Elijah Dukes had the talent to go in the third round. The problem was his attitude which the rays did not like. bUT LOOK at his numbers last year – pretty solid overall. 386 obp with 13 homers and 13 stolen bases in 276 at bats. iF you extrapolate that over an entire season, he could easily be a 30-30 player. That is definitely worth a third round draft pick. it wasnt like he was first overall like price or young or even upton. Bobby seay was not even drafted by the rays. he was drafted by the white sox and later signed by the rays. I cant think of any really high draft picks that havent turned into major league players that the rays have drafted at the moment – im sure there are some but they have done pretty darn good considering how many picks they have made.

I am pretty sure the teams can do whatever they want with the money they receive from revenue sharing. if the team want to reinvest the money in their player development program Im sure that is an option.

Randy I

i DID mention that the rays traded delmon young for Garza. But that just shows that they could even fix a first pick overall that didnt work out for them. They didnt like how it was going with young so they turned him into their third starter last year and one of the better ones in baseball in 2008. That just further goes to show how many good decisions the rays seem to make each year.

No it didn’t. That team really only turned it around in 2005 after Stu Sternberg bought it and Andrew Friedman became GM. Yes they had high draft picks for years and yes Chuck Lemar put a number of the pieces in place but what Fridman has done is remarkable.

There were only 2 high first round draft picks on their roster last year – upton and longoria. That’s it.

Revenue sharing and having high picks have been instrumental in the Rays success.

But the reason why they were so good last year is simply due to the fact that they are terrific evaluators of talent. That’s mostly it. What they’ve done in the later rounds of the draft is more impressive than what they’ve don in the first round in many ways and they’ve picked up many valuable players at reasonable contracts. It’s an outstanding organization that has fielded a very talented team.

They were the most efficient team in the major leagues by far.

The Marlins paid only 272,000 per win. Tampa Bay was second most efficient at 850,000 per win.

The yankees paid the most per win at 5.2M/win.

Spending that much per win is worth it for the yankees due to the revenues making the playoffs generate. Now that money wasn’t allocated well in 2008 but spending $5M per win is more than reasonable for the yankees. The goal isn’t to be the most efficient financial team – the goal is to win.

The mets were second highest at 3.3M/win, then Detroit around 3.2M/win then Boston at 3.1M/win.

Perhaps more than anything this shows how out of wack spending is at the extremes in baseball on the high side but also on the low side.

The marlins are really inexcusable. If they spent even a little more money – say instead of spending one 1/3 as much per win as Tampa they spent 1/2 as much they’d likely make the playoffs in the NL.

But they’re owners choose not to.

Look at how MANY of the rays draft picks made the major league club and there were many draft picks outside of the first couple of rounds that became one of the better players on the club. That isnt just high draft picks that is smart draft picks and great development as well. How many players have the yankees drafted outside of the top one or two rounds have had significant impact on the major league club? Further, How many bad draft picks have the yankees made in the top rounds? Just because you have a high pick doesnt always mean you make the right choice or that the player develops into a major leaguer. The rays have done a fantastic job through drafting as well as trades and signings. Of course, they dont have the pressure of constant success on their shoulders as the yankees do so the trades are an unfair comparison but the rays have certainly done a better job than most teams putting in only 42 million and becoming one of the best teams in baseball.

That’s my point!!