OnlyBucs

414D4C171E171F12150A10270 wrote: Go with the position player.
I agree take the position player, but there is some talk out there that Crews is not interested in signing with the Pirates. If that is true, they may end up with Skenes.


I saw he wanted overslot money at #1 which would lead me to want the kid from Florida.  I know Crews hit lights out this year at LSU, but their whole team was bashing the ball.  Heck, one of their kids, Tommy White, had 24 jacks.  Where is he being discussed? 

If Crews doesn`t want to play for Pirates, fine.  I don't want him. The guy from Gators will be just as good. Just not a HS player, please :-[

"We’ve moved LSU right-hander Paul Skenes into the top spot ahead of his teammate, outfielder Dylan Crews. Honestly, there isn’t much separating the two Tigers and we probably could have them share the top spot and then skip to No. 3. But in this final update, we decided Skenes’ dominance, and the fact that he continues to be compared with the best college pitching prospects ever, deserved the nod." - Mayo



https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-t ... -list-2023

Well if they share the top spot we get to pick them both, right?

5C6E62627644676E6366696E0F0 wrote: Well if they share the top spot we get to pick them both, right?


Nutting would poop his pants if he had to spend that amount of money on bonuses in one year!

723128332035243272410 wrote: "We’ve moved LSU right-hander Paul Skenes into the top spot ahead of his teammate, outfielder Dylan Crews. Honestly, there isn’t much separating the two Tigers and we probably could have them share the top spot and then skip to No. 3. But in this final update, we decided Skenes’ dominance, and the fact that he continues to be compared with the best college pitching prospects ever, deserved the nod." - Mayo



https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-t ... -list-2023
According to the article:



Paul Skenes is the best pitching prospect since …



Stephen Strasburg: 10

Gerrit Cole: 9

Mark Prior: 3



Others receiving votes: Ben McDonald, Casey Mize, Aaron Nola, Kumar Rocker and Carlos Rodón



That should be reason enough not to draft him. Because of the high price of starting pitchers, the Pirates won't have him for more than 5 years. None of those pitchers mentioned had more than 1 great year in their first 5. Some didn't even have 1. It doesn't matter how good a career they go on to have after that. The Pirates have a brief window. They had 1 great year from Cole and prepared him to be a star with the Astros and Yankees. I don't want the Pirates to be the training ground for Skenes.

7B565B4A4D5C4B0B08390 wrote: "We’ve moved LSU right-hander Paul Skenes into the top spot ahead of his teammate, outfielder Dylan Crews. Honestly, there isn’t much separating the two Tigers and we probably could have them share the top spot and then skip to No. 3. But in this final update, we decided Skenes’ dominance, and the fact that he continues to be compared with the best college pitching prospects ever, deserved the nod." - Mayo



https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-t ... -list-2023
According to the article:



Paul Skenes is the best pitching prospect since …



Stephen Strasburg: 10

Gerrit Cole: 9

Mark Prior: 3



Others receiving votes: Ben McDonald, Casey Mize, Aaron Nola, Kumar Rocker and Carlos Rodón



That should be reason enough not to draft him. Because of the high price of starting pitchers, the Pirates won't have him for more than 5 years. None of those pitchers mentioned had more than 1 great year in their first 5. Some didn't even have 1. It doesn't matter how good a career they go on to have after that. The Pirates have a brief window. They had 1 great year from Cole and prepared him to be a star with the Astros and Yankees. I don't want the Pirates to be the training ground for Skenes.


Exactly.  As tempting as it is to take him, the overall result for the Pirates may not be worth it had they taken either Crews or Langford..

My thought is this: Crews is the best player in draft. The Bucs should be negotiating with Boras now. If they don't have an agreement for slot money or below, then move on to the kid from Florida (who they should also be negotiating with), or Max Clark.



Skenes may be the most dynamic pitcher in several years, but he hasn't been a front-line starter his entire collegiate career, as he was a closer for the Air Force academy, as well as a catcher (and a decent one at that). I believe, with all the stress on his arm, particularly this year, that he could break down fairly quickly and never see this level of success again.



They will get more mileage out of a position player than a starting pitcher, especially that high in the draft. Hold the line with Boras at no more than slot level, because he will wring every dime out of them right down to the deadline and could actually hold Crews out for a year and let him go through the draft again. That would leave the Bucs with with egg on their face and a huge hole in the talent pipeline. Take the Florida OF'er or one of the HS kids and move them as fast as you can through the system.



Just my 2 cents. I like Crews, but I don't want to see them bent over a barrel for him.

Yeah, Florida guy most likely tired of hearing Crews name and would take few dollars less to be #1 and stick it to em. At least I hope he`s like that.

When we drafted Davis a couple of years ago there was a quote by BC about the difficulty of wearing the mantle of 1:1 throughout your career. He talked about the special makeup a player needed to have in order to thrive under that constant pressure. And he felt that Davis was the type of person who could handle it. I found the quote super interesting.



Not sure how that might come to play this year, but interesting that is seems to be part of our analysis process.