Royal draft tomorrow, name your pick

1. wieters
   
2. heyward
   
3. vitters
   
4. parker
   
5. beau mills
   
6. moustakas
   
7. detwiler

Taking Porcello, offering a minor league contract with a huge signing bonus, and telling him to walk by the new Aug. 15 deadline if he doesn't want it would be, while temporarily frustrating, would be okay for this year with me.  If he didn't take it, my understanding is that we'd get pick 2a (the third pick) next year.  Two picks out of the top 6-7 next year would be okay, especially since nobody's all that hot on the second pick in the draft on down this year.  Getting Porcello to sign would also be "okay".  If my understanding of the new draft rule is correct, what struck me as a big gamble earlier today now strikes me as a calculated gamble, i.e. one worth taking.

A side note:  Jeff Passan at Yahoo! is now projecting Weiters to Milwaukee at pick 7 due to the Boras factor, and has us taking Vitters or Detwiler if we decide not to mess with Boras on Porcello.  I'm good with Vitters--I think this year is showing that we can't have too much offense in the pipeline, either.

I want him in our system.

According to everything I've read, that leaves Vitters.  Unfortunately, he's a HS player, but he's the top position player on every list I've seen.  He's an impact bat and that is hard to turn down when the pitching options aren't very appealing.  Yes, he's a 3B.  And if the Royals draft him, I'm sure there will be all kinds of uproar about "how could the Royals draft a 3B???"  But you never, ever draft for need with a top 10 pick.  He'll take 3-4 years to develop and by then he could be a 2B or an OF or whatever the Royals want him to be (within limits) and who knows what the major league's team needs will be by then.

If Ladnier picks Vitters, I'm kind of going to have to trust him on that.  He's done well with first round HS position players before (See Billy Butler).

1. David Price
   
2. Matt Wieters
   
3. Rick Porcello

"We're going to select a player," general manager Dayton Moore said, "who has a realistic view of his value. We're going to get a player who will make a major impact on our ballclub for a long time."  That means no Porcello and no Weiters.

Star says it's gonna be a high school player (unless the miracle of Price happens), and it's likely gonna be Vitters, with Moustakas (Boras factor), Parker, or catcher Devin Mesoraco (who, to be honest, I haven't heard of until now) as other options.

With the new August deadline, Boras is going to start costing newbies some money.  But on the positive side, the Fort Worth Cats are gonna be loaded.

Porcello looks great, but Boras is looking for a huge major league contract for this kid.  Prospects are always risking.  Pitching prospects doubly risky.  HS pitching prospects triply risky.  Does it make sense to risk that much money on such a risky pick?

The best position player prospect, Vitters, makes more sense to me.