Draft Day Is Here

Yep, it's tonight. The 2013 First-Year Player Draft will kick off with the Draft preview show on the MLB Network at 6, with round 1-3 beginning at 7.  Rounds 3-10 will be on Friday, and Rounds 11-40 will be  on Saturday.

The Pirates have $8,884,600 to work with, divvied up like this:

Round	Overall	Slot
01	009	$3,029,600
01	014	$2,569,800
02	051	$1,065,400
03	087	$612,000
04	119	$429,200
05	149	$321,400
06	179	$240,600
07	209	$180,400
08	239	$155,400
09	269	$145,200
10	299	$135,600

You remember how that works; the total for the 10-round pool is the key number, not the slots. If you don't sign someone, his slotted pool money is subtracted from the pot. So the FO has $8.88M to work with if they sign all 11 of their top picks, less if they don't. Guys signed after the 10th round max out at $100K; any bonus over that is subtracted from the top ten pool. Go over that limit and the penalties are pretty draconian.

The players available are a mixed bag. It's not a particularly deep draft, so the Pirates have a lot of possibilities with the ninth and 14th picks.

Among the college guys who may fall within the Bucs draft range are third baseman Colin Moran of NC and New Mexico's DJ Peterson, both described as pure hitters. Indiana State southpaw Sean Manaea, whose stock has fallen a bit, and OF Hunter Renfroe of Mississippi State, a RH power guy, are also in the mix. Two other college arms, RH Ryne Stanek of Arkansas and Braden Shipley of Nevada, are also possibilities. College players are the safer selections because of their track record and they're on a faster track to the show.

But the greater upside is with the high school guys. The question is do the Pirates want to continue to spend years in development before getting a finished product? It worked out pretty well for Cutch and Neil Walker, but there are a lot of prep horror stories in the Pittsburgh draft annuls. And even the best have a four or five year incubation period. Walker spent six years in the system before cracking the lineup in 2010 and it took Cutch four years to nail down his MLB gig.

High school outfielders Clint Frazier and Austin Meadows, catcher Reese McGuire, LHP Trey Ball, and SS JP Crawford are guys who are mentioned as players the Bucs have been scouting, and 1B Dominic Smith is another name to watch.

It'll be interesting. We think the Bucs may work on building position depth this year, both because of the pitching talent available and the state of their system; they could particularly use corner guys and a SS. But a lot will depend on who falls when and where, especially in a year when there is no real clear cut talent tiers.