A Decade Went Into This Post

The Olbermann-less SNY television booth had mentioned that Tim Beckham was the number one overall draft pick in 2008. Beckham’s knee injury early in his career has limited his effectiveness in the show. But it got me thinking: How did the Mets do in the 2008 draft? Here are the notables:

• Ike Davis
• Kirk Nieuwenhuis
• Josh Satin
• Eric Campbell
• Collin McHugh
• Chris Schwinden

This list is not just six players who made the major leagues, this is the most fantastically mediocre list of baseball players ever to be taken in one draft. I’m not even trying to make the point that the Mets drafted horribly in 2008, as outside of Gerrit Cole, who went back to college anyway after being drafted, there was nobody that the Mets really missed out on. But if you had to define “agressively unremarkable” this is your list. They range from the disappointing (Davis) to the horrid (Schwinden) to the cuddly by default (Satin) to the beacon of change (Campbell). Nieuwenhuis made the biggest impact on a pennant race, and McHugh is the last of those players left in the majors (and the Mets traded him for 209 games of Eric Young Jr.) We haven’t even discussed the guy who was touted as perhaps the best player the Mets drafted that season: Reese Havens, who never made the majors due to injuries.

If mediocrity ever held a parade, it would have been held in 2008 in Binghamton … starting at the Coin Shop on Main Street and ending at Nirchi’s Pizza.

Discussing the 2008 MLB Draft is me just stalling from having to discuss another awful game. (As Keith Olbermann said last night: The Mets only win to make tomorrow’s loss more painful.) Of course, Beckham would hit a home run tonight to put a capper on a 6-3 Orioles victory, their third over the Mets this season despite winning, what … seven games all year? Not only did they lose to the Orioles again, but they lost a start where Jason Vargas actually went six good innings. Granted, Vargas against the Orioles is the equivalent of Alex Trebek imploring Sean Connery to “just pick a number“.

He picked two, as in two runs, but the bullpen blew it. Bobby Wahl threw a marshmallow to to Chris Davis and he sent it to the moon to give the Orioles the lead in the seventh. (Great pick up. Which of the 2,593 GM’s signed off on that trade? Al Harazin? Joe McDonald? Donna Rice?) Paul Sewald gave up the rest which included Beckham’s home run and that was it. Call the Orioles our Daddy. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss whether Geoff Goetz and Kirk Presley were Hall of Famers in an alternate universe. (The answer is yes … the alternate universe where they were drafted by the Expos, who are still in Montreal.)

Today’s Hate List

It’s this Derek Jeter article on ESPN. You know why I hate it? Read it, and imagine the Wilpons doing anything that Jeter has done. Like exceeding their draft bonus pool. Or pay for computers. Or air conditioning. Imagine.