Saturday, July 19, 2014

Opening IFA Market Picks

David Beltre became the first IFA to sign in the new season with a $2.1M bonus from the San Diego Padres. My scouts aren't exactly enamored with this pick for the money.  Going by what I see, RF might be the best place for him instead of the SS he is purported to be. Hitting is less than so-so for that matter. If you put him in the draft, he might be a late second rounder at the earliest. However I do see the possibility of him being better than he looks. So I am on the fence about whether it was a good signing or not.

Cookie Pena was the first of the new season with a rather large contract, $12M by Montreal. Maybe my scouts are blind as well. SS is a possibility though I worry about the arm and maybe the glove a bit. There are definitely other key spots he could play, like 2B/CF for instance. Hitting isn't exactly robust but for a decent SS is pretty good. His health scares me off the most. Montreal only has a consolation pick in the first round so you could consider him their first round pick. For the slot he might have been chosen in the draft, I would put him somewhere around mid to late first round easily enough. By my standards, maybe overpaid by a couple million unless the health is better than I am seeing.

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