Rookie Draft Review 2016: AL

Boston Brewmasters

The change in management was a good one for Bean Town as they dump the buttholes and hire Jim. God Boston owners have been asses. Please stay Jim…Please.. God please don’t leave. Anyways, Boston’s draft plan was apparent. With their first two picks going to lockdown relievers Roberto Osuna and Carson Smith, Boston fortified what could be the strongest bullpen in the league. If you are going to beat the American League Champs you better do it before the 6th inning. Osuna, Smith, O’Day and the rest of the sharktank aren’t going to give you a chance beyond that.

Tampa Bay Renegades

With picks towards the end of the rounds Tampa looked to enhance the future by bringing in Michael Conforto, Archie Bradley and Jose Peraza. Conforto has a great card and great talent, with the only downside being limited usage. Let’s face it though, who needs a new team when you just won 102 games? With Archie Bradley being an ace in training, and Peraza looking to hold down the infield, Tampa pulled in a grab bag of talent leaving them not only contenders now, but also for years to come.

New York Yankees

The Bombers looked to rebuild, netting an extra 1st round pick. Because, as if Carlos Correa wasn’t enough, they grabbed the best prospect, at the shallowest position, in catcher Blake Swihart. With diamonds in rare positions, the Yankees built up their rotation by adding two other young armed studs in Luis Severino and Patrick Corbin in the 2nd round. NYY may have to wait a year to reap the total benefit of this complete youth movement, but with a league leading $62 million in capspace to throw in, it won’t take long before the Yanks are competing in the brutal AL east.

Baltimore VooDoo

With hands down the coolest logo in the league, the VooDoo began working their dark magic by pouncing on the shallow outfield talent. Baltimore snatched up speedster Billy Burns and thumper Mark Canha to add great production and usage before adding a sneaky Stephen Geltz in the third. I see his top 20 RP status my friend. Don’t try to sneak him past me with that VooDoo that YouDo.

Kansas City Pigeons

The division winners took flight by drafting a couple starting pitchers in the electric Carlos Rodon, and the less electric but great card, Cody Anderson. These two will join Carlos Martinez and John Lackey to fit a 2 headed monster onto a recently decapitated starting rotation. No question the rookies will aid Lackey and Martinez in holding down the rotation while the KC offense looks to overpower it’s adversaries on the opposite front.

Detroit Wheels

The wheels “got rolling”, hee (had to do it), by locking up the underrated extended rookie Jose Iglesias to hold down the middle defensively, while trotting a base at a time at a good clip. With no 2nd rounder, the Wheels were anxious to build on their offense by drafting the multifaceted Aaron Altherr adding to an amazing outfield in which he will join the likes of Bryce Harper and George Springer, putting an exclamation point inside and outside of the fences.

Cleveland Steamers

The steamers opted for power with their top 10 pick, netting the crushing phenom (and potential catcher) Kyle Schwarber. With power under control, Cleveland added a prodigal arm with the cannonballer Jon Gray in the 2nd. Johnny Giavotella capped things off in the 3rd round giving the Steamers an option to run the underperforming Gyrko and Starlin Castro out of town. The writing is on the wall for the Cleveland middle infield. Better take notice.

Minnesota Greys

Beards no longer, the Greys look to start the youth movement. Doubling up in the outfield with two top prospects, the 40/40 candidate Byron Buxton and the new pride of my beloved STL Cardinals, Stephen Piscotty (moment of silence for Oscar Taveras) sigh…. The Greys have a decades worth of outfield locked in. With their other second round pickup, the Greys snagged a top SP prospect, Rasiel Iglesias, to fortify a young talented starting rotation. Rip Van Winkle will have no time to sleep on these new Beards as the young talented rotation matures and dominates. Get it? I bet Rip Van Winkle had one hell of a GreyBeard.

Oakland Mean Green

Oakland took the conventional route as if Billy Beane never left, opting for the productive usage of Travis Shaw at a shallow first base position. The Green Machine then capped their usage at third by taking Geovani Urshela. Then on to oiling the ole pitching machine as Oakland brought in young reliever Felipe Rivera as the lynchpin in the bullpen with their third pick. With safe picks to solidify their AL West title, Oakland is looking to repeat their dominance.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners were just edged out of the wild card by a 102 win team in an ultracompetitive American League. Seattle went with the win now mantra as they moved their first 4 picks to secure MVP candidates such as Miguel Cabrera and Nolan Arenado. With bats like that who needs prospects, as the Mariners used their final picks to smooth the rough edges with Matt Boyd and Orlando Calixte. Seattle has plenty of power and plenty of cap, over $30M, to play for the present.

Texas Usagis

Texas jumped (hee get it? They are some kind of rabbit or something) on the opportunity to pluck stud Shortstop Corey Seager off the board. The hares then solidified future ace Henry Owens with their second round pick then snatched Preston Tucker from the diminishing outfield pool of the ’16 Nostalgia Rookie Draft. Even with the talking heads pushing for Seager to move to 3rd base, it’s nevermind for Texas who are fine replacing the aging Jose Reyes or Ryan Zimmerman with elite talent.

Houston Astros

The Astros moved up to the coveted first pick in the Rookie Draft thanks to the lottery and they were rewarded with stud 3B Kris Bryant. What else can be said? He clubbed 26 homers at the age of 23. If the prime age of baseball is 27, then holy crap. I hate math but I am sure that’s a ton of homeruns. After that, Houston opted to cash in on the outfield before it totally bottomed out by signing the speedy Delino Deshields to fortify the fence. The third round saw the Stars nail down another shallow position as they grabbed backstop incumbent Carlos Perez. With over $30M to fill 2nd bases, chances are Houston won’t get another opportunity to secure the 1st overall pick next year.