John Perrotto was able to confirm it:

http://www.piratesreport.com/page/content.detail/id/500930.html

That the problem to me isn’t that Sanchez was a reach, but that he has a low ceiling. Surely there were higher upside players available that would’ve signed for slot at #4.

Ultimately, this boils down to talent evaluation. The Bucs have not yet proved or disproved their ability to judge talent. I’m keeping an open mind, but in as much as many of the same talent evaluators from the disaterous DL regime are still on board in the same capacity, I think it is fair to have doubts. Strategy is important, but it ain’t gonna work if you can’t evaluate talent.

I was pissed when we took Maholm b/c DL immediately described him as a #3 type pitcher. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be at least as upset this time around.

Ultimately, I’m not that upset since the verdict is still out on the ability to evaluate talent and I like the overall plan (both in this draft and as a whole).

Finally, count me among those who are greatly opposed to moving Doumit out from behind the plate. His value would plummet.

Good day.

…stand a good chance of maximizing the talent they acquire in this draft and in this international signing period by not wasting millions on a first round choice who is unlikely to produce as a high first round draft pick should. If the Pirates can now draft and sign two additional players — if not more — that they would not have signed had they drafted and paid a player to the team’s first round slot, then the team will be better off overall baseballwise. Only the potential superstar disrupts this figuring because they, by definition, produce at a seldom equaled rate. the Pirates indicated that they would have drafted Strasberg and Ackley if either were available. The team should have the benefit of our doubt at this point. So, I believe they would have drafted these players if they could have.

In other worlds, if the market is flush with good but not great talent, it makes no financial sense to pay good players a great player’s price.

I think the other thing to remember is that a TON of the guys ranked in the top 25-30 by BA (and everyone else) were pitchers. Since the strategy was to draft all of the tough sign pitchers later in the draft, it stands to reason that the 1st round pick was going to be a position player. If you eliminate the pitchers from the top 30, and eliminate all of the hitters that wouldn’t sign for slot, you’re really left with the choice of Sanchez out of a relatively small pool of hitters. It’s not at all inconceivable to believe the Bucs liked him best of that group.

I usually agree with your columns, but this one I’m more skeptical of.

Put me in the Pirates went “cheap” category.

No, I don’t think the Pirates went cheap because of the BA rankings. I think they went cheap because no one had Sanchez evaluated as a top 10 player. None. I’m in SEC/ACC baseball country and he just wasn’t viewed as a top-tier talent.

Yes, I do think other teams went cheap this year as well. I suspect it’s because of the drop in “slot” money from MLB baseball. But this is really the first year that there has been such a dramatic difference between the BA rankings and the draft.

Second, I’m not sure Gibson helps your argument. Obviously, he wouldn’t have gone there if it weren’t for an injury.

Now the Pirates claim it was part of an overall strategy. Okay. But I still think there were five or six better bats than Sanchez. I never think taking a player whose upside is Bengie Molina with the #4 pick is a good idea. The pick should have been Borchering, I think.

As for Sanchez, you can find players like that internationally or in the 20th round.

Just a final comment: Imagine the Pirates team right now if DL went with the BA rankings. They aren’t perfect. But they are better than many teams.

I’m still unconvinced that the Pirates shouldn’t have drafted a Boras client, offered slot and taken the pick next year.

I’m also not convinced that the Pirates had to take Sanchez to get the “upside” players later.

I hope the strategy works out, but I think it’s a wasted pick. When the team acknowledges that the “upside” is an above average defender and average hitter, there is a problem.

Yeah, I think so. The reports I’ve heard on Sanchez aren’t very good. Essentially, he improved this year some with conditioning. But check his college statistics before this year. Not very good.

As for the bats I liked better:

1. Bobby Borchering

2. Grant Green

3. AJ Pollock

4. Jared Mitchell

5. Tim Wheeler

Yeah, I know most are HS bats. Yeah, I know they are harder to predict than college bats. But I suspect everyone will sign for less than Sanchez.

The Pirates aren’t in a place where you take low-risk players. If that was NH’s policy, Jason Bay would still be a Pirate.

I think it’s just a difference of opinion.

I agree though that if Sano is signed and five or six of the HS arms are signed that the strategy worked.

I still don’t believe that you had to blow the first day to do it.

Really, how many of the day 1 pix excite anyone?

You are correct. My mistake there.

and not the other names mentioned, so let’s start pulling for him and forget about the hypothetical games.

I’m more concerned about the ENTIRE draft, as well as the international signings from next month.