David Draggle, no disrespect, but you do understand what you just wrote is a load of bullshit, right? The point is, if you draft nothing but fringy starting outfielders (Murphy) or safe-bet #4 starters, then you aren't going to win many championships.

Give me the high-upside, high-risk signings any day. If you have enough of them, then yeah, you are sure to see some flameouts, but if 2 out of Brinson, Gallo, Guzman, Beras, Alfaro or Mazara happen to work out, then you've got yourself franchise cornerstones.

For every Lewis Brinson you are going to have a Jordan Atkins. That's just the way it works. But if you shoot 50%, hell, even 25% on your high-risk draftees, then you're living pretty well. The new collective bargaining agreement puts a premium on using whatever resources you have to get your hands on the talent.

I suspect the new fixed slot bonuses will force many young athletes to take the college route, rather than the typical high-ceiling talent going straight to the pro's. $2 million used to be a lot more money than it is now. I have a feeling the Rangers will adjust their drafting philosophy accordingly, and we'll see a lot more college players taken in the earlier rounds.

Also, I believe his name may be spelled Akins *, not Atkins.

I'm sorry I left Holland, Moreland & Scheppers out, but for good reason... I'm not sure I'd hold up any trade for
any of those to wait for that "prospect" tab to mature. Again, the odds. All others we got "in trade". Yes, trade
for talent, prospect or otherwise. The Draft is a dice roll. A necessary enity, but the pay out is weak in/thru time.
Drafts never allure me. Four-five year commitment for "pan out" usually allows for "trade commodity" only.

It's amazing that we have any HOF players prior to this modern age of tech & math savvy. Have our scouts just
lost thier "eye" for good talent? What's really going through these kids heads, besides get home fast to play XBOX?
Anybody really jumping/pumping, because Moreland, Scheppers, Kirkland & Holland made it thru our system to MLB?

The new draft slotting is going to have a very odd effect. We saw a little of it last year, where the 1st round and supplemental rounds tended to have a lot of high upside guys. Then depending on team you saw people that would have been end of the draft types signing for 10k quickly to give more bonus to allow for signing the top players, that's how we signed Gallo out of his college commitment.

I think you need to mix the high upside guys with the high probability guys. It really seems like we've been taking young high probability pitchers recent (Erlin, Buckel) and then flipping them for what we need relatively fast. Those high risk guys are great lottery tickets. Some of those tickets are going to get traded before they're scratched. Most of those tickets are going to be losers. A few of them will get you some return, but if you hit on just one of them you get a special player.

I think we draft pretty well. I think we might be bordering on over valuing our prospects, but I'd rather do that then undervalue them like some teams seem to.