Poll: Under Varied Scenarios, Who Would You Approve Of?

[Greg Pappas]

Multiple choices... choose as many draftees as you like.

Again, under any number of draft scenarios, which player(s) would you be okay with the O's taking in round 1?

Comments and explanations are welcome.

[markpolis]

Multiple choices... choose as many draftees as you like.

Again, under any number of draft scenarios, which player(s) would you be okay with the O's taking in round 1?

Comments and explanations are welcome.

Not to over-simplify things, but the #4 pick for the Orioles really isn't that difficult a decision.

Joe Jordan and the Orioles will put together a list of their Top 4 Players. When it's our pick, Jordan will select the player highest on the list. It really is that simple. I don't know what "number of draft scenarios" would or should change that from happening.

[DennisTheOsFan]

Here are the consensus top 7 players in the draft:

Pedro Alvarez, 3B

Tim Beckham, SS

Buster Posey, C

Justin Smoak, 1B

Eric Hosmer, 1B

Brian Matusz, SP (LH)

Aaron Crow, SP (RH)

Why they'd be good additions

Pedro Alvarez--advanced college bat who gives us another top bat (along with Wieters) in all of minor league baseball. We don't have depth at 3B, so getting Alvarez gives us immediate help there. Rowell still has to prove that he can own high A pitching, but with Alvarez onboard, we don't have to put all our hopes on Rowell coming through. If both become studs, we can move the lesser defensive player to LF or 1B.

Tim Beckham--he'd be a good addition to the ballclub because we totally lack high potential middle infield talent. I think he's more of a leadoff or #2 batter who hits 10 - 12 HRs than a middle of the order guy who blasts 20+ dingers and drives in 100 runs. But I got no problem with that. With his quick bat, nimble feet, and good glove at SS, I feel he can resemble Jose Reyes in many regards (solid contact hitter, base thief, excellent defender). I think he'll take some time to make his impact felt in Baltimore--maybe spends 4 years in the minors, and then another 2-3 years in BAL before his feet are truly set--but once he's there, he'll be worth the wait.

Buster Posey--he'd be a good addition because he's a terrific hitter; regardless of what position he plays. Could be the best pure hitter in the organization. Now, if we grab Posey, I'd be interested in moving Wieters out from behind home plate. Wieters has such a big bat, and that's what's valuable to us. Posey is already a solid defensive catcher, and he's learning the position on the fly. Who knows how good he can be after more seasoning and learning the finer nuances. Plus he's more compact than Wieters, which I think is beneficial for a catcher (Bench and Pudge Rodriguez come to mind). Posey makes good sense because we'll still have a top catching prospect (both offensively and defensively) and we move Wieters to 1B where he'll be one of the top players at that position. Win win situation.

Justin Smoak--hard not to like this guy. He's been consistently good in college, and he's a switch hitter who comes equipped with a good glove. But he's not a sexy pick. If we draft him, I'll be happy with him, but I don't think I'll be jumping for joy. He'd be a good addition for us because he'll give us one of the top bats in the minors.

Eric Hosmer--Though he's not a proven college bat like Smoak, Hosmer is a sexy pick, probably because with high schoolers you take a gamble on them with the hope they turn into studs. Smoak appears to be the safer pick, but Hosmer has potential to be a bigger bat. He's got more athleticism than Smoak, so maybe a future in the outfield is a possibility--which gives him an edge over Smoak. He'd be a good addition to the ballclub because we don't have much in terms of power bats.

Brian Matusz--he'd be a good addition because contending teams need to have lots of good arms on the pitching staff. Can you imagine how blessed we'd be with Cabrera, Tillman, Matusz, Arrieta, and Loewen in the starting rotation? Pitchers with good command of 3 pitches usually have long and successful careers--being left handed and having good command of 3 pitches is a rare commodity. Its a luxury most teams don't have. Matusz is not a hurler who attains a huge amount of strikeouts with a blazing fastball. He's a pitcher who knows how to strike guys out using the assortment of pitches he has. That's encouraging news to me.

Aaron Crow--he's got more power stuff than Matusz, but I guess what puts him behind Matusz in my eyes is his slight glich in his mechanics. If not for that, I'd have him and Matusz on an equal plane. But if our scouts deem that he'll be fine and that glich won't be the cause of potential arm problems, then I'm fine with Crow if he's our pick. Again, can you imagine a starting 5 of Cabrera, Tillman, Crow, Arrieta, and Loewen? Yikes.

[DennisTheOsFan]

To be honest, I'm just going off of the vibe I'm getting from others. Sounds like Hosmer could have a bigger bat. Maybe after 3 years of college, Hosmer's value will be higher than Smoak's right now.

But if they are equal, then I go with the college bat.

[Wingman]

For me there's only 4 guys I'd be happy with and with the 4th pick, obviously, we'll have the chance to get one of them, I hope we do.

In order of preference..

T. Beckam

Alvarez

Hosmer

Smoak

G. Beckam, Posey and Matusz don't have enough upside for me and Crow is a little to risky for me, although if I had to add a 5th player it would be Crow.

[Greg Pappas]

Not to over-simplify things, but the #4 pick for the Orioles really isn't that difficult a decision.

Joe Jordan and the Orioles will put together a list of their Top 4 Players. When it's our pick, Jordan will select the player highest on the list. It really is that simple. I don't know what "number of draft scenarios" would or should change that from happening.

The scenarios are not from the Orioles standpoint, but the posters here.

In other words, there are scenarios were we could see Pedro falling to us, so choose him... we can see TBeck falling to 4, so choose him... that sorta thang.

It's just a who you would be okay with us taking sorta poll.

[markpolis]

Seems pretty simple. If our list is numbered 1-4, then the scenarios would be other teams taking some or all of those top three players.

If JJ and the Orioles had a list, 1 through 4, and the top three are taken, then we would take #4 on our list.

The Orioles will rank the players 1-4, the highest number left (1 being the highest) will be our selection. If it's #1, great, if not, #2 and so on...

Simple!

[Greg Pappas]

If JJ and the Orioles had a list, 1 through 4, and the top three are taken, then we would take #4 on our list.

The Orioles will rank the players 1-4, the highest number left (1 being the highest) will be our selection. If it's #1, great, if not, #2 and so on...

Simple!

This thread isn't about who we think the O's rank 1-4, but who we'd approve of when the choice is made.