Opening Day is Today! (for a probable future Mariner -- we just don't know who)
Meaningful baseball starts now!
At noon Pacific time, baseball season starts for the UCLA Bruins vs. San Francisco, and their Opening Day starter is the big righthander Gerrit Cole. No TV, but it appears that free live audio is available from a link at their website.
A bit later, at 4:30 Pacific (6:30 Central), TCU opens against Kansas, and their Opening Day starter is the wiry lefty Matt Purke. That game is live on The Mtn. TV network, and apparently will be streaming live at www.gofrogs.com.
Why care about Cole and Purke? Because after Rice slugger Anthony Rendon, they are considered (going into the season) as the next-best talents in the 2011 draft. So there's a very good chance one of them will come to Seattle with the No. 2 pick.
But isn't No. 2 too high to pick a pitcher? Yes and no.
First off, let's flash back to October: Postseason records of Giants pitchers picked in the first round -- Tim Lincecum (4-1, only loss to Halladay); Matt Cain 2-0; Madison Bumgarner 2-0. That's 8 of their 11 postseason wins picked up by first-round pitchers and, of course, all 4 of their World Series wins.
Does that mean the Giants were very fortunate? Sure. No TJs or blown shoulders in the group. But they weren't afraid to draft pitching high, and it paid off.
Don't the Ms need offense? Oh, boy, do they! But if one assumes Rendon goes to Pittsburgh at No. 1 (and that's pretty much as certain as Strasburg to Washington at No. 1 in 09), then the offensive talent is, in my mind, not worth passing on these two pitchers.
Why so certain about these two? Two things:
They were both first-round picks before, as teenagers (Cole, Yankees, 28th overall; Purke, Rangers, 14th overall), and
They both went to college and lived up to every ounce of the hype.
In other words, these were identified as "special arms" way back when, as high schoolers. As it happened, they both turned down the bonus money and chose college.
Cole took UCLA all the way to the College World Series runner-up spot with an 11-4 record and 11.2 K/9.
Purke only went 13-0 and led the Frogs to their first CWS ever with 142 K and 34 BB.
To me, it's like drafting Nick Franklin after you already knew he'd set slugging records in the Midwest League.
Of course, either one could slide, or others could move up. And there is a true "wild card" that maybe I'll get to soon. But, in terms of high-draft-pick pitching, it seems to me that these two are about as solid as you can get.