When we last left off, I was seven rounds into my “pick prospects until I fill out my minors” phase, having selected the likes of Nomar Mazara, Miguel Almonte, Nick Kingham, and Lewis Brinson among others. I continue that run to start my final ten picks, and then fill out the roster with some major league players. I’ll recap those players and the moves I’ve made since the season started below.

Round 31 – Pick 619 – Franchy Cordero, SS, San Diego Padres

Extremely raw, extremely young, unlikely to stay at shortstop. These are all negative risk factors, and Cordero’s slow start to the season isn’t exactly helping his stock. That said, this was a pick made for the future. Cordero has a silky smooth swing, and while he should fill out as he ages, I like his chances of retaining at least some value for speed categories. He should be able to hit for average and power as he matures, but is years away from contributing.

Round 32 – Pick 622 – Francisco Mejia, C, Cleveland Indians

Another one of my pet projects, Mejia is a backstop that projects to have average or better tools across the board. He is highly athletic and could retain enough speed to contribute in stolen bases as he matures, which would go nicely with his ability to hit for average and power. All that said, he might not even appear outside of extended spring training this year, so this is less about anything he is going to do in 2014, even as a “sell high” situation, but instead is about my belief in him becoming a premium prospect within the next couple years.

Round 33 – Pick 659 – Scott Baker, SP, Seattle Mariners (at the time)

Baker was with the Mariners and healthy when this pick happened. It seemed likely that he would nab a rotation spot and getting to start in Safeco seemed appealing at this point. He’s since been released and latched on with Texas, though he’s yet to crack their rotation, which should tell you everything you need to know.

Round 34 – Pick 662 – Ryan Vogelsong, SP, San Francisco Giants

Vogelsong has had one good start this year among a plethora of poor ones. While he will never again be what he was, I still think Vogelsong can provide value in a league this deep. He hasn’t shown that ability so far, but at this point the cost was fairly minimal. My big regret here is not taking Jason Hammel, who I thought I could sneak to the next round. Unfortunately he went eight picks prior.

Round 35 – Pick 699 – Miguel Gonzalez, SP, Baltimore Orioles

With Hammel gone, I still needed to add depth to my pitching staff. Note that depth doesn’t denote quality, which is how I landed on Gonzalez. He’s not awful but he’s not really good either. He looked good in his last start, but my hope is he spends the majority of time on my bench rather than in my lineup.

Round 36 – Pick 702 – Jordan Walden, RP, Atlanta Braves

He’d be the guy if anything happened to Craig Kimbrel, and he provides nice peripherals and strikeouts for a reliever even when he’s not closing. He’s a useful add in terms of balancing out the likely messy peripherals that some of the depth starters will provide.

Round 37 – Pick 739 – Ruben Tejada, SS, New York Mets

I hope Arismendy Alcantara gets called up soon.

Round 38 – Pick 742 – Hank Conger, C, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

My only catcher to this point was Jon Lucroy, and while Lucroy plays in a lot of games when healthy, he’s had some freak injuries before. I felt the need to grab a semi-competent semi-regular who could fill in were something to happen to Lucroy.

Round 39 – Pick 779 – Jeremy Guthrie, SP, Kansas City Royals

He doesn’t miss any bats but his home stadium is perfect for him and the Royals should be competitive. That’s the entire rationale behind this move, it’s just more depth.

Round 40 – Pick 782 – Ross Detwiler, P, Washington Nationals

Another flier that didn’t work out. Detwiler was still competing for a rotation spot at this point and was actually fairly useful the last time he started. He’s since been moved to the pen and is no longer on my squad.

Transactions:

Pitching has been a major problem for me with the Jarrod Parker and Mat Latos injuries (not to mention Casey Janssen). To remedy that, I traded my 2^nd and 5^th picks in the 2015 draft for Travis Wood, which has worked out quite well, and I’ve been aggressively adding pitchers with zero dollar bids in FA. I’ve added Cesar Ramos and Roberto Hernandez that way, as well as spending $10 on the somehow-good Alfredo Simon. It’s not going to matter until/unless Latos can come back and be Mat Latos, but it’s treading water for now.