There is no major league draft as famous as the 2002 session, which has been immortalized in both a bestselling book and an Oscar-nominated movie.
That was the year of the A’s “Moneyball” draft in which their general manager, Billy Beane, eschewed the advice of scouts and selected mainly from statistical data that, among other things, motivated Oakland to pick closer-to-the-majors college players. History does not look well on the A’s work, as that draft was notable for a tremendous high school crop — including Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, B.J. Upton, Zack Greinke, Joey Votto, Jon Lester and Josh Johnson.
But last night the spotlight turned toward a high schooler from that draft who never rose above A-ball. That is because a decade after the Yankees took Brandon Weeden with their top pick — the next-to-last selection of the second round — he was picked by the Browns with the 22nd pick in the first round of the NFL draft.
“It is strange how it worked out,” said Mark Newman, the Yankees’ VP of Baseball Operations then and now.
By signing Jason Giambi as a free agent, the Yankees had surrendered their first-round pick in 2002 to the A’s (who took Joe Blanton). The Yankees did not select until 71st. It was risky to grab a seldom-used high school reliever with a first pick. But the Yankees wanted first-round potential in the second round.
And, in Weeden, Jim Benedict saw such possibilities. Benedict was then a special assistant to baseball ops who was charged with seeing amateur pitchers in the middle of the country. Because Weeden was a shortstop at Edmonds Santa Fe High (Okla.), Benedict only watched him throw a few innings as a senior, when Weeden whiffed 68 in 40 innings with nine saves.
“He was a big guy whose arm worked good from shortstop and he filled a projectable mold as a high school athlete,” said Benedict, now the Pirates’ minor league pitching coordinator. “I thought if he got the proper development he [could] grow into something. We didn’t have a first-round pick, and word on the street was he would go in the third round. So if you wanted him, it had to be the second round.”
The Yankees felt comfortable taking the 18-year-old, though he was a gifted high school quarterback with a chance to go to Oklahoma State, because Weeden wanted to play baseball, especially for his favorite team, the Yankees.
“This was not like Drew Henson, where we had to overpay because he was such a hot football prospect,” Newman recalled.
In fact, Weeden’s $565,000 bonus was in line with his draft slot — Josh Womack (Seattle) and Mitch Talbot (Houston), the two picks before Weeden, both received $550,000 bonuses.
The Yankees thought the combo of athleticism and fresh arm from not pitching much made Weeden, in Newman’s words, an “upside pick.” But his 90-91 mph fastball never ticked much higher and, after the 2003 campaign, the Yankees included Weeden in a trade to the Dodgers for Kevin Brown. Weeden played three more seasons at the A-level for the Dodgers and Royals, finishing his minor league career at 19-26 with a 5.02 ERA before enrolling in 2007 at Oklahoma State to rekindle his quarterback aspirations.
He rewrote the Cowboys’ record book the past two seasons as a starter, including last year when he completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 4,727 yards and 37 touchdowns. Weeden threw for 399 yards and three TDs — all to Jaguars’ first-round pick Justin Blackmon — as Oklahoma State won the Fiesta Bowl 41-38 over Stanford and Andrew Luck, who was the first overall selection last night by the Colts.
But because he first pursued baseball, Weeden already is 28 — just four months younger than Jose Reyes — which concerns NFL teams. As for the Yankees, the 2002 draft actually turned out well, retroactively.
That was the draft in which Nick Swisher (Oakland’s first pick in the Moneyball process), Curtis Granderson (nine picks after Weeden by Detroit), Russell Martin (17th round, Dodgers) and Boone Logan (18th round, White Sox) were selected.
Colon decision doesn’t smell so good now
THE Yankees are grieving the season-long loss of Michael Pineda, but another offseason rotation decision also looks dubious at this moment.
Before they knew they definitively could obtain Pineda for Jesus Montero or sign Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees decided to retain either Freddy Garcia or Bartolo Colon to provide rotation depth.
Garcia’s camp was a bit more aggressive in wanting to return, and the Yankees liked how the veteran righty’s accountability played in their locker room. But the Yankees mainly favored Garcia because: 1) He had been healthy enough to win 12 games in each of the past two seasons in the AL while last year was the first Colon exceeded 100 innings since 2005; and 2) Colon faded late in 2011 (2-6, 4.96 ERA, .827 OPS in the second half) and was kept off the postseason roster while Garcia (5-2, 4.45, .767) got a postseason start.
“Based on our last look which was the second half and also on the past few years, it felt like we were betting on the known [Garcia] vs. the unknown [Colon],” general manager Brian Cashman said.
So Garcia was signed for $4 million while Oakland inked Colon for $2 million with the hopes not playing winter ball (as he did last year) would help with Colon’s endurance. The early results are Colon’s better stuff was the way to go over Garcia’s “dependability.” In five starts, Colon is 3-2 with a 2.62 ERA as a strike-throwing machine (38 in a row at one point earlier this season, the longest streak since 1988). Garcia’s 9.75 ERA is the third worst for anyone who has made three starts this year.
* THE Yankees are doing their Bronx Bombers heritage fine with 29 homers, the second most in the majors. However, their pitching is being bombed, as well.
The Yankees have allowed at least one homer in 16 of their first 18 games and 24 in all, the fourth most in the majors. Their starters have permitted 19 homers in just 99 innings, which has led to a .545 slugging average against the rotation — which is the same slugging percentage Mike Piazza had for his career.
By way of comparison, the Yankees had yielded 14 homers (11 by the rotation) through 18 games in 2011, and last year did not reach 24/19 until May 7, the 31st game.