guys who got fired were probably let go because they called the Stewart shot and ended up being wrong after the MRI results were in. There was literally no other source of new information available to change the calculus.

The decision was likely a toss up, and AA went with the old school guys. When the additional information of the MRI became available, it was no longer a toss up and AA decided to punt the pick to next year.

So the end result on draft day was a toss up between Stewart and someone else (likely Gorman), and the guys who got fired likely pounded the table for Stewart. When the MRI results showed issues, AA decided he would rather pick 9 this year than pay for Stewart. Whether or not Stewart’s health was missed by the guys who got fired, they obviously lost their jobs in part due to backing the Stewart selection.

I can't imagine you would fire someone for advocating for a particular player because that player ended up being injured, unless: 1) you were pretty negligent in not knowing the guy was hurt 2) you concealed or fabricated information affecting the decision to draft so it would go your way or 3) you somehow screwed up the post draft process enough to where the FO was sweating whether they would get compensation.

I think perhaps it's also possible that these old Braves hands who had had trouble with prior regimes were insubordinate or ignoring the opportunity to get more on board with the approach of the GM towards evaluation. Maybe they were given the same chance Snitker was given and then telling the analytics guys to screw off. That's my other candidate. AA decided it was not working and the pending hearing just made it advisable to hold the firing until it was over.

[nsacpi]

I can't imagine you would fire someone for advocating for a particular player because that player ended up being injured, unless: 1) you were pretty negligent in not knowing the guy was hurt 2) you concealed or fabricated information affecting the decision to draft so it would go your way or 3) you somehow screwed up the post draft process enough to where the FO was sweating whether they would get compensation.

I think perhaps it's also possible that these old Braves hands who had had trouble with prior regimes were insubordinate or ignoring the opportunity to get more on board with the approach of the GM towards evaluation. Maybe they were given the same chance Snitker was given and then telling the analytics guys to screw off. That's my other candidate. AA decided it was not working and the pending hearing just made it advisable to hold the firing until it was over.

1 & 3 strike me as the most likely