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Tennessee baseball is as dirty as any one single program in any sport. I know what went down at Georgia Southern
Listened to the Callis/Mayo discussion on spaces a short time ago, and they’re both quite high on this draft’s top three (Crews, Dollander, Langford). They’ve heard from people in the league that think there’s a realistic possibility that Langford passes Crews at some point before the draft (not a certainty obviously, but Langford is moving to center this year and if he shows well there and continues hitting like he has been, it’s a definite possibility they believe), and they think that Skenes could end up challenging Dollander for the top pitcher spot if he puts it all together. Callis said that at the moment there’s a definite gap there though and said that he’d be surprised if any organization had someone other than Dollander as their top pitcher currently. Callis also said that he’d take Dollander over any college pitcher since Cole, and it sounded like a pretty easy call for him too. He is SKY high on Dollander, from his stuff, to his frame, to his athleticism to his makeup and competitiveness. Basically thinks he’s the full package. Struggled to even pinpoint a weakness finally settling on the fact that his curveball could be more consistent (called it his fourth best pitch).
Maybe it's the Cole comparisons, but Dollander seems like someone the Pirates would take 1-1. If there's a clear #1 hitter and pitcher, hard to guess which one the 1-1 holder will take.
Except the Pirates are cheap bastards
Mark Lerner is going to petition Manfred to see if he can pay the #2 pick in deferred money.
Kyle Teel of UVA and Jack Hurley of VT and Matt Shaw of UMD are all projected late first round picks. I personally hope the Nats pick Maui Ahuna. Just so we can talk about Maui.
An interesting Callis prediction:No. 1 Overall Draft PickI keep saying and writing that Tennessee right-hander Chase Dollander is the best college pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Gerrit Cole in 2011, and I should just leave the "college" out of it. He's a complete package with an elite fastball, the makings of a wipeout slider to go with a potentially plus curveball and changeup, advanced command, athleticism, a sound delivery and exceptional performance. That talent is more rare than what Louisiana State outfielder Dylan Crews (No. 1 ahead of Dollander on the MLB Pipeline Draft Top 100) or similarly tooled Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford bring to the table, so I think the Pirates will take Dollander in July.https://view.mail.mlblists.com/messages/1672791754783164b3519e16d/raw
Guarantee you that whomever we pick out of crews or Langford will end up being the worse of the two
You’re assuming the lerners will be willing to pay for either. Nothing about how they’ve treated the roster since the sale rumors have been published leads me to believe that they would be willing to pay more than the bare minimum necessary to field a team
What have they done this offseason, i.e. after the team being for sale was made public, that makes you think they will choose anything other than the cheapest option?
FWIW, TalkNats notes that their payroll is up to about $116 million going into next season, and it could rise to as high as $120 million. That puts them toward the middle of the pack. Yeah, a ton of that is Corbin & Strasburg. They are still likely to add another SP as well before camp.
With out the untradable contracts, they are near the bottom. They've added no real money this offseason
I'd still go either of those position players over any pitcher. Draft for everyday position players, trade for pitching (given the limited pitch counts and fragility of arms/shoulders/elbows these days).