Rays will have 11 of the top 75 picks in this year’s draft

By Jan 14, 2011, 12:12 PM EST
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This morning I noted that free agents departing the Rays this offseason have signed elsewhere for a total of $215 million and since then Grant Balfour raised that figure even higher by signing a multi-year deal with the A’s.

While most of the focus has understandably been on the Rays losing so much major-league talent, having that many Type A and Type B free agents leave in one offseason also means Tampa Bay will be absolutely flush with draft picks in June.

The draft order isn’t official yet because there are still several Type A and Type B free agents on the market, but based on early projections from Jim Callis of Baseball America and Jason Collette at Dock of the Rays, it looks like the Rays will have 11 of the first 75 picks in this year’s draft.

Here’s a rough estimate of where they’ll be picking come June and how they got each pick:

24 (Red Sox’s pick for Carl Crawford)
31 (Yankees’ pick for Rafael Soriano)
32 (Rays’ own pick)
38 (Supplemental pick for Soriano)
41 (Supplemental pick for Crawford)
42 (Supplemental pick for Balfour)
51 (Supplemental pick for Joaquin Benoit)
55 (Supplemental pick for Randy Choate)
58 (Supplemental pick for Brad Hawpe)
59 (Supplemental pick for Chad Qualls)
75 (A’s pick for Balfour)

Oh, and the Rays also have their own second-round pick, which is 88th overall, giving them 12 of the top 88 picks. Based on Victor Wang’s work on draft pick value over at The Hardball Times, those 12 picks are likely worth around $30 million in surplus value over the cost to sign them. That won’t help Tampa Bay contend in 2011, but it’ll go a long way toward keeping the farm system stocked for years to come.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
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Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”