Cubs Get 16th Pick in Next Year's Draft
Baseball America has the updated draft order for the 2010 MLB draft.
1. Nationals (59-103) 17. Rays (84-78) 2. Pirates (62-99) 18. Mariners (85-77) 3. Orioles (64-98) 19. Tigers/Twins loser (86-77) 4. Royals (65-97) 20. Braves (86-76) 5. Indians (65-97) 21. Tigers/Twins winner (87-76) 6. Diamondbacks (70-92) 22. Rangers (87-75) 7. Mets (70-92) 23. Marlins (87-75) 8. Astros (74-88) 24. Giants (88-74) 9. Padres (75-87) 25. Cardinals (91-71) 10. Athletics (75-87) 26. Rockies (92-70) 11. Blue Jays (75-87) 27. Phillies (93-69) 12. Reds (78-84) 28. Dodgers (95-67) 13. White Sox (79-83) 29. Red Sox (95-67) 14. Brewers (80-82) 30. Angels (97-65) 15. Rangers (for failure to sign Matt Purke) 31. Rays (for failure to sign LeVon Washington) 16. Cubs (83-78) 32. Yankees (103-59)
Thanks to the loss on Sunday, the Cubs first round pick will be protected in case they sign any Type A free agents. The rainout on Thursday helped as well. If they had won that game and tied the Rays at 84-78, the Cubs would have lost the tiebreaker, which is whoever had the worst record the year before and the Cubs finished a half game ahead of the Rays in 2008.
Speaking of free agent compensation, MLB Trade Rumors and Eddie Bajek have posted the final reverse-engineered Elias rankings. It's not official of course, but here is where they have the 4 potential Cub free agents (I'm ignoring Chad Fox).
Kevin Gregg - Type A, John Grabow - Type A, Rich Harden - Type B, Reed Johnson - None
Of course the Cubs have to offer compensation to reap any benefits from the free agent compensation system and that's pretty doubtful with Kevin Gregg. Chances are they'll just resign John Grabow, but that Type B status for Rich Harden is a bit of a godsend. Other teams are always weary of losing a first or second round pick, but with Type B status, Harden won't cost the signing team anything and the Cubs would get an extra supplemental pick if he signs elsewhere. Now the Cubs just have to offer him arbitration and they'll probably only do that if they're certain he'll sign somewhere else. Considering he's the only starting pitcher with any talent on the free agent market not named John Lackey, I think it's a pretty safe bet he'll at least get a two year offer.
If that scenario does play through, the Cubs would have the 16th pick and a supplemental pick and if the money is there, going after a Type A free agent could very well be in the cards since the Cubs would get back the 2nd round pick they would lose. Better yet, the Cubs should keep all their picks, hopefully gain a couple and save their money on some "signability" kids and continue the process of getting younger and stocking the farm system to replace their suddenly aging major league roster.
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