Pick 30

where you have to climb the tree to pick the ripe fruit. And it’s a tree from which it’s easy to fall.

It will be interesting to watch how the Rays approach the process now. That they have had to pay big bucks for their early picks in the past should leave budget for signability picks going forward. They’ve found some later round (after say round 5) nuggets in the recent past (probably too early to evaluate ‘08, but nothing appears outstanding) such as Matt Moore, and maybe Salem, Fronk, and Luck (Darcy?) in ’07, Jennings and Rollins in ’06. But really not that many. Maybe the added available money will allow for a more aggressive approach going forward. And their international efforts have been pretty lackluster. Guess we’ll really see how good their scouting guys are now.

They have said all along it will be a few years before we begin to see any real results. Aside from Iwamura (who has been a good signing and for whom they had to outbid Cleveland and SD) and the Japanese relief pitcher who got hurt (Mori?), they have not tried to sign major league ready players as have the Yankees and other teams. They are scouting younger prospects to develop in the system.

where are the Caribbean prospects in their minors system now? They’ve had a DSL team / org for years – Venezuela is their new venture touted as 1 way they were investing their revenue sharing money. They may be “scouting younger prospects to develop in the system”, but where are they and what have the Rays been doing for the last 3 years?

I’m not talking about the Matsui and Iwamura types – I’m talking about the kids signed at 16-20 YO to develop in the system, typically starting in the DSL or VSL. The Inoa’s and such getting the big bonus deals, or any bonus deal, over the last 3 international signing cycles. I don’t see any prominent examples of these in the Rays system – unless you count Otero, or Reynolds, both a bit old for their level. Guys like Acosta, Colome, or Suarez in Princeton for example.

Maybe the WS appearance will make the Rays a more attractive destination and past performance has been a detriment. But looking at the Rays top 20 prospects from Sickels as 1 indicator, not one came from international scouting.

but I think the Rays just reestablished themselves in the Gulf Coast league after a long absence. I think some of the teenagers from the Caribbean will be assigned there.

I don’t think we can begin evaluating the Caribbean scouting for at least another 2-3 years when we see if any of the prospects start moving up to A ball. That is especially true of the Rays who are so conservative about promotions. Every once in a while I see a name mentioned but tend not to pay much attention because they are so young and raw. And the Brazilian foray will probably take at least 5-6 years before we can even begin to see any prospects.

The Appalachian League team is Princeton which still exists.

And your point about the previous organization is exactly right. They were short-sighted and without any real overall plan for building a contender. Whatever they did was haphazard and random.

That is why I object to any commentary that refers to the Rays as an 10 year failure. In my mind, the first 8 years were another organization, and while it did leave some good raw material, analysts cannot conflate their bumbling with the efforts of their replacements. This team is 3 years old in many respects.