I like this start, it is fun and all but shoot me, I wish the O's would start losing so we can get a very high draft pick, as in top three this year.  We should be able to nail down Matusz or Beckham if we are lucky this draft, but if we were able to grab a solid 1B next year, a Smoak type, then the farm would be in tremendous shape.  If we do end up getting the shutdown southpaw Matusz this year our farm is going to be pretty damn loaded pitching wise and we already have a lot of young talent behind the plate with hopefully one of our 3B panning out.  Again, I am not complaining that the Orioles are off to a great start and are competitive right now, but it just eeks me that I know we will end up tanking it sometime in the future and this hot start has bumped us down the draft board.  This especially hurts me because we now have a competent GM who is willing to grab the guys that other people pass up on because of the money issues.

 

Back to the point, I hope that this thread can serve as a place to discuss all draft related items.  As I said earlier, I could see the O’s grabbing Matusz who is arguably the best pitcher in the draft above Crow who has had a down year.  It seems as if the Rays, who hold the top pick, are debating between the high school shortstop Tim Beckham and the FSU catcher Buster Posey who made headlines on SPORTSCENTER by playing all nine positions in one game or something.  Posey is a pretty sure fire solid catcher behind the plate, but Beckham is just one of those guys that has tremendous upside.  With the third pick the Pirates would be ecstatic if Pedro Alvarez dropped to them as he is a complete stud.  I am positive that if Alvarez somehow drops down because of money issues the O’s will snag him, and it is a definite possibility that they bite on Beckham solely because he is a shortstop.  That being said, if Matusz is the pick it is a hell of a consolation prize.  San Diego has a sick rotation and Matusz was the ace, his line read 10-3/2.85 ERA/1.10 WHIP/163K-37BB in 18 appearances.  It doesn’t hurt that he is a lefty either.  I expect that Matusz will end up being the guy but I didn’t see Wieters dropping past 2 last year either and look how that turned out.  Only other option I could see for the O’s is Justin Smoak who is a 1B who has been ripping it up at South Carolina or Aaron Crow who came into the season with a lot of hype and some believe he didn’t quite deliver, but I still think he was impressive in the games I saw.  Pretty deep draft and the O’s hold the fourth overall pick this year.