Review of Draft Picks 11-20

Folowing the action of day 1, day 2 also took its share of twists and turns. Here are the picks, with Commissioner John's predictions in parenthesis, and my analysis following.

• 11. Bowling Green: Neftali Feliz (Feliz): Hard to pass on this possible phenom, with the bonus of getting 30+ unhittable relief innings out of him this year. The big gamble with Feliz seems to be the question of whether you drafted a starter or a reliever.
• 12. Oregon: Jeff Niemann (Dexter Fowler): Oregon needs the innings and takes a solid SP card with innings here. Some people think this is a reach for Niemann, but aside from going with a low-inning prospect, he might be the best combination of 2009 performance and career steadiness remaining. Bob declares that he gets his man, so all's well that end's well!
• 13. Loves Park: Andrew Bailey (Niemann): LP is put in a difficult position here. Clearly the CFs Rasmus & Fowler are two of the best prospects left, but Michael has G. Sizemore and Rajai Davis patrolling CF already. He decides to take maybe the best possible card available in Bailey, even though he's got a very good closer (Street) and a generally sold bullpen. Having a great bullpen never hurt a contender! Michael has Rasmus lined up several times but didn't pull the trigger.
• 14. Brighton: Colby Rasmus (A. Escobar): With the two high potential CFs staring him in the face, Brighton decides to eschew his pitching needs and takes the one with the most potential. He then immediately ships off Josh Hamilton to upgrade his SS w/ Yunel Escobar. If you cannot have one Escobar, get another. (As long as it's not Pablo Escobar, South American drug kingpin.)
• 15. Washington: David Aardsma + Cody Ross (Bailey): I clearly think my team is a contender, especially in a weak NL. Plus, I'm the only team without a real closer so it was pretty clear that I wanted Bailey. However, I got presented with the opportunity to draft Fowler who I am also high on. Fortunately, the next team (Reno) really wants Fowler and he gives me Cody Ross as incentive not to keep Fowler. So I get the closer I need and good fielding RH bat in the OF for my efforts. (Yes, I know I picked Fowler and Reno picked Aardsma, but for this write-up it's clear what we each got.) John nailed this pick on the head with me drafting a closer. I think Aardsma is a reach here and may have peaked, but I needed that closer for this season.
• 16. Reno: Fowler (Mat Latos): Reno gets Fowler, a player he covets and thought he'd never have a chance at, but he has to give up an additional asset in Cody Ross to be certain he gets him. Unless WAS wins the Hello Kitty Cup, I predict Reno will be laughing at me for a long time.
• 17. Reno: Brian Matusz (Chris Coghlan): Reno now starts its move towards high-end pitching prospects (as John predicted for one pick earlier and gets a good one here. Although Latos and Davis may be rated higher, he takes the lone lefty here, feeling reasonably certain he can get one of the righties with his next pick 4 picks later (and he does: Mat Latos).
• 18. Vero Beach: Wade Davis (Davis): John nails this one as VB adds a high-ceiling pitching prospect to his roster.
• 19. Edgewater via WAS from Oahu (whew!): Randy Wells (Trevor Cahill): John again had the right idea about a starting pitcher here. Edgewater's selection of Wells here seems to indicate that Edgewater believes it can compete for a playoff spot in the weak NL. There are a few murmors among the peanut gallery at the draft that this might have been a reach, but Wells has some good innings to give and is very tough on RH batters.
• 20. Bartonville: Coghlan (Garrett Jones): With a great lineup and pitching staff already in place, Bartonville is just fine tuning for another run at this point. Being in the AL, he has the luxury of drafting on-base machine but 5-rated fielder Coghlan and installing him as a DH. Plus it potentially gives him a solid 2B for the future which is Coghlan's natural position. John had the right idea here again -- adding a DH-type of bat to an already solid lineup.

Another good prediction job by John. Most of the times when he did not get the player right, he got the idea or position right on!

Biggest Winner: Reno. This was a tough one, but having Fowler slide down to him and being able to get a pitching uber-prospect is a plus. The soft spot is that he had to give up a viable asset to get Fowler. Runner-up: Brighton for a high-potential pick sliding down to him, and Washington for filling its biggest need and picking up a nice role player at the same time. Vero Beach gets some plusses for adding a high-end pitching prospect to an already competitive team.

Biggest Loser: Washington. I am partially taking the chicken way out by avoiding criticizing others, but even though WAS filled its main need for this season, this first rounder might be worthless next year. WAS needs to win now to make that pick worthwhile. Runner-up: Oregon and Edgewater may have reached for their guys who may not have the longevity of some of the highly-rated prospects.

I hope you enjoyed these recaps and the analysis. Feel free to disagree in the comments!