Written by Greg Fertel | 04 May 2009

We're starting our draft coverage with a poll you can vote in down on the right. Here's the question. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

With the Major League Baseball draft just about a month away, we'll be looking to shift into prediction mode pretty soon. As many of you know, the Yankees have the 29th pick in the first round for failure to sign Gerrit Cole. They also have a late second round pick, number 76 and don't pick again until the 4th round.

The Yankees really turned a corner in 2006 having their first very good, complete draft of the decade. They landed Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Zach McAllister, Dellin Betances, George Kontos, Mark Melancon, David Robertson and Kevin Russo to name a few. We can thank Tom Gordon and the Philadelphia Phillies for both Kennedy and Chamberlain who were obtained through free agency compensation picks. The Yankees draft philosophy to this point has been to go after high upside pitching talent that's often risky or very costly. Last years draft was disappointing due to the non-signing of both Gerrit Cole and Scott Bittle.

Right now this system has pitching depth with relatively high upside however there is a dearth of positional talent beyond Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero. So the question to start off all our draft coverage is: in the first two rounds, which way do the Yankees go?

Anyhow, I had an interesting question. As I mentioned before the Yankees were able to sign Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy thanks to the Phillies signing type A free agent Tom Gordon. We all know the Yankees have a penchant for signing big name free agents so I thought I'd take a look and see who owes the Yankees a thank you note.  Here are some notable ones.

 

·         Red Sox- selected Daniel Bard with the 28^th pick of the 2006 draft as compensation for Johnny Damon.

·         Dodgers- selected Blake Dewitt with the 28^th pick of the 2004 draft as compensation for Paul Quantrill.

·         A's-selected Joe Blanton with the 30^th pick in the 2002 draft (the Moneyball draft) as compensation for Jason Giambi.

·         Orioles- selected Mike Fontenot with the 19^th pick in the 2001 draft as compensation for Mike Mussina.

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