Yankees Draft: Why Lindgren Was a Good Pick

Beyond the fact that Lindgren had a .80 WHIP and a K/9 of 16.41, which is insanely filthy and he's a lefty, and we don't have any lefty relievers who throw 95, beyond all that, Lindgren is a good pick because he is already something.  And the something he is is the something he will be.

That might sound philosophical, but really, it's pretty practical.  We could have used the 55 pick on a prep and had to pay full slot.   We probably won't for Lindgren.  But that prep would come with far more risk of failure and far more questions than this ready made relief ace comes with.  The prep would have taken more time, too.  And if we had taken a college starter, there's a pretty good chance he too would have ended up in the pen, and that could have taken some time to figure out.

This guy gives us a dynamic piece of the puzzle, and that's not just what you spend second round picks on, but you should also spend first round picks on them.  I'm sure the Yanks will go after some high upside preps tomorrow but they got themselves a guy who easily projects to their current and future pen. And the only place to really get a guy like this in his 20's is in the draft.  They don't really become free agents till they are old like Thornton, and IFA doesn't see any money in producing them, so you can't get them there without flunking them as a starter and spending years on the project.

We have this out of the way now, and still have 38 more chances to take lottery tickets.  Of course, it's been those guys not panning out that have caused our problems, not the guys who make it to the bigs, like this guy will.