Hello, fellow A's fans! I'm putting this MOD up in compliance with John's rules on how this whole shindig is going to go down. Rather than immediately begin by throwing names out for debate, I figure that we should begin by trying to parse a strategy for our choices this year. Our total pool for the draft totals $9,553,200. You'll notice that is a smaller sum than years prior. That's due to slipping down a few picks in the first round, as well as receiving a Comp B pick instead of a Comp A pick this year.

The picks we are responsible for in the Mock this year are as follows.

1.9 ($4,761,500)

2.50 ($1,414,200)

2b.70 ($872,000)

3.85 ($683,800)

4.113 ($493,000)

This draft is very deep in prep pitching, meaning that you are liable to snag some quality arms well into the third round. We don't have the largest pool to draw on, but we will be hanging around #10 in draft pool spending. We have three picks in 35 slots between 50-85, and this year I'm leaning towards finding a way to really go wild with those picks. Quite a few of our top prospects are on the cusp of graduating, and many positions on the MLB roster are spoken for on a long term basis. This says to me that we can focus on selecting guys who may need more development time. Obviously if an excellent value falls to a pick, we can zag and jump on that. But as a general strategy, it may make some sense to cut a deal at 1.9.

There are some names that have been connected to the A's selection at 1.9. Those names are...

USF LHP Shane McClanahan

USA CF Travis Swaggerty

OSU RF Trevor Larnach

ARZ HS 3B Nolan Gorman

ARZ HS LHP Matt Liberatore

WI HS CF Jarred Kelenic

*Dark Horse* FL HS 2B Xavier Edwards

Depending on what direction we want to take things, we can begin narrowing names down for the first selection. Whether we do a BPA or a bonus baby strategy is up to consensus.

Hooray! Mock drafts!