1984Echoes

If Campos could make a major push... That might even out some of the lefty-righty imbalance...

There is some serious HS pitching talent on the board right now... but most will be able to demand a huge signing bonus or they'll go to college... If drafting Anderson in the 2nd gets us one of those pitchers in the 3rd... Then I am now on board with drafting him in the 2nd in order to obtain said, potential, 3rd rounder. I am not right now enthused about his selection. Get me a good pitcher, I will be.

The flipside is that when those guys are getting more expensive... You're bringing in cheaper guys like Clark/ McGonigle. Also, Keith/ Meadows/ Malloy etc. are a few years behind the 1st wave. So we'll have roughly 3 waves of rookies/ more expensive contracts on the horizon, a few years apart each... That seems more manageable...

At least we're all in the same boat...!

This makes me feel a bit better about Professor McGonigle. I was ok with the pick but wasn't feeling any high-end skills... this says there are more high-end skills than we may have realized...

PS: I also like the makings of our 4th line with Kostin-Veleno-Sprong...

I don't see the 2nd and 3rd lines being incompetent 2023-24. You have Copp, Compher, Raymond, Rasmussen, Soderblom, Fabbri, Kasper, Berggren, and maybe even Mazur pushing for time on these lines. Probably 2 and maybe even 3 of those guys are in Grand Rapids... But I don't see ineptness taking over those lines this year. I see competition and competence leading to effectiveness... IMO.

That's what I'm thinking more than anything else. I guess. They needed to save money here though...? I don't really see that either, to be honest...

Overall... I'm not digging this draft...

That's why I asked because I agree with this 100%. The two will be split up and won't be on the same line. PS: I could see Perron and Ras as the PF on each line. I'm thinking Perron will start out on Larkin's line though...

One of Yohandy Morales or Walker Martin will be available at 37... I'd be pleased with either one...

We have two picks coming up at 37 and 45... Split 'em.

Two questions: 1) Does Raymond stick on the 1st line or get pushed to the 2nd line? Related: 2) Who goes to the boards/ corners to take control of pucks for Larkin & DeBrincat? I think a line of Larkin-Raymond-DeBrincat might get outmuscled which is why I'm asking this... I think one of Raymond or ADB needs to go onto the 2nd line... And somewhere we need some power forward work on these two lines... DeBrincat with Cobb & Rasmussen might be a decent 2nd scoring line? Who matches up with Raymond & Larkin?

There are a bunch of HS guys 24-34 like that... And two left in the top 15 in Houck and Miller...

Too late. Nimmala gone.

The longer those 3 fall... the higher our chances at snagging one at 37. I think we can offer $4 mill or so tops to grab someone there. At the #19 pick right now, and teams with a whole lot less flexibility than we have, it's under the $4 mill.

Where this really will come into play in the 2023 draft is if a top 15 player, specifically a HS'er, drops to our pick and we promise a much higher signing $ than our #37 pick. Keep an eye on Aidan Miller, Colin Houck, and Arjun Nimmala...

He could have gone 5th or 6th but went 3rd. A quick conversation gets an agreement at #4 slot money and we draft him. Langford could have said I won't sign unless it's #3 slot money plus 5%. Or something like that... There's wiggle room. The slot #'s are not set in stone. Going over or under restricts what a team can do in later rounds though... There are penalties for paying more than 5% of a teams' OVERALL draft $ allotment (NOT per pick.. overall number...)

If you don't sign your draft pick this year, you get the same pick next year, -1 slot. So #3 this year becomes #4 next year.

99% assuredly. Teams' background research includes conversations on signing. This is probably true from around the 1st to maybe 5th rounds where it gets harder to predict who falls at around there. I think that's how we signed Colt Keith in the 5th when we drafted him out of HS...

If he goes to Vanderbilt we lose him. We either sign him and stick him in the Tigers' minor league system or, we lose him...

Or Kyle Teel...

I think his upside is supposed to be higher. But we'll see how that plays out...

OK then... I guess I'll need to eat my words because I'm perfectly fine with Clark... This is a scouting/ upside play so it doesn't bother me that he'll have a longer path than Langford...

And the Nationals take the Boras issue out of our hands... Langford or BUST!!!