It seemed the the Punxatawney Groundhogs would opt out of the PVBL free
agent draft this year, holding only two late picks--right until less than a
day before the pick trading deadline. At that time they traded prospect
Charlie Bunker to New Orleans/Hartford for their own 1st round FA pick
(traded to Hartford last season), Galena's 1st round pick, and outfielder
Bobby Astacio.
"We saw the talent available and decided that we wanted a stake," said
Shapiro. "Honestly, we hoped to acquire some earlier picks, but this was
the best we could do."
With the 20th overall pick, the Hogs selected RF Karim Garcia, one of the
younger outfield prospects. Garcia is only 22 years old and already has
good speed, but his bat has been questioned.
"He's a gamble, sure," said 3rd base coach Mike Schmidt. "But he has good
basic tools, and we'll be able to build on that and turn him into a star."
Their next pick was a catcher, A.J. Hinch. At 25, Hinch is already past his
rookie days. But he has an exception arm and has shown glimpses of a good
power stroke. However, with Dan Wilson firmly entrenched as the starter,
coming off a great season, Hinch will be relegated to a backup role. He
will most likely take over Jorge Fabregas' job as the major league backup.
Their other picks were far less significant. 26 year old Terry Jones has
good speed but a poor bat, and will most likely be a career backup. Mike
Trombley is a journeyman pitcher who will pitch in AAA Roswell.
"We don't anticipate either of them making a real impact in Punxatawney, but
its always good to have quality backups," said Shapiro.
With the draft over, the Hogs are looking forward to Spring Training.
They'll report to Clearwater, Florida for the spring season.
"We're going to be working real hard with a few players," said Shapiro.
"We're hoping to see Scott Rolen and Alex Ochoa work on their power swings,
and we need Robin Jennings to improve across the board. We're also hoping
to see some improvements in Curly Karkovice, who could certainly play a big
role this season."
At the moment, here is the project opening day lineup for the Hogs:
CF Dave Martinez
3B Scott Rolen
2B Tony Batista
SS Jose Valentin
DH Geronimo Berroa
1B Jason Giambi
C Dan Wilson
LF Robin Jennings
RF Alex Ochoa
Rotation:
Rocky Coppinger, Jon Lieber, Bobby Thomas, Sean Bergman, Juan Guzman
Long relief:
Curly Karkovice
Middle relief:
Tim Worrell, Masato Yoshii
Setup:
Bobby Munoz, Scott Ruffcorn
Closer:
Ricky Bottalico
All that aside, the Groundhogs are still looking for an ace quality starting
pitcher and a quality outfielder. Even if the team can't acquire a
replacement for Robin Jennings, they are confident to go into the season
just as they are now. If you are able to make some trades, let us know. At
this point, we're willing to consider trading everyone except Rolen,
Batista, Ochoa, Valentin, Dan Wilson, Coppinger, and Bottalico for the right
deal.
