Is a draft pick THAT important for us?

[CAngels11]

Surprisingly, This team is built to Win now and thats why i believe you have to go after the best pitchers possible. Whether that pitcher has a1st round draft pick tied to him or not. I say we go after one of the pitchers with a draft pick tied to him just because we will be able to leverage that and get a favorable contract. And honestly how many times do first round picks in Baseball pan out to be the true talent that they were thought to be in the majors?

[Mark68]

I know I'm going to get roasted, but I still think our best bet is Jimenez or Santana and lose the pick. We're not the Marlins. We can afford to lose one pick as long as it's not a regular thing. I know our minor league system is crappy, but I'd rather have the surer arm in one of the two I mentioned than go after Capuano or whatever dregs are left.

Ummmm...what is your definition of a "regular thing"? If we sign Jimenez or Santana, we'd lose our top draft pick for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW....

[jshep]

Keeping the pick means more draft pool money to spend. Nobody is worth losing that this offseason.

 

Yep, that money is huge too.

 

Under the old system, teams at least had a greater opportunity to try to make up for losing picks by spending big later on talent that dropped because of signability or whatever. That doesn't exist anymore.

[YouthofToday]

1st round picks are false promises. Just look at #27 on our team...

[Blarg]

1st round picks are false promises. Just look at #27 on our team...

 

And #10.

[Corona]

Lol look at the current state of our farm system, there's really no debating the importance of rebuilding the farm. To do that we need draft picks.

[papawealey]

Is a draft pick THAT important for us?

Yes,

 

Our farm system is garbage.

[Angelsjunky]

Some have already said much of what I was going to say - that the Angels haven't had a first round pick since 2011 and need to replenish the farm. Furthermore, their #15 pick may be the best they get for years to come (or so we hope).

 

But look at it this way, the last two picks they lost involved the following players being drafted:

 

2012: Michael Wacha (Cardinals for Pujols)

2013: Travis Demeritte (Rangers for Hamilton)

 

Michael Wacha we all know - he's one of the best young pitchers in the National League. Demeritte we don't know (yet) but he looks like a very promising infielder, with a .411 OBP in rookie ball at the tender age of 18.

 

Almost all draft picks are a crapshoot to some degree, but the first round is less so than later on. Chances are the Angels can pick up a strong prospect, which they really need right now.

[stormngt]

I know I'm going to get roasted, but I still think our best bet is Jimenez or Santana and lose the pick. We're not the Marlins. We can afford to lose one pick as long as it's not a regular thing. I know our minor league system is crappy, but I'd rather have the surer arm in one of the two I mentioned than go after Capuano or whatever dregs are left.

We have lost the last two.  How many do you lose before it becomes a "regular things"?

[red321]

Shane brings up an excellent point, it has as much to do with losing the draft pool money as it does losing the pick itself.

[Mark68]

Shane brings up an excellent point, it has as much to do with losing the draft pool money as it does losing the pick itself.

This is so true. It's not just the pick, which would be bad enough. It's losing the pool money, which could be much worse.