Eden Prairie Landsharks: Grade = A- The Landsharks built the strongest rotation core in Ruth outside of the East, with Mussina, Fernandez, and Avery all high impact early round picks. Lofton, a prankster at heart, is the glue holding the team together, and even with limited range should be an above average fielding and hitting center fielder, while leading all of baseball in base running value. Stanley calls a good game behind the plate, and is probably the teams best hitter thus far. Jordan and Cirillo are well-rounded league average players and won’t hurt the team, but look like overdrafts to some fans.
SP Mussina – A
SP Fernandez – B+
CF Lofton – A-
SP Avery – A-
RF B. Jordan – C+
C Stanley – A
3B Cirillo – B
Toledo Troutheads: Grade = B+ The Troutheads have built a team around power hitting, with five veteran position players capable of hitting 25 homeruns or more, lead by perennial all-star Benito Santiago, who is also a very good pitch caller. With three of these guys on the wrong side of 30, the Troutheads want to start winning right away. And as long as Hideo Nomo and Andy Ashby pitch to the scouts’ expectations, and don’t succumb to critics who worry they may be overrated and primed for an early decline, the Troutheads will win the division in 1995 and perhaps beyond.
SP Nomo – B+
LF J. Gonzalez – B-
C B. Santiago – A
SS K. Mitchell – B
SP Ashby – B+
RF O’Neill – B+
CF C. Davis – A-
Kansas City Monarchs: Grade = B+ The Monarchs have yet to pick a player over 24 years old, and this commitment to youth earns them good marks in our book. Although they almost certainly will not compete for the division crown in 1995, they have set themselves up with plenty of future budget room and a number of interesting young position players and starting pitchers, all of whom will eventually pay dividends. Although we see Pettitte and Klesko as slight overdrafts with picks #15 and #34, all seven picks are good long term investments. The success of this strategy, however, will hinge on how the rest of the draft unfolds and on what KC does with its budget flexibility in future years.
SP Pettitte – B-
LF Klesko – B
3B Giambi – A-
SP B Jones – A
RF S. Green – B+
C C. Johnson – B
SP M. Sirotka – B-
Dallas Daredevils: Grade = B- The Daredevils committed all 6 of their first picks to high OBP guys who can also hit the ball out of the park, putting together a line-up that should score a lot of runs. However, as one of only two clubs that did not pick a starting pitcher among their first seven (electing to take the unorthodox step of picking a closer in round 7), it is hard to imagine this team competing for the division crown in 1995, especially with below average fielders. That said, most of their picks are young or just entering their prime years, and if Dallas can patiently put together a league average pitching staff, the Devils could surge ahead in the standings.
RF M. Ramirez – B+
1B Bagwell – C+
CF Lankford – A-
3B Ventura – B+
LF J. Canseco – C+
2B Naehring – A-
CL Percival – C-
