Rangers Draft Justin Smoak 1B?

Remember, you are talking about the Rangers...

Apparently giving up 48 runs in the past 4 games is all the 1B fault.

Just goes to show you how out of touch the little boy sitting in the big G.M. chair is. You would think that with this area being such a true baseball place, that their local major league team would figure out what needs to be done to be competitive.

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Originally posted by L.A.:
Apparently giving up 48 runs in the past 4 games is all the 1B fault.

So had Crow fallen two more spots, would you have expected them to sign him immediately and get him here in time for tonight's game? He hasn't pitched since last Friday, so he'd be fresh, right?

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Originally posted by DownTheLine:

quote:

Originally posted by L.A.:
Apparently giving up 48 runs in the past 4 games is all the 1B fault.

So had Crow fallen two more spots, would you have expected them to sign him immediately and get him here in time for tonight's game? He hasn't pitched since last Friday, so he'd be fresh, right?

Worth a shot.

Right now they've got the looks of a really good slow pitch softball team. They can hit anything in sight, but they have to because their pitching is nothing more than a beach ball when it gets to the plate.

Granted I did not do my homework on the draft and who was available, however, I would have hoped there would be more than two good pitchers in the first 11 picks. It's just the usual frustration that has been going on there since 1972. I'd give anything if Nolan Ryan would get in there and run the show.

Looks like the quality of pitching is suspect to all of the teams. Through 18 picks, only three have been pitchers. There were a couple of two-way high school players both listed as position players when they were picked.

And two college relievers, including TCU's Andrew Cashner, just went off the board.

The ESPN guys seemed to like the pick.

Smoak (fingers crossed) will be an great player. I saw him play last year. The only problem is that he remeinds me of Jason Botts--all hit, no speed or defense.

When the 06' DBAT team went to WWWS w/ Perfect Game, we played against Smoak.

If my memory serves me correctly, Kershaw made him look like an undrafted free agent at the time.

316sports,

You got it right...He can hit but he has no speed and so DH or 1B is all he will be able to do. I just don't understand why you would draft a possible DH with the #11 pick in the draft.

Forgive me if I sound like a "homer", but as a South Carolina alum I've followed Smoak's college career and have got to stick up for him during this "bash fest".

He broke just about every school hitting record (South Carolina is consistently a top 10 program with 3 trips to the CWS since 2002), was 1st team Freshman All Amercian, 2nd team All American as a Soph and 1st team All American this year as a Junior. Most scouts consider his defensive skills in the "gold glove" category. Granted...he's slow, but so have many a great first basemen.

Lastly, he is a quality individual and has never been in trouble. I know the mercenaries out there who want to win at all costs will scoff at this last remark, but give me every Justin Smoak you can get, and give me fewer Milton Bradleys!

Kershaw has made a lot of good players look that way.

Have you seen Bradley's stats this season?

Can't argue his stats...although I've been to several Rangers games this year, and if he ran out ground balls in the infield he'd be hitting 10 points higher. For $5.25M a year, a little hustle would be nice.

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if he ran out ground balls in the infield

I went to one game and thought Bradley's lack of hustle on grounders was embarrassing to both player and team. Evidently, he's created a situation where his bosses are scared to suggest he hustle a bit more for fear of him making them regret the suggestion. This is not the type of employee I'd want.

As a Gamecock in Big "D", I agree with doubleday. Quality player, quality indivdual. At the very least he will be trade bait to get another player in the future.

ESPN: Best picks.....

Honorable mention would be Justin Smoak, third in my rankings, who fell to Texas at No. 11. Smoak was the best of all the corner infielders available in the draft because of his combination of power, switch-hitting ability and defensive skills, and he should have gone in the top five picks overall, instead lasting long enough to go to a team that knows a thing or two about first basemen with power, switch-hitting ability and defensive skills.

ESPN had Smoak listed as the 3rd best player in the entire draft, when he fell to #11 the Rangers could not pass it up, hes been compared to Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira (skills wise). If they are overloaded at 1B they can deal some guys. In the MLB draft you gotta take best available players, because you never can count on any one guy getting to the big leagues.

texasjeremy,

The "draft the best available player" works better in the NFL and NBA draft but not as much in the MLB Draft. You see it all the time in the MLB draft where it is more about signability than athletic ability. Now I like the kid the Rays picked but I am not sure he was the #1 overall player. Baseball is different and you can't use the draft the best player philosophy when you have 50+ rounds to draft. I think Smoak will be a good player I just don't think this pick helps the Rangers get better as a team. Someone mentioned trading him down the road for a starter. Why would Texas want to develop him and then and then trade him. They did that with guys like Danks and Haffner, even Ludwick. Those trades haven't helped the Rangers.

Maybe things are changing with the MLB Draft

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080606&conten...=draft2008&fext=.jsp

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They did that with guys like Danks and Haffner, even Ludwick. Those trades haven't helped the Rangers.

...not to mention Mark Texeria, Adrian Gonzales, Chris Young, Edinson Volquez... and that's just the Jon Daniels era.

Your Right Natural, I did leave off a few...The only trade I have liked is trading Volquez for Hamilton. So far the Rangers are getting some return in that deal.

The most unproductive offensive position the Rangers have is 1B. Having said that, maybe taking Smoak was not such a bad choice considering that 5 of the next 6 were pitchers I believe. They may have a few other guys at that position in the minors but who knows if they will ever make an impact in Arlington.

MLB draft is the definition of "inexact science."

I am actually liking this draft and picking up Smoak. Some of the talking heads on MLB.com were saying that it wouldn't be unreasonable to see Smoak in the bigs next season.

I'm sure he'll face the learning curve but he does hit well with wood, he did very well in Cape Cod league.