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Baffoe: Cubs Had A Great 1st Day Of The 2016 MLB Draft

By Tim Baffoe--

(CBS) It doesn't have the rabid, almost sad addiction properties of the NFL Draft. There isn't much kitsch appeal of outlandish suits on giant young men and unpronounceable names of European spectres we won't see for who knows how many years if at all a la the NBA Draft.

But kudos to Major League Baseball in its stubborn way in recent years of tapping years too late into the lush market of sports fans and analysts who take very seriously the assessing of young people who have never competed on the level they've just been purchased into.

Sports drafts are fun in that wild, speculative, illogical feeding-off-emotions way that makes sports in general simultaneously great and awful. I get lost in it, for sure, and spend 10 minutes thinking really hard about a sixth-round defensive back's YouTube highlights as Pro Bowl résumé before forgetting his name until training camp. Letter grades, draft-day winners and losers, sure things, can't-misses, high ceilings, cornerstones, impact rookies, projects and other buzzwords that are really messed up when you think about them -- it's all part of the experience.

But at the end of each draft, none of us knows anything. That especially goes for the wildest of wild card sports in baseball. Football and basketball may etch the names of first-round busts into our trivia memories, but that's because they at least get the chance on the top level. Baseball's draft history is packed with ghosts of signing bonuses who never made it out of minor league purgatory.  

None of those 2016 flames-or-flops are Chicago Cubs property because the Cubs had zero picks Thursday, when the first two rounds of the draft were conducted. Yet the Cubs had a really good draft anyway, one of the best in all of baseball really.

While other fan bases are stroking themselves over their newest star who won't even touch an MLB this season and probably not next and other front offices parrot satisfied general manager draft-speak, the Cubs and their fans need not bother with any of that. Instead of a first- or second-round pick, there's John Lackey and Jason Heyward (who both had qualifying offers from the St. Louis Cardinals last offseason, thus the Cubs forfeited picks to sign them). No team will come out of this draft better than that -- a veteran starting pitcher dominating this season and signed through next season and a proven 26-year-old outfielder in place as part of a star core for years to come.

But, nah, let's put the Philadelphia Phillies' No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak, a high schooler, under the microscope. Have fun with that.

Not a baby to be put in the corner, though, the Cubs on Thursday traded a prospect who was given a chance, didn't prove himself very big club-worthy and can now be Billy Beane's new cheap project in Arismendy Alcantara in exchange for an actual major leaguer in Chris Coghlan. So Oakland A's fans get to talk amongst themselves about where the young prospect fits and what Beane sees in him that the Cubs gave up on and "Oh geez I hope Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer didn't pick our pocket … again." Meanwhile, the Cubs bolstered their banged-up bench, patching the most minimal of holes on a team that requires nitpicking for criticism.

This is how it works when an organization has established itself as a properly operating machine on the minor and major league levels (in just five years after Epstein and Hoyer inherited an awful farm system). Draft well early, draft well early, draft well early to produce the likes of Albert Almora, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. Draft well in the mid-rounds at the same time, sign top high schoolers who were supposedly unsignable, solidify the farm system and then acquire actual MLB talent for the present as the farm is reaped.

Then your lack of any first-day picks means you're probably winning on the field and on the spreadsheets. And you've had a great draft day while entirely absent from it.

As a bonus, not worrying about drafting on the first day actually helps the scouting department.

From the Tribune's Mark Gonzales:

The lack of a high pick actually has allowed (senior vice president of player development and amateur scouting Jason) McLeod to personally see more prospects this spring than he did in his first four years combined. He previously had to focus intently on the smaller number of players deemed worthy of selection in the first two rounds.

This year, McLeod and his staff have been able to devote more attention to making picks in rounds 3-10 on Friday, based on the selections of the other 29 teams Thursday night."

As the Cubs have declared this draft will focus on pitching, expect them to get tremendous value that doesn't have the immediate sexiness of Day 1 but will have retrospective value when the Lackeys and Jason Hammels are no longer around.

It's like the New England Patriots drafting boringly in the 20s and 30s of the first round most of this century (and getting five Pro Bowlers at pick 21 or later so far). It's drafting and signing so well that you can be the San Antonio Spurs on the first night of the draft and let the kids have their little party while you sit back having grown-up conversations.

So after completing an immediate rash speculative analysis all of the Cubs picks on the first day of the 2016 draft, it looks like they're one of the day's big winners. This feels like a sure thing, a can't-miss, one that will immediately contribute to the big club.

I give it my highest draft grade -- five out of five A+ footballs.

Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.

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