draft to be televised

[abuck1220]

Major League Baseball will provide a live television broadcast of a portion of the draft for the first time. The latest plan is to broadcast the first and supplemental first rounds live on June 7, and draft through the fifth round that day. The remaining 45 rounds of picks will come on June 8.

[CuseCubFan69]

Where?

[imb]

AWESOME

[Omar]

I'm gonna guess it's ESPN, or ESPN2.

[Post Count Padder]

Finally

[texascub]

How exactly is this going to work? The draft is usually done via teleconference so is this just going to be 99% commentary by "experts" (BBTN probably) and only brief glimpses inside of a war room or what?

[TruffleShuffle]

good now i can break a tv and not my computer when the cubs draft a high-ceiling high school outfielder who doesn't understand the difference between a ball and a strike

[Mephistopheles]

How exactly is this going to work? The draft is usually done via teleconference so is this just going to be 99% commentary by "experts" (BBTN probably) and only brief glimpses inside of a war room or what?

I believe the plan is now to just do five rounds on day one

[CaliforniaRaisin]

How exactly is this going to work? The draft is usually done via teleconference so is this just going to be 99% commentary by "experts" (BBTN probably) and only brief glimpses inside of a war room or what?

 

That's how MLB TV/MiLB.com did it last year.

 

Imagine how horrid BBTN coverage would be.

[UK1679666180]

I'm definitely excited about this.

[NCCubFan]

good now i can break a tv and not my computer when the cubs draft a once-promising college pitcher whose performance has slipped due to injuries.

Fixed. :D

[CoolHandLuke]

hopefully the have Baseball America or something similar do the coverage instead of the ESPN idiots.

[Jon]

I can't say I'm going to be a fan of slowing down the draft, though.

[imb]

im excited because we will have extra time to analyze the first day, since it's just five rounds, and on the second day, which is usually a bunch of roster fillers highlighted by a pick here or there, will have added importance.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

greg (toronto): Jim, will the draft be televised? If so, will it be available to people outside the US through mlb.com?

 

SportsNation Jim Callis: It's not totally finalized, but it looks like ESPN will broadcast the first and supplemental first rounds live. If that's the case, I'm not sure they'd make that feed available on mlb.com. But I could be wrong on that part.

[nilodnayr]

How exactly is this going to work? The draft is usually done via teleconference so is this just going to be 99% commentary by "experts" (BBTN probably) and only brief glimpses inside of a war room or what?

 

That's how MLB TV/MiLB.com did it last year.

 

Imagine how horrid BBTN coverage would be.

 

I don't know if the BBTN crew (save Gammons) knows who Matt Murton is, let alone Alex Gordon, let alone Price, Wieters, or Brackman.

 

2 years ago in a pre-season episode Kruk said that RJ would get 30 wins (in one season). Yeah, thats the guy who I want to hear indepth analysis about highschoolers from.

[Guest]

I like the idea of the draft being on TV, because now those "paid idiots" will now have to actually look up these young players, instead of getting there information feed to them, by actually fans of the game.

 

So the MLB draft is close to being on the telly, right-o. Now maybe ESPN can hired SOME legit baseball analyst, who knows a thing or two about baseball.

 

 

Oh wait, I have Breaking News:

 

Steve Phillips, in a fit of madness, has decided to take the #1, 2, and 3 picks of the 2007 draft and trade it to Cleveland for Paul Bryd. His rationale for making the deal....

 

"Uh, I wanted a turkey byrd sandwhich."

 

Kruk responded with: "Dude, you are so friggin reading my mind. Wanna share?"

[Outshined_One]

I can't wait to hear the first idiot talk about potential draft pick trades. I have no confidence whatsoever in ESPN to pull this off in any meaningful or vaguely intelligent way.

[CuseCubFan69]

I look forward to listening to them talkng about who the Yanks or Red Sox are going to draft for 85% of the show. I suppose beggers shouldn't be choosers. Edited February 9, 2007 by CuseCubFan69

[CubinNY]

I can't wait to hear the first idiot talk about potential draft pick trades. I have no confidence whatsoever in ESPN to pull this off in any meaningful or vaguely intelligent way.

 

I can envision them having on draft gurus to break down the players like they do for football. I think the BBTN crew will provide inane analysis of the the picks.

 

The baseball draft is so speculative I can't imagine how they will make this interesting to the casual fan who probably can't name more than 2 or 3 prospects for their favorite team.

[Derwood]

as long as teams are on the clock for 2 minutes MAX, it'll be alright. The draft usually has a pick every 15 seconds or so, which obviously doesn't work for analysis purposes. My guess is that they will have a Mel Kiper-esque draft expert plus Reece Davis and Gammons on the panel

[Mephistopheles]

as long as teams are on the clock for 2 minutes MAX, it'll be alright. The draft usually has a pick every 15 seconds or so, which obviously doesn't work for analysis purposes. My guess is that they will have a Mel Kiper-esque draft expert plus Reece Davis and Gammons on the panel

 

i dont think so. Given BA's partnership with Baseball America that has grown over the last several years, it wouldn't shock me if they have two or three BA guys giving analysis. They wont get Allan Simpson, but they'll probably get the college correspondent, Aaron Fitt and probably the HS one, Alan Mathews. I think the BA-ESPN connection is going to make the coverage pretty good. I'd love for ESPN to get Allan Simpson. There's no one better.

[the splendid splinter]

It will be Keith Law from ESPN doing the chair work for the network and you can already book it that the Cubs will have a horrible draft ( according to Law) because Law and Wilken worked in Toronto during Wilkens last few yrs there and its a good bet that they didn't get along, cause Wilken left the Blue Jays shortly after.

[karenmac]

XM also broadcasts the draft in its entirity live, so that may be easier than having to listen to the BBTN crew :D

 

Besides, how much action can there really be at the draft? They're not all in the same room, right? They're on the phone making the picks? Maybe I'm just thinking of the Rule V...

[texascub]

XM also broadcasts the draft in its entirity live, so that may be easier than having to listen to the BBTN crew :D

 

Besides, how much action can there really be at the draft? They're not all in the same room, right? They're on the phone making the picks? Maybe I'm just thinking of the Rule V...

 

I listened to the XM feed last year, but for the years leading up to that I had listened to the feed from mlb.com. I've always gotten the feeling that the draft is done via conference call.