Nationals hand out $16.5 million to 2011 draft picks

[Jordan Tuwiner]

http://twitter.com/#!/MarkZuckerman/sta ... 7211910145

The #Nats doled out a whopping $16.5 million to draft picks tonight. Which is still $1 million less than they gave Austin Kearns in 2007.

Orioles? About $8 million.

[ofahn]

and so it continues...................

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A_K]

Yikes.

[Don]

And $4.4 million is wasted money on a guy that was not on draft boards to a number of teams....

[rjc3]

And $4.4 million is wasted money on a guy that was not on draft boards to a number of teams....

I understand Purke is an injury risk but like you have said before, teams like the NAtionals, Orioles, Rays, etc... need to take risks in order to contend. Is signing Purke not a risk that is worth taking?

[ofahn]

We risked 4.25M on Garrett Atkins last year. Which do you think was a better investment?

[Don]

Purke was a mid 80's pitcher when I saw him this spring and this was before he went on the DL. I have a tough time thinking of investing $4.4 million into damaged goods.

I have no problem spending money, but spend it wisely and not based on a name. They were better off trying to go for Stilson or Winkler because there issues were a combination of slight mechanical flaws and overuse.

The Whip action limits him to the bullpen. I do not know that many teams that had him on the board. He was off my organizations list in May, just saying....

[ofahn]

You make very valid points BUT at least the Nationals understand that it requires an investment in player development to build a winning team.

I'm happy that we signed some real quality players in this draft. What I'm disappointed about is that we didn't spend enough to take advantage of the depth of talent available. I just think that an extra 7M spent this summer on worthy risks could have saved two or three times that amount in the future when we may be forced to overpay for marginal talent.

[rjc3]

You make very valid points BUT at least the Nationals understand that it requires an investment in player development to build a winning team.

I'm happy that we signed some real quality players in this draft. What I'm disappointed about is that we didn't spend enough to take advantage of the depth of talent available. I just think that an extra 7M spent this summer on worthy risks could have saved two or three times that amount in the future when we may be forced to overpay for marginal talent.

You summed it up perfectly. Even if the Nats are taking risks they know that in order to catch up to the Phils they need to build from within! Thankfully Buck seems to understand this based on his recent comments about the Blue Jays in Venezuela. Hopefully the next GM understands that as well.