MLB: My 30 Player Franchise Draft by Organization
Earlier today, ESPN and 30 of it's various well-respected analysts did an exercise that I found rather interesting. They proposed the question: If you were starting a franchise and you could pick any player in professional baseball and have them on your team for the duration of their career, who would be your franchise player?
I thought it might be an interesting exercise to do as well, so I put myself to the test as I played GM for 30 MLB franchises. To make it a bit more interesting, I randomly generated the order of selection for each franchise and tried to factor in park variables, organizational track records, as well as whether or not the team selecting leaned toward larger or smaller market players, but I did not consider financial implications.
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2011 MLB Franchise Draft:
- Pittsburgh Pirates -- Troy Tulowitzki, SS -- 26 years old
- Baltimore Orioles -- Evan Longoria, 3B -- 25 years old
- Boston Red Sox -- Ryan Braun, LF -- 27 years old
- Anaheim Angels -- Joe Mauer, C -- 28 years old
- Texas Rangers -- Felix Hernandez, RHP -- 25 years old
- Chicago White Sox -- Miguel Cabrera, 1B -- 28 years old
- Philadelphia Phillies -- Albert Pujols, 1B -- 31 years old
- Tampa Bay Rays -- Jason Heyward, RF -- 21 years old
- New York Mets -- Matt Kemp, CF -- 26 years old
- Milwaukee Brewers -- Joey Votto, 1B -- 27 years old
- Kansas City Royals -- Eric Hosmer, 1B -- 21 years old
- New York Yankees -- Bryce Harper, RF -- 18 years old
- Toronto Blue Jays -- Stephen Strasburg, RHP -- 22 years old
- Detroit Tigers -- Michael Pineda, RHP -- 22 years old
- San Diego Padres -- Clayton Kershaw, LHP -- 23 years old
- Arizona Diamondbacks -- Robinson Cano, 2B -- 28 years old
- Houston Astros -- Jose Bautista, RF -- 30 years old
- Colorado Rockies -- Mike Trout, CF -- 19 years old
- Cincinnati Reds -- Jay Bruce, RF -- 24 years old
- Florida Marlins -- Hanley Ramirez, SS -- 27 years old
- Minnesota Twins -- Buster Posey, C -- 24 years old
- Oakland Athletics -- Tommy Hanson, RHP -- 24 years old
- Atlanta Brave -- Josh Johnson, RHP -- 27 years old
- Washington Nationals -- Carlos Gonzalez, LF -- 25 years old
- Chicago Cubs -- Justin Upton, RF -- 23 years old
- St. Louis Cardinals -- Starlin Castro, SS -- 21 years old
- Seattle Mariners -- David Price, LHP -- 25 years old
- Los Angeles Dodgers -- Andrew McCutchen, CF -- 24 years old
- Cleveland Indians -- Mike Stanton, RF -- 21 years old
- San Francisco Giants -- Jon Lester, LHP -- 27 years old
Players who just missed the cut:
- Carlos Santana, C -- 25 years old
- Justin Verlander, RHP -- 28 years old
- Mat Latos, RHP -- 23 years old
- Prince Fielder, 1B -- 26 years old
- Jose Reyes, SS -- 27 years old
- Dustin Pedoria, 2B -- 27 years old
- Brett Anderson, LHP -- 23 years old
- Colby Rasmus, CF -- 24 years old
- Roy Halladay, RHP -- 34 years old
- Cole Hamels, LHP -- 27 years old
What do you think of my selections? What does your franchise draft look like using this order of selection for all 30 organizations?






