2015 Miracle Draft ReCap through Round 6.

With the 2015 season fast approaching the Miracle brain trust took a cruise to the Bahamas and had such a great time they completely missed the first week of the eMLB Winter Meetings.  Be that as it may the Miracle GM forged ahead with his predraft plans and was fairly successful with what he wanted to accomplish.  Being fairly happy with his current contracts Renner was hoping to add a contract or two, specifically IF's.  This was accomplished by adding Brandon Phillips and Martin Prado into the fold.  Our yearly flyer was on Yonder Alonso.  Last years flyer of Rickie Weeks did not pan out but like this year we gave up nothing and if we get nothing no loss other than the contract spot.  Time will tell.  The Miracles were also looking to trade out of the 1.15 draft slot.  That was easily done as well.  Once the meetings came to a close the Miracles team and total draft picks were beginning to take shape.

At this point last year it was assumed that the Miracles would be rebuilding in 2014.  As it turned out that was far from what happened as the Miracles ended the year with the best overall record and the #1 seed in the playoffs.  A second championship just wasn't meant to be for this overachieving Miracle squad.  We started out the year with hopes of "Shocking the World" and we did just that.  2015 again appears to be a semi-rebuilding year.......however.......with South Texas Heat owner Steve "The Great Gazoo" Berg openly punting the year (don't we have a rule against that) the Miracles main competition in the Texas Division will be the Biscuits and the Fire Ants.  At any given point Reynolds could rape his buddy's Biscuits and Sankey will probably spend the summer in a WOB haze so the Miracle brain trust figures they might as well give 2015 a shot.  Our motto this year is...Everything is Awesome!!! 

By the time the draft started the Miracles had 9 picks in the first six rounds and then do not pick again until the 11th.  That will be quite a dry spell but the plan is to have most of the starters in place by the end of the sixth.  Did we accomplish our goal?  Only time will tell.  What follows is a recap of our first nine picks.....

Round 1--

Traded out--no pick.

Round 2--

2.10--A minor trade allowed us to move up a couple of spots to take JONATHAN LUCROY-C.  This former Miracle returns and will certainly be given a 3 year contract.  He will also solidify an overall weak position.  We couldn't be happier to have drafted LuCroy....Welcome home.

2.15--By the time the draft started the Miracle pitching staff was thin, at best.  Yordano Ventura is a very good SP but young and to a point still unproven.  The only other starter on staff is Masahiro Tanaka.  We all know how much has been written about this guy.  He could be great for us this year and grab an extension or his elbow could totally blow out and be lost to us for much or all of the season.  This being said the Miracles happily drafted a young man who will front not only the Atlanta Braves starting rotation but also the Miracles.  JULIO TEHERAN is officially a Michigan Miracle.

Round 3--

3.11--Watching many good players get drafted before us we were hoping our man would last...and he did.  TYSON ROSS is the newest member of the Miracle starting staff.  Solid ERA and WHIP along with lots of K's made this pitcher on a vastly improved Padre team very enticing. 

3.15--The last two picks in round three belong to the Miracles and we wanted to go hitting here.  We considered going closer/closer.  If the Fire Ants had not taken Holland we might have done just that.  But instead we closed out our OF by selecting a WW pickup of ours last year.  Welcome back CHARLIE BLACKMON.  Solid number across the board will benefit the Miracle team again in 2015 and beyond.

3.16--We would be remiss if we didn't bring back his teammate from Colorado, JUSTIN MORNEAU.  2014 was a very good year for Morneau.  His splits were similar away from Coors so we feel confident that 2015 will be another solid year for Justin.  At this point in the draft our starting hitters are pretty much in place.  Like all teams we have some spots that are weaker than others but that can be addressed with the remainder of the draft and through the WW during the season.

Round 4--

4.14--At the end of the 4th round we were willing to look at additional hitter depth if the names we wanted dropped or we were looking at additional SP along with possibly taking back to back closers.  The way the draft fell be chose to go with closers back to back.  At 4.14 we selected HUSTON STREET.  Not flashy but still seems to get the job done.  On an Angel team that will contend we liked this pick here.

4.15--To bookend Street we selected another closer from a team that keeps getting better in a tough division.  At 4.16 we selected MARK MELANCON.  Great numbers before taking over as closer and after and 2015 should be more of the same.  With closers seeming to turn over more and more often we were comfortable taking these two at the end of round 4.

Round 5--

No Picks

Round 6--

6.7--Never expecting him to still be around at this point we gladly selected starting pitcher IAN KENNEDY of the San Diego Padres.  This is the second Padre starter we took in this draft and we will see how this turns out.  The Padres once again should be very much improved in 2015 and these two Padre starters we selected will be large reasons why.

6.14--At this point in the draft we needed to decide who to take considering we didn't have another pick until round 11 and then not until 13.  We felt that a solid holds guy might make the most sense since most of the established ones would be gone by 11.  We chose a guy who may start out as the closer but we hope will slide back into the setup roll once Doolittle is healthy again.  At pick 6.14 the Miracles select TYLER CLIPPARD.

The next recap will be after the draft is completed.  Stay tuned.

2014 MIRACLE MOCK

In what has become the most highly anticipated mock draft each year the Michigan Miracles will once again not disappoint.  With less than two days until the kickoff of the 2014 season let's get right to it....

San Antonio Fire Ants--Joey Votto
---I will be shocked if it isn't Votto.  I'd say 85% Votto, 15% E5.

Arizona Desert Swarm--Edwin Encarnacion
---I wasn't a believer until last year but E5 was certainly a late bloomer.

Olivet Killer Eagles--Evan Longoria
---Five year worthy, you betcha.

Julian Javelina--Jacoby Ellsbury
---Did the hype machine bite Hoyle on the ass??  We may never know.

North Texas Rangers--Ian Desmond
---Y'all are on drugs if you don't think this guy is a first rounder in this draft and getting better.

Montgomery Biscuits--Steven Strausberg
---The top pitcher available to slot in with Cliff Lee.  Very nice indeed.

Mid Michigan Tigers--Max Scherzer
---Two of the Tigers big 3.  Keith can sleep well after this pick.

Oviedo Knights--Albert Pujols
---SP for Reynolds here.  I'm not buying what he is shoveling.

Raging Katafish--Madison Bumgarner
---Top pitcher goes to a new owner.  Nice pick at #9.

Arizona Desert Swarm--Mark Trumbo
--Two nice power additions in round 1 for Josh.

Charlotte Orios--Zack Greinke
--Great pitcher fills a huge hole in Charlotte

Oviedo Knights--David Ortiz
--Unusual pick here??  No more unusual than its owner.

Aberdeen Ironbirds--Josh Donaldson
--Five year worthy??  Time to see how the new owner rolls.

Dallas Redbirds--Jason Heyward
--Same question. Five year worthy??  Will Doyle finally roll the dice??

South Texas Heat--Ian Kinsler
--Berg gladly takes him this year.  His kind of player in 2014 for sure.

Raging Katafish--Anthony Rizzo
--Three of the last four picks could be five years.  What are the odds?

Meetings officially open

In the minutes leading up to the official opening of the Winter Meetings the Michigan Miracles perhaps closed their final trade of the winter, sending Josh Hamilton to the west coast.  Renner stated that in the last year of his contract Josh deserved a chance to play on a team that could go all the way and honestly, this year will be a slight rebuild for our hometown Miracles after two very successful years, including the first Championship being brought home to Michigan.  We all wish Josh well and now on to the meetings and final draft preparation.

Josh Hamilton

As we inch closer to the winter meetings and GM's take a close look at the OF's available in this years free agent draft crop several have turned their attention to the Miracles Josh Hamilton.  A week ago GM Renner would have told you that Hamilton is not available at all.  With more GM's looking at a thin group of OF's and the information that Hamilton is back up to his playing weight in Texas the interest is growing.  The question now becomes will he be traded??  We don't know a lot about this mercurial GM, but we do know, 1-he likes his beer  2-he likes to trade and 3-he likes his beer.  IF Hamilton gets moved, and that IF gets smaller as more teams show interest, look for a trade to be finalized before the Winter Meetings officially open on Saturday.

The Waiting game

After a tremendously busy weekend GM Renner of the Miracles sat back and took a close look at the moves he had made.  Hunkering down on Monday afternoon the Miracle brain trust has come to the conclusion that there is still work to be done before the draft.  They have been actively looking for quality starting pitching but haven't come across one they are interested in at a price that would be palatable.  They have also begun looking at OF's with some speed on expiring 2 year contracts. 

Knowing they would probably trade out of the first round, filling up their 3 year contracts wasn't a real issue since they didn't see that high end player they wanted to give a 3 year to in the second round.  Upon further examination they believe that player might actually be there that would warrant a contract of that length.  It just so happens that on Tuesday morning and afternoon two different owners contacted Renner about the availability of Josh Hamilton.  As Renner does with all inquiries he stated that nobody is untouchable.  When pressed as to if they would be willing to trade Josh the answer was yes....but Renner was honest in saying that he expects Josh, after putting on some weight in the offseason, to be ready to man the Miracle outfield and have an exceptional year.  As of yet no owner has put forth any trade offer so at this point it is simple "wait and see".  Renner further stated that although the Miracles may not have three top ten OF's like some teams do,  he is excited to see what kind of numbers CarGo/Hamilton/Cuddyer can put up over the course of a full year if healthy.

Stay tuned, the Winter meeting are only 4 days away.

Winter Meetings next week

Before the start of the 2013 Winter Meetings Miracle GM Chris Renner had in mind several "bullet" items to complete during the week.  A funny thing happened on the way to the meetings.  Other owners decided to jumpstart things with handshake deals.  No big deal, this happens all the time.  For the Miracles however many of the players they had been targeting or teams that they had hoped to make deals with burst out early and left the Miracles with four flat tires.  In some respects the Winter Meetings were over before they began.  Or at least that is how it felt to Renner.  He decided at that point to not let that happen again.

Fast forward to now.  When Renner looks at his current roster, pending official league approval next Saturday of course, it is grossly different then it was at the beginning of the offseason.  As of this point in time the Miracles have added 4 players, 3 probable starters and 1 reserve, and have moved 2 players, each with an expiring 2 year contract.  Add to that the fact that Renner has traded out of the first round and it has indeed been a busy week before the meetings.  Knowing that this was going to be a "rebuilding" year after going all out the past two seasons Renner is very happy with the moves that have been accomplished. 

After finishing his 16 oz filet and 12 cold bottles of Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Renner stated that during the upcoming meetings he would like to acquire a SP as long as the price isn't too high.  So far the prices have been more than he is willing to pay.  I will pay for quality, not quality starts unfortunately, but I won't overpay for a starter.  He stated that he might look for a solid closer if an adequate starter can't be found.  On a side note he was very appreciative of the owners online and on facebook this past weekend.  I made 5 deals with 5 different owners.  I wish everyone had been able to be around more but I understand that life does sometimes get in the way. 

Stay tuned for more from this very active and apparently very thirsty owner and GM.

Business is picking up...

With the Winter Meetings now less than 10 days away trade talk and activity is picking up steam.  Our beloved Michigan Miracles are talking to several teams about possible players and if they might fit in Michigan for the 2014 season.  GM Renner has already made a minor trade (pending the start of the meetings) but that will not affect the direction of the Miracle draft.  One or two other trades could be made and it is well know that the Miracles are looking for starting infielders.  Although Nick Markakis is on the trade block he prefers to stay in Michigan and the Michigan brain trust may decide to grant his wish.  The Miracles are more that willing to trade draft picks to add the necessary pieces for the upcoming season.  The first round pick of the Miracles which is 1.9 or 1.10 might also be traded to acquire additional draft picks.  Any interested teams looking for a first round pick in that area simply needs to inquire.