The greatest game of chance in sports is about to begin: the Major League Baseball draft.



In the other three American major sports, while there’s no guarantee that the No1 overall pick will become a superstar, top picks at least make the team. Jameis Winston, Conor McDavid and whoever the Timberwolves take will be in uniform. Major League Baseball teams don’t even know if they’re getting a guy who will ever play for them. It’s easy to laugh at JaMarcus Russell’s pro career, but it was much better than the career of Matt Bush. MLB’s No1 overall in 2004 didn’t crack Triple-A.

The MLB draft is a crapshoot. But too many baseball fans view it as a science. So they focus on all the picks their favorite team whiffed on and complain about the great players that were missed. “How could we take X when Y was available?! Our front office is hopeless!” But that’s a negative way to look at a crapshoot. Why focus on the bad stuff when we can all be grateful that the randomness of the MLB draft didn’t give us some outcomes that would have been truly horrible?

Mike Trout, St Louis Cardinals

Your typical baseball fan has grown to loathe the Cardinals over the past decade. There’s just only so many times someone can tell you how humble and pure they are before you realize they’re arrogant liars. Now imagine a world in which the fanbase that claims to be the best also had the best player? It’s a nightmare. Trout was available when the Cardinals picked No19 in the 2009 draft. If St Louis had taken him there, the Cardinals would be even better than they are now and, worst of all, we’d have to hate Trout, too. But they didn’t. They took Shelby Miller and Trout went six picks later to the Angels. Trout not going to the Cardinals and instead being taken by a team called the “Angels” might be the definitive proof of the existence of God. It’s at least proof the MLB draft isn’t all bad.

Paul Goldschmidt, Boston Red Sox

The 27-year old Diamondbacks first baseman is one of the best hitters in baseball. A third of the way through the season, he has a .343 average, 16 home runs, 47 RBI – and a real shot to be the first National League Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937. But it wasn’t long ago that Goldschmidt wasn’t considered to be much of a hitter. He was selected by Arizona in the eighth round, No246 overall, in the 2009 draft. What if Boston had taken a flier on him a round or two earlier? He’d be the baseball version of Tom Brady. “Oh, yeah, we TOTALLY KNEW he was going to be a superstar, we just waited to take him late in the draft, repeatedly risking another team picking him, because ... stop asking questions, hater! We’re the best!



Dustin Pedroia, New York Yankees

The scraptastic Boston second basemen could have been a Yankee. He wasn’t selected until late in the second round of the 2004 draft by Boston, with the Yankees bypassing him twice to take Phil Hughes and someone called Brett Smith. While it’s amusing to think of an alternate universe in which Yankees fans don’t see Pedroia as a rat-faced slimeball, but a “true Yankee” hero, realize that in this alternate world, Derek Jeter would have been given all the credit by the media for Pedroia’s development. “Dustin, talk about how the leadership of The Captain playing just one position away from you molded you from a tiny nobody to MVP.”

Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw, Pirates/Royals

The Pirates and Royals have built themselves into contenders in the past few years in no small part due to their success in the draft. But both young, stacked teams could be significantly better than they are now. In the 2006 draft, the Royals took Luke Hochevar No1 overall and the Pirates went with Brad Lincoln at No4. Kershaw went seventh to the Dodgers. One year later, the Royals and Pirates had early picks again – yes, they didn’t immediately become contenders with Hochevar and Lincoln! – and blew it again. The Royals took Mike Moustakas No2 overall and the Pirates selected Daniel Moskos at No4. Bumgarner went 10th to the Giants.

The rest of baseball is lucky. The other 31 teams wouldn’t have much of a chance if Bumgarner and Kershaw were on a team like the Pirates. In the regular season, at least. Because they only thing less of a lock in baseball than a first round draft pick is Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs.

Quote of the Week

I felt like any value - if I had any at all - before this, it’s probably gone. What am I going to do out of the pen? I felt like there’s really not a whole lot of good that come from it. There’s nothing I can do. Obviously, I’m going to do the best I can. My biggest concert is that if there was any glimmer of value before his, I don’t see how there would be any more when I get moved to the pen.

Dillon Gee, Mets pitcher, on being moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen.

Gee has started 109 of the 112 games he’s played in his career and, at age 29 and yet to become a free agent, is obviously not too positive about his future earning potential in the bullpen. He’s right to think that way, of course. Relievers make far less than starters. But you have to wonder how Gee’s comments will be received by the Mets relievers, the people he has to sit with now during every game for the rest of the season. “Sorry, Dillon. We only have gum, sunflower seeds and chewing tobacco out here. We’re all out of fancy caviar that you big-time starting pitchers with value are used to.”

Stat of the Week

0-7

Pirates ace Gerrit Cole got out of another bases-loaded jam in his seven shutout innings in a win over the Braves on Sunday. Batters are now 0-for-7 versus Cole this year with the bases loaded.



Batters are now 0-for-7 against Gerrit Cole this season with the bases loaded. — Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) June 7, 2015

This is an odd stat and a stranger accomplishment. It’s impressive to repeatedly escape unscathed from a bases loaded situation. Doing so suggests dominance. At the same time, a dominant pitcher shouldn’t repeatedly load the bases. Most statheads will tell you Cole is facing an inevitable regression.

But it’s fun to consider another possible scenario. Maybe Cole, the former No1 overall pick, who at just age 24 is 9-2 with a 1.73 ERA this season - and a guy who hit 98 mph on his 116th and final pitch on Sunday - is loading the bases just to challenge himself. He’s giving his opponents hope ... “You’re totally going to score on me this inning, fellas!” ... and then crushing it. He’s the kid who captures a bug in a jar, then let’s it free on the sidewalk ... only to stomp on it, bug guts splattering everywhere, just as it’s about to reach the sweet freedom of the grass.

Yes, regression is probably coming. But until then, let’s enjoy the bug guts.

This Week’s Horrible Fantasy Team That Crushed Your Team

Yonder Alonso, 1B, Padres - 8-for-15, HR, 6 RBI

Joey Butler, DH, Rays - 11-for-24, HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB

Kevin Pillar, OF, Blue Jays - 8-for-18, 2 HR, 7 RBI

Austin Jackson, OF, Mariners - 12-for-28, HR, 4 RBI, SB

Matt Garza, P, Brewers - 12 innings, 2 wins, 0.75 ERA

Chris Rusin, P, Rockies - 11.2 innings, 2 wins, 10 strikeouts, 1.54 ERA

Reader Twitter Question of the Week

@DJGalloEtc Why 90 ft between bases? — S Squared (@EnterStrandman) June 7, 2015

I did some research into this and ... no one knows. It’s widely assumed that when the sport was being developed in the late 1800s, 90-feet came about organically through trial and error. A shorter distance led to constant infield singles and a longer distance resulted in none, so a happy medium was found at 90-feet and it became uniform. But I like to think there was one player that no one liked and everyone agreed to set the bases at a distance a few feet farther than he was capable of running at full-speed.

Phillies-ness of the Week

Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis was benched Friday night after an 0-for-26 streak. So finally answers the question: “How bad does a player have to be to get benched by the Phillies?”

Cubs World Series Odds: Holding Steady

The Cubs have opened a nine-game road trip at 4-3 and Kris Bryant broke out of his mini-slump on Sunday with a single, double and triple. Of course, the Cubs can never have too much positive happen to them without receiving equal parts bad news, so Sunday also brought the news that infield prospect Javier Baez is out four to eight weeks with a broken left hand.

But the biggest Cubs news of the week was the 30th anniversary of the Ferris Bueller game - the game Ferris and his friends attended on their infamous day off, 5 June, 1985. The Cubs lost that day and they lost again on 5 June, 2015. Let’s hope this scene isn’t a metaphor for the 2015 Cubs crashing back to earth.



A-Rod-ness of the Week

Now just nine hits from 3,000, the Alex Rodriguez redemption tour rolls on.



How can you be mad at this guy pic.twitter.com/XlXgWIEZq3 — Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) June 7, 2015

I’m starting to think A-Rod spent his year away from baseball injecting steroids directly into his heart [EDITOR’S LEGAL NOTE: A-ROD DEFINITELY DIDN’T SPEND HIS YEAR OFF INJECTING STEROIDS INTO HIS HEART].

Ten Things I Thought I’d Think I Thought

1) Here are a few of the top prospects expected to go early in the 2015 draft:

Dansby Swanson

Dillon Tate

Walker Buehler

Daz Cameron

Trenton Clark

Cornelius Randolph

Ke’Bryan Hayes

Beau Burrows

Ashe Russell

This list could go on and on. My point is this: it might be time to stop focusing at lax bro names. Basebro names deserve just as much attention. And don’t feel bad about it. The parents of Dansby Swanson definitely wanted their kid to get attention.

2) Check out this weird two-thumbed glove being warn by ambidextrous A’s pitcher Pat Venditte.

The A's have called up a switch-pitcher. Here's a photo of his weird, double-webbed glove: http://t.co/I7IhTueiP3 pic.twitter.com/erFCKOQjAW — AOL Sports (@AOLSports) June 6, 2015

Venditte must “declare” which arm he’s going to throw with at the start of each at-bat by the position of his glove. If he has it on his right hand, he has to throw with his left; if it’s on the left, he must throw with his right. But there’s a way around this. Venditte is the third switch-pitcher in MLB history. The first was Tony Mullane. He switch-pitched from 1881 to 1894 and he didn’t wear a glove. Mullane put both hands on the ball before each pitch and threw with whatever hand he wanted to. Give it a try, Venditte. You might have a lot of success before one of your hands is torn off by a line drive.

3) Of course, it was no surprise that Billy Beane’s team is the one that called up an ambidextrous pitcher. I’d like to see what other kind of carnival acts he could put on the team. The bearded lady wouldn’t add much. Most bullpens already featured a bearded player or seven. But Lobster Boy? That claw could probably put some crazy spin on the ball.

4) The Yankees may want to be a little more careful of the wording on their tweets.

Time is running out, sign the petition to award Yogi Berra the Presidential Medal of Freedom. http://t.co/F3UDVGPSJ5 pic.twitter.com/raN9pELIFd — New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 7, 2015

You don’t want to imply that a 90-year old is “running out of time” for a lifetime achievement award.

5) The greatest accomplishment for a sportswriter in the internet age is to write something that’s relevant for more than 11 minutes. And I’ve done it! I’ve achieved my career goal and penned an article that can still be read not just 11 minutes after being published, but an entire week. It’s all thanks to Bartolo Colon, sports hero. With another hit in his latest start on Saturday, Colon has hits in three consecutive games. He’s now more than 5% of the way to shattering Joe DiMaggio’s record. So take another look at last week’s column, my case for Bartolo Colon as baseball’s premier athlete.



6) Commissioner Rob Manfred on why he wants to keep the DH: “Not having National League pitchers hit would deprive us of the entertainment that Bartolo Colon has given us this year. It’s been a great source of entertainment for me. I don’t know about for the rest of you, but it has been for me.” Rob Manfred: Manfred of the people.

7) Another very important update from last week’s column: Andrew McCutchen is now batting .409 and the Pirates are 10-3 since he changed his at-bat music to Taylor Swift. McCutchen’s wife also met Swift at her show in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

So basically my wife @MariaHanslovan and @taylorswift13 are best friends now. Can i get in the #FriendsZone?!? https://t.co/ZqtICl3ccP — andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) June 7, 2015

The McCutchen-Swift pairing is exactly what baseball needed to move past the James Taylor Red Sox song.

8) American Pharoah becoming the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 made me realize there are some similarities between the 1978 baseball season this season. The Yankees won their division in 1978. The Yankees are in first place this year. The Dodgers won their division in 1978. The Dodgers are in first place this year. The Royals won their division in 1978. The Royals are a game out of first this year. The Phillies won their division in 1978. I said there were some similarities.

9) Which Triple Crown winner would do better in the other’s sport? Espinoza likely couldn’t make contact with a major league pitch. But a thoroughbred’s back might snap carrying Cabrera’s 255 (listed) pounds. I’d give the edge to Espinoza. He might be able to draw some walks Eddie Gaedel-style.

10) Everyone is talking about all the youth in baseball. Mike Trout. Bryce Harper. Kris Bryant. Joc Pederson. Joey Gallo. Stop it. Kids are dumb.

https://twitter.com/BBTN/status/607629074404507649

Baseball needs responsible adults.