Nov. 1, 1985
First up, the Gold Glove winners have been announced, and Mike Schmidt grabs one for his play at first base. What an honor for Mike, who changed positions and simply turned it on without missing a beat.
Next order of business: After the interviews, it’s clear Omar Garcia is our favorite assistant general manager candidate. I offer him $35,000 per year for two years. Then I tell him to give me answer by Monday.
And now, time for the 1985-86 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft!
The order to start: Oakland, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Cleveland. We have Pick No. 25 in the first round. Again, most of the league thinks Gary Sheffield will go to Oakland. Then the most likely names to go, but not in any known order, include Moises Alou, Chris Hoiles, Mark Grace, Bernie Williams, Curt Schilling, Todd Zeile, and Matt Williams. There could be surprises, and from what we’re hearing, there will be surprises.
We would flip if Bo Jackson or Darryl Hamilton fall to us. Greg Vaughn is also a stretch but possible. We feel it’s likely it’ll be Phil Clark, who is our top pick available, but as we’re thinking about college bats, we may skip him and choose Jeff King. When it comes to having pick No. 25, we’re not so strict about following the board. But the big idea is that we’d love three of our top 40. Anything more is outstanding, while anything less simply means some teams had the same idea.
Our team is in place. We have cases of New Coke in the refrigerator, and on ice, some vintage 1962 champagne, in case Bo Jackson falls in our lap (Jackson was born in 1962).
Here we go:
Round 1
1. Oakland - SS Gary Sheffield
2. Atlanta - C Todd Zeile
3. San Francisco - C Chris Hoiles
4. Houston - RF Bernie Williams
5. Cleveland - 3B Matt Williams
6. Texas - RF Moises Alou
7. Chicago Cubs - RF Sammy Sosa
We were told Sosa could jump into the top-10. He’s a big project but there’s a lot to love, and Chicago is in it for the long haul, it seems. At this point, anything can happen, and we’re hoping for the best.
8. Chicago White Sox - 1B Mark Grace
9. Pittsburgh - C Jim Leyritz
10. Minnesota - RF Greg Vaughn
We weren’t expecting Minnesota to get Vaughn at No. 10. Now we’re thinking there’s no way other outfielders like him (Jackson, Hamilton, especially) fall to us.
11. Baltimore - RF Juan Gonzalez
Also surprising, but not as much as Sosa going at No. 7. Essentially, Sosa and Gonzalez were thought of us as very similar, and getting picked around the 17-20 range.
12. California - SP Greg Swindell
Swindell is the first pitcher to go, and we’re all a little surprised Curt Schilling hasn’t yet been selected. Maybe character issues?
13. Cincinnati - SP Curt Schilling
That ends that. Now we’re solidly in tier three (sans Jackson ...).
14. San Francisco (from Kansas City) - C Brian Deak
15. Toronto (from St. Louis) - SP Kevin Brown
16. Cleveland (from New York Yankees) - SP John Smoltz
17. Detroit (from Milwaukee) - CF Darryl Hamilton
Shoot.
18. New York Mets - SP John Mitchell
19. San Diego - LF Bo Jackson
Shoot shoot. We figured if not San Diego, then Seattle would probably poach him. Carlos Baerga, Phil Clark, and Jeff King remain our top names out there.
20. Seattle - LF Pete Incaviglia
21. Boston - 1B Hal Morris
22. Kansas City (from Montreal) - SP Erik Hanson
23. Montreal (from Detroit) - SP Todd Stottlemyre
24. Los Angeles (from Detroit) - SP Kevin Tapani
We’re up.
Between the three atop our board, if we’re talking philosophy, it’s King with a bullet. But the thought of a Baerga-Jefferies infield by 1989 is fun, and Clark could be a catcher or corner outfielder, all depending on that bat (which is mostly a project). That said, we have a mandate to get guys to the majors quickly, so King would fit that timeline better. Then again, as a first baseman, his place on a roster may be unavailable until 1988 or ‘89. So what’s the point, then? Also, Warren Newson is available, and he wouldn’t be a stretch for us. And he fits positionally, if we’re talking a quick rise.
OK, Baerga would take slot, so we'd rather gamble with him down draft. So now it’s King (maybe $7,000 over slot) or Clark (just at slot), or maybe Newson (more than $120K over slot). I like Newson, but not that much, and Clark seems more like us forcing our favorite narrative (speed!). Let’s go back to what we said originally: King with a bullet. Let’s not overthink this.
25. Philadelphia - 1B Jeff King
We take King and applaud. No champagne, as that was only for Bo (“or something amazing,” a lead scout says). Okay, good enough. I wish I didn’t feel “good enough,” but we’re confident King will produce.
26. Los Angeles - RF Warren Newson
Ha.
27. Detroit (from Toronto) - 3B Leo Gomez
Onto the supplemental round, where we pick 11th:
Supplemental Round
28. Oakland - C Tim McIntosh
29. San Francisco - C Ed Taubensee
30. California - 2B Luis Alicea
31. Houston - C Hector Villanueva
32. Milwaukee - C Chad Kreuter
33. Cleveland - C Tom Lampkin
34. St. Louis - C Joe Girardi
35. Seattle - 2B Geronimo Pena
36. Los Angeles - CF Mark Whiten
37. Detroit - CF Pat Lennon
Both Baerga and Clark remain. We can go over slot a little for Clark or stay at slot for Baerga. In the end, we decide we should go with the guy we like most. Again, no overthinking: It’s Baerga.
38. Philadelphia - 2B/3B/SS Carlos Baerga
We’re happy with this result, plus, we got two of our top 14 in the first 38 picks. Champagne? Not quite, but more New Coke for us!
39. Toronto - C Kirt Manwaring
40. California - CF Junior Felix
41. Detroit - 2B Trent Hubbard
42. Toronto - SP Rick Reed
43. Toronto - RF Paul Sorrento
44. Toronto - C Phil Clark
45. Toronto - 1B Lee Stevens
46. Toronto - 1B Reggie Jefferson
The Jays finish the supplemental round with five straight picks, including Clark.
Now we’ll shorten things up. In Round 2, we watch as Mark Leonard, Tom Gordon, Kevin Maas, and Sean Berry move on. As does old friend John Marzano, to the Mets.
But guess what: Three of our board picks are still out there in Pat Hentgen, Gary Cooper, and Scott Markley. Hentgen was our No. 25, while Cooper was No. 29 and Markley No. 37. And we feel somewhat confident we can get all of them still, since Cooper is slated to go over the next few picks, Markley is about 30 spots away, and Hentgen could even be 100 spots away. That would mean champagne. So we go with conventional thinking and select Cooper first.
73. Philadelphia - LF/1B/3B Gary Cooper
Shoot. Pittsburgh drafts Pat Hentgen in the third round. We totally miscalculated that one.
103. Philadelphia - CF/RF Scott Markley
No champagne. We’re all a bit miffed. Not a bad draft, but maybe we’re not as smart as we lead on.
In the fourth round, Pat Austin is available. He’ll be tough to sign (he’s not letting on what he wants), but what the hell, let’s take a risk:
129. Philadelphia - 2B Pat Austin
Fifth round. It’s pitchers Gregory Harris or Ricky Bones. We think we could get Bones down draft, so we go with Harris.
155. Philadelphia - SP Gregory Harris
And onward we go with the rest of our picks:
- C/3B Scott Hemond
- SP Bill Cunningham
- CF/2B/3B/SS/RF Edgar Naveda
- SP Ricky Bones
- 2B/LF/CF/SS Larry Mims
- RP Chuck Higson
- SP Paul McClellan
- LF Michael Alvarez
- CF/RF Randall Luciani
- RP Randall Shiflett
- LF/1B/3B Jack Peel
- 2B/RF/3B Cesar Bernhardt
- SP Doug Henry
- SP Park Pittman
- CF Joseph Hollinshed
- SP/RP Doug Little
- SP Rob Hernandez
- C Saul Barretto
- RP Keith Felden
- 3B/1B Darryl Robinson
- SP Walt Williams
- 1B Jason Woods
- 2B Edward Draine
- 3B/1B/2B/LF Lindsay Foster
- LF Darren Watkins
That takes us to Round 30. There are 49 rounds this year (!), though we now have two rookie-league teams, so a good lot of this is filler. Some cuts will be made. I won’t name all the draftees here, as the chances of anyone beyond the 30th round to make it past A-ball are slim.
At any rate, we did a good job grabbing depth, especially among college players, and we nabbed four of our top 40. I hope we don’t regret missing Hentgen, but overall, still in a good mood. No champagne this year, though.