AFL 2026

[mul21]

2 hours ago, allen6510w said:

Are you suggesting a strategy similar to this past summer when the Cubs used their 21 selections to draft 16 pitchers or are you suggesting a few more than that ... perhaps two position players in the early rounds followed by all pitchers? 

Previously they had been very much on the other side of that, drafting 5-6 pitchers and a bunch of position players.  Throwing resources at both sides is going to be necessary and I'd bet we see more balanced drafts going forward.  They have explicitly said that their picks depend on who's on the board at the time and how they value those guys, so it likely doesn't always go they way they initially planned it.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

4 hours ago, allen6510w said:

Are you suggesting a strategy similar to this past summer when the Cubs used their 21 selections to draft 16 pitchers or are you suggesting a few more than that ... perhaps two position players in the early rounds followed by all pitchers? 

It doesn't have to be as skewed as 2026 but I hated taking only 2 pitchers in the first 10 rounds in 2024. Pitchers break so you need to have more to limit the attrition. Obviously would be lovely to get an ace sometime but they didn't even have a AAA backend rotation guy who could come up to plug a rotation hole for a month and even 3/4/5 starters go for a lot in free agency.