The other day, baseball held a draft in which the first pick (Adrian Gonzalez) was a guy almost no one had heard of. But in this space, we're about to present a draft in which the first pick will be somebody we guarantee everyone has heard of.
We polled 18 general managers on the following question: If you were starting a team right now, which position player and which pitcher would you start it with? And let's just say at the outset that if you aren't familiar with these people, you clearly took a wrong click on the road to the X Games portion of this site.
All right, now that that's out of the way, the envelopes, please.
|  | | Is Ivan Rodriguez your man? He has added 30-homer power to go with his rocket arm. |
The voting results at position player: Alex Rodriguez 9, Ivan Rodriguez 3, Vladimir Guerrero 3, Derek Jeter 2 and Nomar Garciaparra, in a controversial vote (more on that later), 1.
The voting results at pitcher: Pedro Martinez 17, Kerry Wood 1.
Hey, you were expecting Eddie Zosky and Bobby Ayala?
Now, Pedro was about as close to a belt-high BP fastball as we could possibly have served up. The one GM who opted for Kerry Wood asked for complete anonymity and was reluctant even to explain his selection. So we'll simply let that vote stand on its surgically reconstructed merits.
But nothing could impede this landslide. Here's a sampling of the Pedro sentiment, not that any explanations are really needed.
From Gerry Hunsicker, Astros: "Pedro Martinez is the most dominant pitcher in the game. He's one of the few pitchers you can really count on to stop the bleeding if you're in a must-win situation."
From Terry Ryan, Twins: "There's no question he's the best in our league. And at 27 (actually 28), he's just getting into the prime of his career. He's got four pitches he throws over at any time. He dominates left-handed hitters. He dominates right-handed hitters. And the bigger the game, the better he is."
From Dan O'Dowd, Rockies: "He's like adding 20 wins to your club before the season even starts. The rest of the staff just has to be .500, and you'll get to the playoffs."
From a National League GM who requested dark shades and a scrambled identity: "Pedro makes a whole team better, and not only on the day he pitches. He elevates the level of the rest of the starters, and he allows you to use a bullpen the way it's supposed to be used. Once every five days, the entire corps of middle relievers gets the day off. Most of the time, the closer does, too."
From an American League GM who plea-bargained the same arrangement: "Right away, you're 20 games over .500. ... Plus, he sucks up innings. So you can blow your bullpen out the day before he pitches, because you know you can rest them all the next day. Then you can blow them out the day after he pitches."
OK, enough of that. We're assuming no one needs any further convincing. Pedro's now 31-6 over the last two years. His ERA is under 2.00 over his last 53 trips to the mound (counting the postseason). And he's barely older than two of the top four finishers in last year's AL rookie-of-the-year balloting (Jeff Zimmerman, Brian Daubach). So this case is officially rested.
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“ |
He's the best young player in
baseball. He can win a batting title, and he can hit
60 home runs. He's the most explosive young
offensive player in the game. He'll be a superstar.
He can be a Hall of Famer. And he can beat you so
many ways. He's got speed. He's got power. He's
got all five tools. He hits every ball
hard. ” |
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— Reds GM Jim Bowden on Vladimir Guerrero |
Except for one thing:
Pedro should have gotten all but two votes instead of one, except that Red Sox GM Dan Duquette insisted on voting for him, in blatant violation of the rule preventing our contestants from voting for their own player. Then again, Duquette also voted for his man Nomar as his position player -- again in violation of our one and only rule.
We dutifully reported this violation to the proper authorities. But Duquette's response, relayed by Red Sox spokesman Kevin Shea, was a mirthful: "Dan says that's his final answer."
So we're required to advise you to disregard both of Duquette's votes, unless you're a Red Sox fan. But we thank him for playing our game.
Meanwhile, our position-player debate was much more lively, despite A-Rod's seemingly easy win.
Because a big chunk of A-Rod's voting public chose to vote anonymously (for obvious, free agency-related reasons), we'll let O'Dowd sum up the relentless sentiment for him: "He plays in the middle of the diamond at shortstop. He's a five-tool player. He hits in the middle of the lineup. He can field. He gives you leadership. He gives you charisma."
And for a mere 200 million bucks next winter, he can be yours.
But the support for the other players receiving votes was every bit as vociferous. Our Pudge Rodriguez voters were particularly adamant, in fact.
From Terry Ryan: "Having a catcher who's that much of an impact player is such an advantage. He can throw, run a pitching staff, hit third in the order, steal bases, hit for power. There isn't anything he can't do. And he's so durable. He hasn't been on the DL (since 1992). So I'm an Ivan Rodriguez guy. Alex Rodriguez is a great player. But he can't do anything unless the ball's hit to him. This guy (Pudge) touches the ball 175 times a game -- and everybody's looking for catching."
From the Phillies' Ed Wade: "Pudge Rodriguez is a complete player at a position that obviously controls a huge part of the game. And there's no part of the game he doesn't excel at. My original inclination was to vote for Guerrero, and Vladimir's a great player. But I don't think the same level of reponsibility falls to an outfielder that falls to the guy behind the plate. We get excited when an outfielder gets an assist, but a catcher has a chance to have an impact on the game 130 times a game -- or more -- with every pitch he calls."
From one of our anonymous GM's: "If you were making this choice -- Ivan versus A-Rod -- in a realistic draft situation, it comes down to one thing: There are fewer great offensive catchers than offensive shortstops. So in a real draft, you might not get A-Rod, but you could still get Garciaparra or Jeter, and you could win with any one of those guys. So I'd take the catcher."
Sounds mighty convincing, but our Vladimir Guerrero proponents were also adamant.
From Jim Bowden, Reds: "He's the best young player in baseball. He can win a batting title, and he can hit 60 home runs. He's the most explosive young offensive player in the game. He'll be a superstar. He can be a Hall of Famer. And he can beat you so many ways. He's got speed. He's got power. He's got all five tools. He hits every ball hard. He never even lets you pitch around him. You try to go away, he hits it out to right field. There aren't many Griffeys, guys in that class. But Vladimir is one of them."
From the Padres' Kevin Towers: "I think he's the best young player in the game. Put him in a lineup with protection -- put him in that Seattle lineup like A-Rod's in -- and look out. ... And I don't think we've seen the best of this guy yet. He's just moving into the prime of his career. He can hurt you so many ways. There's no way to pitch to him. Yeah, he doesn't walk (a lot). But he doesn't strike out, either."
From Hunsicker: "Vladimir Guerrero is the greatest young position player in our game. There's nothing he can't do. He doesn't appear to have a weakness. He can hit balls out of any part of the ballpark. He's a very good outfielder with a great arm. And he looks like he'll keep getting better. He's really only scratching the surface of what he's capable of doing."
But one GM, who asked not to be named, said: "There's no way you can take Guerrero first, as great as he is, because there are a dozen to 20 outstanding offensive outfielders. If you can't get Guerrero, big deal. You take Larry Walker. Offensive outfielders grow on trees, or just about."
That's why the rest of our panel was searching for stars up the middle. And that led two of them who couldn't vote for their own players -- Seattle's Pat Gillick and Texas' Doug Melvin -- to Derek Jeter's corner.
From Melvin: "He's a complete offensive and defensive player. When I think of Jeter, I think of 'team.' He's a player that merits respect from his teammates."
From Gillick: "If I can't vote for my own guy, I'd take Jeter because I like him a little better than Garciaparra. I know Garciaparra might have better numbers. But in clutch situations, I think Jeter's a tougher out. Garciaparra, I think you can pitch to. If you make a mistake, you're in trouble, but I think he can at least be pitched to. Jeter typically will fight off a lot of good pitches, then fist one to right field on you. Even when you pitch him tough, it seems like you can't get him out."
The great part about a poll like this, of course, is there are no wrong answers. And in a business where there are way too many opportunities to be wrong, our panelists enjoyed the chance to be 100 percent right.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a draft like this. But there is such a thing as free agency. And only one of these players will get to experience it this winter. That would be A-Rod -- who will be out there at age 25, giving all our GMs a chance to play this game for real. Except that that $20-million-a-year price tag stamped to his forehead means many of these GMs can pick him in our little game but can't afford him in the real world.
"But I know this," said one of them. "Anybody who can afford it will be in it."
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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