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Who Are Your '08 Draft Winners? Kneejerk Fun!

We should wait 10 years before analyzing a draft, but who wants to analyze the '98 draft?  Let's do this one before the ink dries.  Who came out as winners?  Who lost?  Who are your heroes, who are your villains?  (I'm guessing someone will pick Boras.)  What players did well, what players didn't?  Who had the best draft, who had the worst?

Mostly I want your opinions, but here are a couple of mine.

Winners:

Boston Red Sox - spent a TON of money on this draft.  Whether they get anything out of it remains to be seen.  I'm not sure I like their expensive draftees, except for Westmoreland.  But even if you want to argue that they got nothing but second- or third-tier draftees, they got a ton of them.

Every team in the top 5 - Surprisingly, it took until pick #6 for someone to not pick one of the best guys available.  Usually someone messes up before then.  Extra points to the Giants, getting Posey that "low".

The Rangers - I Heart Justin Smoak.  #11?  Really?

KC Royals - Getting Hosmer and Mellville.  Awesome.

Aaron Crow?  Maybe?  Just a thought, one I probably don't even really agree with, but could he go the Luke Hochevar route, prove himself in indy ball and go even higher next year?  (Probably not #1, since that's likely to be the Nationals again, but still.)

Final winner - Every player who signed for an above-slot bonus won.  There were record deals all-around.

 

Losers (easy targets):

The Nationals.  They lost out on the #9 overall pick over a difference of less than a million dollars.  They have a pretty bad farm system and really needed this one.  It's superearly, but I'm guessing they won't get anyone as good at #10.  Plus, they won't have quite as much leverage next year.  Oh well.  At least they could pick #1 next year.

The Mariners.  How's that fast-moving, win-now closer draftee doing?

The Yankees.  Not as much their fault, far as I'm concerned, since it at least seems that they had no way of knowing that Gerritt Cole would simply refuse to sign.  If they'd known he was that committed to attending college, they would've picked him in the later rounds.  As is, whoever's fault it is, they still lose, as they're not that likely to get as good a player with next year's #30 overall pick (it goes down one extra because of WAS, remember).

Marlins and Astros.  You don't pick a catcher just to pick a catcher in the first round, guys.

 

What do you think, guys?

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