Dodgers will wait until No. 36 in draft

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Scouting chief confident club will get quality in sandwich round

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
The last time the Dodgers forfeited their first-round pick was 2005 and it was well spent, going as compensation for the signing of Derek Lowe. They didn't draft until overall pick No. 40, used it on Luke Hochevar, and, well, we won't even rehash that mess.

This year they again have no first-round pick, having handed it over to Arizona as compensation for the astute signing of Orlando Hudson, who has given them All-Star-caliber play.

Celebrity selector Tom Lasorda won't take the Draft microphone until overall pick No. 36 this year and vice president of scouting Logan White promises there won't be anything like a replay of 2005.

In other words, signability is key.

Here's a glance at what the Dodgers have in store as the First-Year Player Draft approaches:

In about 50 words
One good thing about not drafting in the first round is that the Dodgers didn't waste any scouting time on Stephen Strasberg, the San Diego State consensus first pick. White said after that name is gone, the rest of the first round and beyond should be an unpredictable scramble. "There's a good chance you get the same guy at 36 as you would at 20," he said. Because of that, White is not discouraged at picking low, but rather considers it the kind of challenge that suits his scouting department. When you find a Jonathan Broxton in the second round, or a Russell Martin in the 17th, as White has done, you think like that.

The scoop
White is a lot better talking about what he's done than what he's going to do, preferring to keep his targets under wraps. But he's always preferred high school players in general, pitchers in particular, and the more the better. Having been a pitcher whose arm blew out, White learned first-arm that you combat the inevitable attrition by accumulating inventory. In other words, you never have enough pitching, but he drafts like he's trying to.

Must I say it again: drafting is funda-****ing-mental. It's depressing to think that our playoff rotation could have been:
Lowe
Billingsley
Lincecum
Kuroda

There's no question in my mind that we win the World Series with that. Not to mention we could have had Rick Porcello and Clay Buchholz waiting in the wings this year.

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Welcome 17th overall pick A.J. Pollock to the Dodgers.
Wait, nevermind..

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****, the Cardinals took Shelby Miller.

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hoping Tanner Scheppers makes it to our pick or maybe not because of his shoulder problems.

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Um, Aaron Miller better be great at hitting because he ****ing sucks as a pitcher.

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Good value pick in Garrett Gould. Slipped from the first round because his "violent" delivery scared teams off.

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They're going to make Aaron Miller a full time pitcher. Because nothing says good pitcher than a 5.12 ERA in college. Oh, he'll be just ****ing terrific in pro baseball.

So much for the compensation for Derek Lowe. A fleecing is on the level of Tyronne Green for Michael Turner.