Post #2 by ofahn » October 27th, 2011, 2:33 pm
I'm not sure I would label Rowell as a failure in scouting as much as I would a failure in development. He certainly had all of the skills you would look for it a first round pick. He just hasn't developed them into success on the field.
If you have been following Bryce Harper with the Nationals you will see the same kind of behavior that Rowell exhibited. The Nationals have tried to deal with it before it becomes a bigger problem.
I think there has been an organization wide tendency to downplay any development problems with high draft choices since Peter Angelos went apes**t over the massive, expensive failures with the six first round picks in 1999. That was a failure in scouting but everyone in the organization was blamed to some degree or another and very few employees felt secure enough in their employment to tell PA some other kid he just spent 2M plus for was not doing well. This may be part of the reason that PA was willing to spend 25M on fading veterans last winter but only 8M on draft picks. It's wrong headed but it's his money.
