Ringers

Pictured here is Mason Williams, the Yanks's 4th round pick in 2010 and a text book example of a ringer. To me, ringers are players that that are drafted or signed by teams that have inside or extra info on them, and are usually gotten in late or odd spots by the teams and present massive value.

Let's look at Mason Williams. Mason is a potential 5 tool Centerfielder with great speed, great defense, and the ability to get on base and wreak havoc. Usually, an up the middle player like Mason would have gone in the first or sandwich round of the draft. But Mason floated a big number and no one popped him till the Yanks did in the 4th. Now, that's a little higher than the Yanks usually take their overslot kids, but the Yanks knew a ton about Mason - he'd been working out at their Tampa Complex since November of 2009. So, even though Mason had a big number, the Yanks knew better than anyone else what they'd be getting for it, and had no compunction about grabbing him in the 4th and giving him the largest signing bonus they gave out last year.

You'll see the Yankees do this a lot over the next few days, picking signability kids, that were on one of their scouts summer league teams, or taking undervalued college players where they have a connection to the coach or a trainer or something. It's fascinating to watch and as I report the picks, I'll try to indicate whether or not they were ringers.

The Giants under Jerry Reese have made a science of picking ringers. In their latest draft, they got outstanding value all over the place, partly because they are so good at recognizing it. Jacuian Williams, the big, fast LB they took in the 6th round, has the look of a major ringer. Uninvited to the combine, teams did not know he had filled out considerably since his season ended, while still running a 4.63 on grass at this pro-day! The Giants knew and got him late. Victor Cruz, the WR they signed after the 2009 draft that looked so electric in camp last year was another ringer they found.

The Rangers are also masters of the ringer acquisition, especially as the roles of Gordie Clark and Jeff Gorton and thus the Scouts have grown in the organization. The Tim Erixon trade is textbook. They've known Tim since he was born. His father was a Ranger. The Rangers European Scout, Anders Hedberg was teammates with Jan Erixon, and the two of them, several weeks ago, were influential on the Werek/Lindberg swap that went down. Lindberg is Erixon's cousin. The Rangers must have known that he wasn't going to sign with Calgary well before they made the sudden trade, and were ready with a winning offer as soon as Calgary decided to trade him. Christian Thomas is another ringer the Rangers had special information on because Adam Graves owned Christian's OHL team!

This is just how smart teams with great scouts operate, they constantly add to their intelligence base, and build, and maintain positive relationships throughout their sports.

The Knicks don't really bring in or find ringers like the Yanks, Giants, and Rangers do. Partly because they've spent so much time capped out, partly because the NBA draft is sort of a joke, and partly because their Knicks scouting department pales in comparison to the scouting departments for the Yanks, Giants and Rangers, all of which are at the top of their respective sports.

The Knicks don't use the Continental Basketball league as much as they should and don't buy as many picks for targeted players as they could. It's just dysfunctional over there. And though they share ownership with the Rangers, the teams could not have more different scouting and acquisition cultures.

The Yanks may or may not take a ringer at 51 tonight. But they will take a handful throughout the draft and really help the farm again this year.