Kept: The Kyle Morris Story

Kept Players
Magglio Ordonez (Round 16)
Ervin Santana (Round 24)
Jason Bay (Round 18)
Joakim Soria (Round 17)
Alfonso Soriano (Round 5)

Last Year’s Record: 13-11
Division: Losers
Season Result: Finished third in the Losers Division.

Keeper Decision Scale: 3.5/10

Kyle is a Mizzou fan, yet somehow I gave him a higher rating than “negative infinity.” I’m clearly a Christian. On with more good things…

The Good:

You’ve gotta love the Mexicutioner selection. It will reap many rewards for Kyle. He got him in a trade for me for Justin Upton and James Loney, I believe. Loney was a key in me landing Josh Hamilton and I don’t believe I would have kept Soria, but I might have kept him over Carlos Quentin. In any case, Kyle has him and made a good decision here.

Ervin Santana had a good season last year…

Jason Bay Is excellent value at round 18 and gives him excellent flexibility in the draft.

I’m not a fan of keeping Alfonso Soriano at round five, but he does produce at a high level and is in a strong lineup in a weak division.

Kyle has a man crush on Magglio, so I’ll be careful to not criticize him too much.

The Bad:

I take that back, the Magglio decision was a poor one. Magglio, with the exception of his 2007 season, has not been the same since his surgery and subsequent move to spacious Detroit. He’ll be 36 this season, with bad legs, in a big ball park, playing every day in said big ball park. This is not a good situation.

Ervin Santana is on the DL.

Alfonso Soriano will be “33” this season and has had injury issues in back to back years. Best case scenario, he sees a strong drop in his stolen bases and a little bit of a drop in his power. Worst case scenario, and this is the Cubs we’re talking about, Soriano will lose his speed and his power and will only play for half the season. Either way, his production is going to decrease to a point not worthy of a fifth round pick. I think there were better options for Kyle than keeping Soriano.

Jason Bay is an excellent player, but I do wonder if the poor ALCS and full season of the Boston Media Machine will have negative effects on him.

I have nothing poor to say about the Mexicutioner.