Revisiting the 2005 Draft. Cubs rank dead last

Baseball America's Jim Callis takes a look back at the 2005 draft. The Cubs have only sent one player to the major leagues from that draft: Donald Veal. And he sucks. The following December, the Cubs finally hired Tim Wilken to help fix their draft ineptitude.

9 months ago SackMan 18 comments 0 recs |

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Donald Veal

The Cubs left Veal unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and Pittsburgh claimed him. His only major league experience came as a Pirate. The Cubs released Jake Muyco earlier this year. I believe that he was the last player in the organization from the 2005 draft. Muyco was the exception too. He at least made it to Iowa. Most of the other 2005 draftees were gone long before they reached Iowa.

by toppsmike on Aug 29, 2011 8:56 PM CDT reply actions

Technically...

Michael Brenly is still in the system. Granted, he didn’t sign with the Cubs until 2008 as a 36th rounder, but he was a 43rd rounder in 2005.

by Outshined_One on Aug 31, 2011 1:45 AM CDT up reply actions

The following December, the Cubs finally hired Tim Wilken to help fix their draft ineptitude.

Exactly.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 29, 2011 9:03 PM CDT reply actions

Too bad it took 5 years to fix ownership ineptitude regarding draft spending.

by bdlugz on Aug 29, 2011 9:16 PM CDT up reply actions

46 years of spending ineptitude

I'm a Cubs fan. The Jaded Bitterness comes as a Standard Feature.

by timh815 on Aug 29, 2011 9:39 PM CDT up reply actions

Ha, fair enough. I was referring to when Wilken started vs. when they started spending.

by bdlugz on Aug 30, 2011 8:30 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't think

our draft ineptitude is fixed yet. Wilken hasn’t had great success either. Perhaps it’s just because of budget, but that seems like only a partial excuse. He hasn’t picked all that well.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Aug 29, 2011 9:40 PM CDT up reply actions

Look at the 2005 draft

Then look at the 2011 draft. Hell, look at the 2006 draft. That draft was certainly not exceptional, but compare how many of those players are still with the organization, how many have reached the majors, and even how many have reached AAA. The comparison is laughable.

by Mulhollandmania on Aug 29, 2011 10:25 PM CDT up reply actions

The 2002 draft was even more pathetic

6 picks in the top 2 rounds and not 1 Major League player? That’s absolutely awful.

Pat Riley is the devil.

by Poloplaya14 on Aug 30, 2011 12:39 AM CDT up reply actions

No

because we got Randy Wells in that draft. Rich Hill, too. Also a guy we traded for Nomar Garciaparra.

The 2002 draft was bad because the Cubs drafted a ton of high-risk pitchers at the top and they all flopped. But at least there were some saving graces later on. (Micah Hoffpauir too.) 2005 had no redeeming qualities.

by Josh Timmers on Aug 30, 2011 1:13 AM CDT up reply actions

If you walk into a Draft

as the person making the picks, and you know you can’t go for ‘big money’ guys, then you won’t. Some of the reason most teams have gotten success than makes ours pale is that they have been able to ‘roll the dice’ in later rounds. When the goal is to spend (year after interminable year) in the bottom quadrant, you won’t get much success. Especially when (as had been the case in the Tribune/late-Wrigley years) you don’t have many decent scouts.

Wilken had to spend a couple years getting our middle infield supply up to major league standards (it hadn’t been). he’s finally able to invest in ‘what he wants’ as compared to ‘what he needed’.

I'm a Cubs fan. The Jaded Bitterness comes as a Standard Feature.

by timh815 on Aug 29, 2011 11:03 PM CDT up reply actions

I agree...

…Wilken’s reputation has exceeded his productivity in the last 5 years, no question.

With that said, I wonder about a couple of things; how much of that was a potential flawed influence from Hendry and how much of it was simple poor player development once they hit the Cub’s system?

"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel

by MPH73 on Aug 30, 2011 2:31 PM CDT up reply actions

Probably some of both of those things.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 30, 2011 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions

and a lack of quality scouts

in the not-so-distant past.

I'm a Cubs fan. The Jaded Bitterness comes as a Standard Feature.

by timh815 on Aug 30, 2011 3:12 PM CDT up reply actions

I don't even want to read this.

"The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money." --Ernie Banks

by dtpollitt on Aug 29, 2011 9:41 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

That was a bad draft

led off by Pawelek, who simply wasn’t mature enough to play professional baseball. The only guy from that draft still with the Cubs is Michael Brenly, and he didn’t sign after 2005 but was redrafted three years later.

The 2006 draft, despite not having a 2nd, 3rd or 4th round pick, had Tyler Colvin and Jeff Samardzija. Sure, not stars, but major leaguers. It also had Steve Clevenger, who I still think is going to be a major leaguer. Matt Camp, Blake Parker, Jordan Latham, Nate Samson and Marcus Hatley are still in our minors. So is Marquez Smith, but he didn’t sign that year and was redrafted the next.

by Josh Timmers on Aug 29, 2011 11:02 PM CDT reply actions