March 16, 2006

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5
Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10

DREAM DRAFT

BA staffers try their hand at team-building

Teams J.J. Cooper John Manuel Aaron Fitt Chris Kline Alan Schwarz Will Lingo Will Kimmey Alan Matthews Matt Meyers Jim Callis

By The Numbers

Vote For Your Favorite Draft

Here's how Baseball America's Dream Draft broke down, both pick by pick and team by team. Remember that the entire player universe was available, and each staff member's only charge was to take what he deemed the best 10 players available, regardless of position. As with any BA project, we did it with an eye to the future.

Each participant was also asked to analyze the draft. In the round by round picks, staffers wrote about their thoughts as they made each of their picks. For the team by team, we took a broader look at our own drafts as well as everyone else's. (Numbers in parentheses are players' ages as of April 1.)

We'd like your opinions as well. Read up on our analysis, then do your own and cast your ballot for the person who you thought had the best draft.

ROUND 3
Pick	Team	Player, Position	Skinny
21.	J.J. Cooper	Ben Sheets, rhp	Still a relatively young No. 1 starter.
22.	Aaron Fitt	Scott Kazmir, lhp	About to blossom into a premium lefthanded power pitcher--very hard to come by, especially at age 22.
23.	Alan Schwarz	Roy Oswalt, rhp	Like Zambrano, young but a known commodity: 3.07 career ERA, postseason experience, heart of a lion.
24.	Will Kimmey	Rich Harden, rhp	It's nice that he was still here after I grabbed Willis. He's not of prototype size, but that stuff is really tall.
25.	Matt Meyers	Rickie Weeks, 2b	A 23-year-old second baseman with five tools whose bat speed evokes Gary Sheffield comparisons.
26.	John Manuel	Jhonny Peralta, ss	Best young shortstop in the game not named Upton.
27.	Chris Kline	Chase Utley, 2b	Love the way he plays, but perhaps I'm showing partial Philly bias.
28.	Will Lingo	Derrek Lee, 1b	Older than my target age, but I don't think he'll see a significant decline for at least five years.
29.	Alan Matthews	Francisco Liriano, lhp	A 22-year-old lefty with a 98 mph fastball and two plus secondary pitches? It was a no-brainer.
30.	Jim Callis	Justin Upton, ss/of	I say he winds up in the outfield and becomes the next Ken Griffey Jr.

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