FEEDING YOUR DRAFT HUNGER

Every year I hear the same thing from various owners:

#1 We need at least 10 rounds to the draft!

#2 There isn't enough talent to draft!

You know, sometimes I hear both things from the same owner, which seems more than a little contradictory. Well, as usual, we're having 10 rounds (though I would've been happy with 8, myself). So, to help all of y'all out with #2, I have a pair of lists for your consideration.

List #1 contains players who meet the following criteria:

• They are not on any BARB club's roster
• They had significant major-league service time in 2007
• They could still be assigned to the minors (that is, they are unestablished) and would be treated as rookies (with a $1.2 million salary) in 2008

Here we go:

C: Gerald Laird, Mike Napoli, Carlos Ruiz, Geovany Soto, Chris Snyder, Kurt Suzuki, J.R. Towles

1B: Dan Ortmeier

2B: Asdrubal Cabrera, Alexi Casilla, Kelly Johnson, Danny Richar

SS: Yunel Escobar, Brendan Harris, Luis Hernandez, Ryan Theriot

3B: Greg Dobbs, Josh Fields, Mark Reynolds,

OF/DH: Michael Bourn, Jack Cust, Chris Duffy, Corey Hart, Jason Kubel, Ryan Ludwick, Jason Michaels, Juan Rivera, Cody Ross, Ryan Spilborghs, Marcus Thames, Reggie Willits

RHSP: Brian Bannister, Jason Bergmann, Aaron Cook, Chad Gaudin, Jeremy Guthrie, Shawn Hill, Ubaldo Jiminez, Kyle Kendrick, Jesse Litsch, Shaun Marcum, Micah Owings, James Shields, Kevin Slowey, Andy Sonnanstine, Claudio Vargas

LHSP: Kason Gabbard, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, Wandy Rodriguez

RHRP: Jeremy Accardo, Jared Burton, Matt Capps, Manny Corpas, Manny Delcarmen, Lee Gardner, Casey Jansenn, Matt Lindstrom, Carlos Marmol, Peter Moylan, Tony Pena, Joel Peralta, Al Reyes, Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson

LHRP: Justin Hampson, Hideki Okajima, Rafael Perez, Renyel Pinto, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Doug Slaten

That's 78 names for Draft Day, more than half of the 130-so draft slots that will be filled.

In addition, I have another List #2, with the following criteria:

• They are not on any BARB club's roster
• They've had more than two year's of major-league service time
• They must be assigned to your parent roster if selected in the draft and charged their 2007 salary

C: Ramon Castro, Javier Valentin

1B: Kevin Millar, Carlos Pena, Dmitri Young

2B: Mark DeRosa, Adam Kennedy, Kaz Matsui, Brandon Philips

SS: Jason Bartlett, Yuniesky Betancourt, Alex Gonzalez, John McDonald, Marco Scutaro, Juan Uribe

3B: Jose Bautista, Joe Crede, Wes Helms, Mike Lamb, Ty Wigginton

OF/DH: Pat Burrell, Marlon Byrd, Ryan Church, Matt Diaz, Jason Michaels, Craig Monroe, Juan Rivera, Ryan Spilborghs, Matt Stairs, Frank Thomas, Josh Willingham, Randy Winn

RHSP: Miguel Batista, Paul Byrd, Aaron Cook, Jason Marquis, Jeff Suppan

LHSP: Randy Wolf

RHRP: Heath Bell, Joe Borowski, Kevin Gregg, Todd Jones, Chad Qualls

LHRP: Tim Byrdak, Scott Downs, Justin Hampson, Javier Lopez, Hideki Okajima, Rafael Perez, Renyel Pinto, J.C. Romero, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Bobby Seay, George Sherrill, C.J. Wilson

That's an additional 55 names, for a total of 130 names, plenty of food for thought for those of you researching your draft. Of course, prospects who have no significant ML service time whatsoever (which is to say, the majority) and players on BARB rosters who are unprotected are not included, and there will be plenty of those players picked, as well.