May 22, 201313 yr You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1751-25-Minnesota-Twins-Drafts-in-25-Days-1997
May 22, 201313 yr This series would be much more useful / interesting if you had a list of who was drafted and their round somewhere in the text.You don't even say what round Punto was drafted!
May 22, 201313 yr Punto was a decent player who tended to have good years followed by horrible years. He wasn't the problem. Gardenhire and Ryan/Smith were the problems for casting him as a starter (instead of a very good utility player) and and for overpaying for him. When he left, he signed a contract that made him a good value, and if the Twins could have signed him to the same contract (and convinced Gardy to give him 250-300 plate appearances) (which would have meant finding someone better to start) they should have. Of course, with the Nishi debacle he would have ended up starting again, which would have been painful for all sides (although not as painful as watching Nishi.)
May 22, 201313 yr Author I completely agree! Here is a link to the Twins 1997 draft from Baseball Reference: 1997 Minnesota Twins Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft - Baseball-Reference.com Their tables are much more useful than anything I can create. I'll add a link to each year's draft in future posts. Thanks for the idea! As for leaving Punto's round out (33), I clearly had to slight him in some way, even if done unintentionally.
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