Asked and answered: Ben Cherington

To go along with today's Union Leader story about Kendal Volz and the approach of the Red Sox to signing draft picks, here's a full "Asked and Answered" with Red Sox assistant general manager Ben Cherington.

The deadline to sign draft picks -- Volz was a ninth-round pick of the Red Sox in June and is the lone college player drafted by the Red Sox in the top 15 rounds who has not yet signed -- is Aug. 17.

With the negotiations with Volz, because he wanted to work on his mechanics and also because he wasn't drafted as highly as he expected, did you expect all along that it would take until August until he signed (if at all)?
We knew when we drafted him that he was coming off a year that was probably a little less than what his expectations were. He was a high-profile guy coming off last summer and his first two years at Baylor, and, in the spring, he was one of the higher-profile college pitchers. He didn’t have the spring I’m sure he wanted to have. When we drafted him, we knew he wanted to go out and pitch this summer and regain his form if he could and show people what he could do. It wasn’t about knowing that negotiations would take a certain amount of time. We knew he wanted to pitch, and we knew we’d get a chance to get to see him more.

How common is it for teams and players to do that, to just shelve negotiations until the last couple of weeks before the deadline?
I don’t think it’s uncommon. There are college players every year that use the summer leagues as a forum to show what they can do or to try to get back to form. The two months or however long it is from the draft to Aug. 16 is valuable time. Sometimes teams use it to gather more information and evaluation and to keep talking, and sometimes the player wants to use it to show what he can do and to work on things. Sometimes both the team and player want to use it.

What are the factors that determine whether a player signs quickly and easily or a player either doesn't sign or takes all summer to sign? Is it mostly a matter of money, or is it usually similar to what Volz is doing now?
It can be all of the above. There are times in the draft when, on the day of the draft, you feel like your evaluation of the player is complete and you’ve got all the information you need to make that evaluation and the player is very clear about what he’ll sign for and you value him at a spot in the draft that’s consistent with that kind of signing bonus. Those are the ones that are taken and sign quickly. With the other scenario, there’s a variety of other types of cases. Generally, they all lead toward needing more time for the team to continue the evaluation – maybe they didn’t see enough of the player in the spring or have information missing or the player was hurt a little bit and needs to get healthy. Sometimes the player isn’t sure whether he wants to sign or go to college and needs more time to consider that option.

From our perspective, certainly, there are players that we feel like are good candidates to sign right away because our evaluation is done, it’s clear what the asking price is, and it matches up with the evaluation. Those are the guys who are out playing now. But there also are times when using the rest of the summer makes sense.

Is it easier or harder to place a specific value on a draft pick than on a major-league free agent?
It’s really a very similar exercise as in the major leagues. The big difference is that it’s not a free-agent market – there’s only one team negotiating with the player. You evaluate the talent and you evaluate and identify what you think is the upside and what the potential is down the road, and then you compare that to the rest of the draft class and where that player’s talent matches up relative to his draft class. You can go back in time and look at other players in similar situations in the last two or three years and build a case for why a player fits into a certain category in terms of his signing bonus by comparing a player to a similar pick in years past or a player with a similar profile or ability in years past. That process is fairly similar to what we do with big-league free agents except, again, there’s only one team involved in the negotiation.

How do you deal with the temptation to go a little bit further with a guy so you don't let him go and get burned later the way, say, not signing someone like Matt LaPorta probably hurts a little bit now?
That temptation can be there, and that’s similar with any personnel decision we make whether it’s a trade or a major-league free agent. Anytime you’re evaluating a player, you have to place a value on that player and an evaluation of what you’re willing to pay. Sometimes it’s in the form of players that you’re paying in a trade, and sometimes it’s in the form of a contract or a signing bonus. You’ve got to evaluate what that is and place a value on it. Sometimes you do go a little bit past what is the point of pain to get a deal done, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to be true to your evaluation, and you’ve got to be true to how you evaluated the player at that time. If not, we inevitably will start to become inefficient with our money.

You can always look back in hindsight – you bring up LaPorta, and I don’t know what it would have taken because we never got that close – but had we gone further, depending how much further, one might say that would have been a good decision. But we have hundreds of players that we negotiate with every year – be it in the draft or international free agency or whatever the market is – and if we live by that principle that, with every single one, we’re always tempted to go further and get a deal done, we’re going to be spending a lot of money and not getting much for it. It’s hard to evaluate in retrospect. We do look back, and we look back at cases that we didn’t get right. But we have to try to stay disciplined to what the evaluation is at the time. ...

When you’re trying to buy a house, you start with a number that you feel really good getting a house for. We all know how often you usually get to that number. You generally have to compromise in some way, and you bump up at a point where it starts to feel painful.

Do you have any fun stories or anecdotes about negotiations with some of the players who have come up through the system in recent years, what those negotiations were like?
No, nothing that comes to mind right away. Looking back, it’s always very easy to see the truth more clearly. Pedroia signed for whatever he signed for – I wasn’t involved personally, but, at the time, I’m sure he was asking for more money. I’m sure we said, at the time, ‘This is our offer, and we believe it’s fair because of X, Y and Z. We compare you to this player and that player.’ Well, fast-forward five years, and he was probably right. He was probably worth more money. But there are just as many examples of the opposite where, in retrospect, it wasn’t worth it. That kind of thing happens all the time.

Red Sox still negotiating with draft picks

BOURNE, Mass. -- Kendal Volz wasn't exactly disappointed with his four-inning effort for the Brewster Whitecaps on Monday. He wasn't thrilled, either.

He allowed six hits and one earned run in four innings, striking out two and walking one. He allowed a run on a broken-bat single in the first inning but did a nice job digging himself out of a quick 3-0 count with a runner on second against the league's best power hitter in the third inning, throwing a tough slider on a 3-1 count and inducing a routine fly ball on 3-2.

"I came back with the fastball, and then, 3-1, I'm sure he was sitting fastball again, and I threw him the slider," Volz said. "That's pretty big with no outs. He's a good hitter."

But the box score isn't what Volz is all that worried about. It's also not what Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer was there to see.

The Red Sox drafted Volz in the ninth round of June's draft, his summer as the closer for Team USA a big part of what caught the team's attention. (Baseball America named Volz the third-best prospect on the team -- ahead of first-round picks Kyle Gibson and Mike Leake. He then went back to Baylor and had an up-and-down season, a 4.50 ERA and a diminished strikeout-to-walk ratio hurting his stock a little bit.

Hoyer wasn't there to evaluate him as a pitcher -- and while he had a radar gun in his hand, he wasn't really there to gauge the speed of his fastball, either. For Volz, all summer long, it's been all about mechanics.

The 6-foot-4 righty shut down his throwing when the season ended, giving his arm a break and giving himself a chance to focus on the summer classes he was taking at Baylor. The only pitching work he did was a series of drills designed to improve the mechanics of his motion, something that might have cost him a chance to go in the top three rounds of the draft.

"They'd watched me every game, every time I pitched," Volz said. "Coming up here, they weren't going to see anything different the first month (of the Cape League season), and they knew I'd thrown a lot during the (college) season and prior to the season. It was big for me to take a little break and rest my arm a little bit just so I didn't get even more worn down coming right up here."

Volz is one of five players the Red Sox drafted in the top 10 rounds but have not yet signed. All four of the others are high school players -- including third-round pick David Renfroe, a shortstop out of South Panola (Miss.) High School. The other three college players the Red Sox have drafted, including second-round pick Alex Wilson, have signed and already are working their way up the minor-league ladder.

High school players often take longer to sign simply because they have more leverage --Renfroe, for example, has a scholarship offer in hand to play football at Ole Miss.

Volz is in something of a unique situation with the way he shut things down at the end of the season. He's only spent two weeks on Cape Cod, ramping things up again at the request of the Red Sox so they could see him throw a few more times. (He made four appearances out of the bullpen before making his first -- and possibly only -- start of the summer on Monday.)

Negotiations will begin in earnest once he returns home to Texas.

"They understood and we understood that there wouldn't be any negotiating going on until after the (Cape League) season got done -- and probably even a little bit after that," he said. "They might come down and watch me when I get back home. They might offer something first and then come watch me. But we knew they'd want to come see me at least four or five times, ... and nothing would be done until they saw me then."

The leverage for a college player drops substantially after his junior year -- he can go back to school for his senior year, but unless he's drafted in the first couple of rounds, he usually gets a take-it-or-leave-it offer at that point. It doesn't necessarily benefit Volz or the Red Sox for him to go back to Baylor next season.

"Obviously, you want to sign," Volz said. "My dream was always signing after junior year. But it's not a bad second choice to go back to school. I'm really kind of indifferent. If it works out, that's great. The Red Sox are a great organization, great people all up there. But going back to school won't be bad, either. ...

"During the draft, most of it is signability and what you would sign for, signing bonus-wise. That's kind of stayed the same, so, at the end of the day, it's if they meet that or if they don't. If they do, great. If they don't, I'll go through it again next year."

Epstein stays true to up-the-middle mantra

"If you're going to have a lot of players at a position, you want it to be in the middle of the field. These are young players we're talking about, and as center fielders mature, a lot of them move off and can play right field. If the bat really comes, they can play left field as well. If you have a surplus on the corners, those players can't go anywhere as they mature and slow down. You can never have enough center fielders. You can never have too many shortstops."
-- Theo Epstein

Theo wasn't kidding. Check out the Red Sox draft list so far:

1. Reymond Fuentes, CF
2. Alex Wilson, RHP
3. David Renfroe, SS
4. Jeremy Hazelbaker, CF
5. Seth Schwindenhammer, LF
6. Branden Kline, RHP
7. John Younginer, RHP
8. William Wilkerson, RF
9. Kendal Volz, RHP

Volz, by the way, allowed six hits and only an unearned run in 14 innings pitched for Team USA last summer.

According to Baseball America, "Volz is a powerful athlete with two power pitches. He attacks hitters with a 92-94 mph fastball that touches 95 and has even more future projection. Volz works off his fastball and commands it well in the zone. He also throws a hard slider at 82 mph with late, sharp break and depth. Those two pitches alone make Volz a candidate to be a closer at the big league level. However, he also throws an effective changeup. With his frame and the ability to use three pitches, Volz will at least be given a chance to start at the pro level."

Baseball America ranked Volz the No. 3 prospect from Team USA behind No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg and No. 7 overall pick Mike Minor but ahead of No. 22 overall pick Kyle Gibson.

Terry Francona has great respect for Red Sox draft crew

Some managers clash with their player personnel people. The disagreement between Billy Beane and Tony LaRussa was chronicled in "Moneyball"; the disgreement between LaRussa and new-age statistics experts was described in Sports Illustrated this spring.

(OK, so maybe it's just LaRussa.)

Terry Francona, on the other hand, spent several minutes this afternoon gushing over the work Theo Epstein and the amateur scouting department has done for the Red Sox. One reporter asked if he ever offered his suggestions, and Francona shot that idea down without hesitation.

"That's none of my business," Francona said. "The only interest I have is trying to show interest out of respect to the guys that are doing it. I can't imagine sticking my head into that room and making a suggestion. I'd be humiliated. I see how hard they work. I see how serious they take it. I see what they've given us. I wouldn't say a word.

"The only time I'd say a word is when it's over and congratulate them on their effort because they wear themselves out trying to get the right people. They've done a great job."

Francona has nothing to do with the process because he won't even see most of the players drafted until they're a year or two or three into their big-league careers. What he does enjoy, though, is reading the reports on the players the Red Sox pick and watching those players' careers progress.

"You hear their names, and you don't see them for a couple of years," he said. "It's really exciting to remember what was said about them and then, when you do see them -- and that's what I've been so impressed with, is when I have these meetings with our player development people and they say this and it comes true. It's pretty neat."

But that doesn't mean he occasionally doesn't meet some of the prospects that visit Fenway Park -- accidentally or otherwise.

"One of the young kids saw me in my underwear today," he said. "I don't imagine he'll be signing with us. ... I was just coming out of the SwimEx. I don't think he's dying to become a Red Sox player."

The evolution of Red Sox drafts under Theo Epstein

"Baseball is a game of failure. Failure is inherent in everything in the game -- and the draft, probably more so than any aspect of our operation, is that way. You're going to miss on 38 out of 40 picks most years."
-- Theo Epstein

It's amazing the way the Red Sox seem to have figured out the draft.

Dustin Pedroia is the reigning American League MVP. Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson are contributing at the big-league level. Clay Buchholz is the best pitcher in Triple-A. Lars Anderson, Ryan Kalish and Josh Reddick aren't far behind.

All of that's from one three-year span -- from 2004-06.

Yes, a good portion of the Anderson-Kalish-Reddick group of prospects will wash out before ever becoming impact major leaguers. And, yes, some of the Red Sox successes have come thanks to bonus demands they were willing to meet that small-market clubs were not. Still, though, it's far cheaper to make a mistake in the draft than to make a mistake in the free-agent market -- just ask the Royals, who passed on Evan Longoria in 2006 and Matt Wieters in 2007 but are paying Jose Guillen $12 million a season this year as well as next year. (The signing bonuses of Longoria and Wieters combined? $9 million.)

It hasn't always been that way, though. Here's a look back at the first six drafts of the Theo Epstein era in Boston:

2003
First round
17. David Murphy, OF
32. Matt Murton, OF
Murphy was dealt to Texas in the Eric Gagne deal; Murton was dealt to Chicago in the Nomar Garciaparra deal. Both have grown into serviceable but not exceptional big-league outfielders.
Still on the board: Chad Billingsley (24), Carlos Quentin (29), Adam Jones (37).

Later rounds
114. Jonathan Papelbon, RHP
"We had an area scout at the time, Joe Mason, who had done a good job identifying him, but he wasn't high on our radar screen," Epstein said. (Mason is now with the Brewers.) "A bunch of us went down to the SEC Tournament and saw him throw. It was a good combination of all the elements of choosing a player. Joe had done a good job on his makeup, we saw the velocity and the explosion on his fastball in person -- it was hard to miss -- and then putting the performance elements in play, too, with a guy with a really dominant strikeout-to-walk ratio in college.

"We took him, and I remember seeing him a couple of months later before a game in Lowell, and he was out there milking a cow. He had like a five and a half ERA, and he's out there before the game doing a ceremonial cow-milking, getting way too into it. It's like, 'What the heck did we draft here?' Sure enough, the next year, development got ahold of him and he went to a starting role in the Florida State League and was just beating hitters consistently with that explosive fastball in the zone and took off from there."

There's a secret to winning cow-milking contests, Papelbon said when asked about it this weekend.

"You've got to caress the nipple, man," he said.

2004
First round
No selection.

Later rounds
65. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
(Click here for the full story on that Pedroia pick.)

2005
First round
23. Jacoby Ellsbury
26. Craig Hansen
42. Clay Buchholz
45. Jed Lowrie
47. Michael Bowden

This one was epic. It's even tough to criticize the selection of Hansen despite the fact that Hansen, traded to Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay deal, seems close to washing out as a big-league pitcher. Most of the best players in that draft already were gone by that point -- Matt Garza went to Minnesota at No. 25, for example -- and the Red Sox still emerged with three more big-league players.

Later rounds
Catchers Mark Wagner (No. 288 overall, now in Double-A) and Luis Exposito (No. 948 overall, now in Single-A) also were plucked out of the later rounds. Both might have something to say about George Kottaras' job security in the next year or so.

But even when you have a draft that successful, there's always one that got away. The Red Sox chose high school catcher Jonathan Egan with their second-round pick, No. 57 overall, and missed out on future big-leaguers like Kevin Slowey, Yunel Escobar and Chase Headley. (Egan now is retired.)

"One guy Theo was really high on -- and I liked him, but not as much as him -- and where he was, looking back on the draft, ... one guy is Chase Headley," scouting director Jason McLeod said. "We were at that point in the draft where it was, 'I'm going to go for the upside!' and 'This guy can be a star!' Looking back, Headley is in the major leagues and has done everything that we, as a staff, probably thought he would do -- and (Epstein) really thought he was going to do. That's just one small example -- but you can do that in every draft and every round."

Said Epstein, "To be fair to Jason, the guy he really had to have in that draft was Buchholz. He was out on a limb on him."

2006
First round
27. Jason Place, OF
28. Daniel Bard, RHP
40. Kris Johnson, LHP
44. Caleb Clay, RHP

Place and Clay both were drafted out of high school and are working their way slowly through the system -- it's way too early to pass judgment on those picks. Johnson had a 3.63 ERA last season at Double-A Portland and pitched with the big-league club in spring training, but he's had a rough go of things so far this year at Triple-A Pawtucket. (The Yankees selected Joba Chamberlain with the No. 41 pick -- right after Johnson. There's one that got away.)

Bard, on the other hand, made his major-league debut last month and, while he's still living out of a hotel in Boston, he doesn't look like he's going to be sleeping in his own bed in Pawtucket again anytime soon. He has nine strikeouts and has allowed just one earned run in 10 big-league innings so far this season.

Later rounds
Second-round pick Justin Masterson already looks like the second coming of Derek Lowe. (As a side note, mark your calendars: Lowe is lined up to pitch at Fenway Park on June 20.) Third-round pick Aaron Bates (No. 83 overall) is mashing the ball at Double-A this season. Kalish (No. 283), Reddick (No. 523) and Anderson (No. 553) all are players the Red Sox expect eventually to contribute at the big-league level. If even one of those four pans out, it's an outstanding draft year.

2007
First round
55. Nick Hagadone
62. Ryan Dent

The Red Sox didn't have a first-round selection thanks to -- what else? -- the signing of Julio Lugo as a free agent. (Among the players still on the board when the Red Sox would have picked? Rick Porcello, the fast-moving righty who pitched against the Red Sox in Detroit this week.)

But they were pleasantly surprised -- as with Pedroia in 2004 -- to discover that Hagadone, who had a 72-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a junior at Washington, still was on the board in the supplemental first round.

"We didn't think Nick Hadagone would be at that pick just because of what he brought to the table -- lefthanded power arm and so forth," McLeod said. "We know every year is going to be different. Every team sees players different, so you have to be prepared as well as you can to make a decision."

Later rounds
First baseman Anthony Rizzo (No. 204) hit .373 with 11 home runs in 83 at-bats at Single-A Greenville before being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008. He was declared cancer-free in November and is hitting .270 with six home runs and a .346 on-base percentage with Greenville so far this season.

2008
First round
30. Casey Kelly

Kelly is going to make the Masterson and Chamberlain starter-reliever debates look like child's play. Kelly came out of high school as a shortstop and a pitcher -- he prefers shortstop, but so far this season, he has a 1.35 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 60 innings on the mound. (He had a 1.12 ERA for Single-A Greenville and has allowed three earned runs in 11 2/3 innings since his promotion to Single-A Salem.)

Once he hits 100 innings on the mound -- which, counting spring training, will happen three or four starts down the road -- he'll switch to shortstop and play there for the rest of the season. Either way, he looks like a tremendous prospect.

Later rounds
Most of these players are just starting their first full season of pro baseball, but one early highlight has been catcher Tim Federowicz (No. 232), who's hitting .318 so far this season at Single-A Greenville.

Red Sox draft-day stories

Projected No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg has announced that he will hold a press conference to discuss his selection not at home and not at San Diego State but at the headquarters of the Boras Corporation in Newport Beach, Calif.

My, how times have changed.

With the draft now just a day away, here's a look at some of the draft-day memories of some of the first- and second-round draft picks who wear the "B" on their cap these days:

1980: Terry Francona
Francona was in Omaha, Neb., where he and his University of Arizona team were about to win the College World Series. They'd lost their first game to St. John's but wouldn't lose again; they beat Michigan by an 8-0 score the day before the draft and would beat Hawaii, California and Hawaii again to win the NCAA title. Francona, in fact, hit .458 in six games in Omaha and was named the College World Series MVP.

Francona was drafted No. 22 overall by the Expos -- right in front of future Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.

"John McHale Sr. called the room at the hotel," Francona said. "You didn't know -- and then the phone rang. That's how I knew. There wasn't a whole lot of communication. There wasn't cell phones. My dad was basically my representative."

Francona had been one of the best college players throughout his junior season and even won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top amateur player. But he was only asked to fill out a couple of personality questionnaires, and he wasn't subjected to anywhere near the same scrutiny to which top amateurs now are subjected.

"I knew there were scouts around, but it wasn't quite the same then," he said. "There's a lot more money that you're paying these guys, so there's a lot more homework -- which is probably really good."

With his bonus money, Francona said, "I bought a -- what do you call it? -- a duplex as a rental property. Bad move. And I promised my sister I'd put her through school, but there were two things: One, I didn't think she'd go, and two, I didn't think I'd get drafted that high. I got shafted there.

"I actually bought a little bit of stock that did great -- great in terms of, I bought a couple of vans, but not great, like, I'm going to buy Pepsi."

1996: Mark Kotsay
Kotsay and the rest of the USA Baseball team that would win a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics two months later was in a dorm -- "a military barracks," he said -- in Millington, Tenn., the day of the draft that year. Skip Bertman, the LSU coach who would manage in the Olympics that year, was the one fielding phone calls from big-league teams and relaying the messages to his players.

"We didn't have cell phones -- we had pagers," Kotsay said. "Nobody was following the draft online. Nobody was brought in to do TV."

Bertman was a busy guy, too. Kris Benson (Pirates), Travis Lee (Twins), Braden Looper (Cardinals) and Billy Koch (Blue Jays) were the first four selections in the draft. Seth Greisinger (Tigers) and Chad Green (Brewers) came off the board at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, and Kotsay went to the Marlins at No. 9.

That high in the draft, there were few surprises.

"Everybody pretty much knew where they were going to get slotted in, for the most part, and what teams had advanced them," Kotsay said. "There wasn't really heckling or any joking around about it."

Kotsay would hit two home runs in a mercy-rule win over Italy in the opening round of the Olympics that year, but Team USA eventually fell to a Japanese team featuring, among others, Kosuke Fukudome and Tadahito Iguchi.

2000: Rocco Baldelli
The suspense ended quickly for Baldelli, whose Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) high school baseball team was scheduled to play in a playoff game the day of the draft. He spent the early part of the day over at a buddy's house, shooting pool and watching TV, thinking more about the playoff game than the draft. School was over and graduation was next on the horizon, so Baldelli didn't have to think about much other than baseball and hanging out with his friends.

The outfielder had gone into his senior season as a draft prospect, but he didn't expect to be drafted high enough to forgo a scholarship offer from Wake Forest and turn pro right away. As his senior season progressed, though, he became aware he'd started to climb up draft boards. By the time draft day arrived, he was well aware he'd go pretty early in the first round.

Still, though, he wasn't following along when the draft began. There wasn't any way to follow along.

"I didn't follow it at all, to be honest with you," he said. "There was definitely no TV -- the most it probably was at the time was that the top five picks probably scrolled across on the "Bottom Line" on TV. That was probably the most we were going to get."

While he was still hanging out at his buddy's house, he got a call with a hint that the Devil Rays, picking No. 6 overall, were planning to draft him if he still was available. It wasn't until he got to Bishop Hendricken for his team's game, though, that he was notified by local reporters that he'd officially been picked.

He and Bishop Hendricken then went on to win their fourth straight Rhode Island state baseball title.

2004: Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia's junior season at Arizona State had come to an abrupt end at the hands of Cal State-Fullerton two days earlier; the then-shortstop had gone 0-for-3 with a walk as the Sun Devils bowed out before even reaching the Super Regional stage. (Arizona State was the top seed in the regional and No. 7 seed overall but had to travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the regional. Don't think that didn't grate on Pedroia.)

Pedroia had hardly given any thought to the draft. He was still too upset about the defeat. Just like the year before, his Sun Devils had been beaten by Cal State-Fullerton short of the College World Series.

Unlike the players at the very top of the board, players who had a pretty good idea who might draft them, Pedroia had no idea. He'd had almost no contact with the Red Sox, and he'd done little homework on the other players with whom he was competing.

"There's so many players, you know what I mean?" he said. "There's so many players and so many picks. You can't wrap up in, 'Oh, this guy's picking here,' and 'That guy's still out there.' There's so many players -- and you don't even know the high school players. There's a ton of them. Anything can happen in the draft, and that's why it's fun."

Still, though, he and a couple of teammates gathered in the office of Arizona State coach Pat Murphy to follow the draft. Pedroia had reasonable expectations of being drafted in the first round, but it wasn't until after the 64th pick that the phone rang. It was the Red Sox. "Like two seconds later," Pedroia said, they called his name to make it official.

2006: Daniel Bard
Bard's first draft party did not go well.

The 6-foot-4 righty was a highly touted prospect as a senior pitcher at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian High School, and he had 10 high school friends over at his house to follow the draft. Based on talent, he had a shot to be drafted in the first couple of rounds -- but his commitment to pitch at North Carolina ended up dissuading far more teams than he expected.

"I didn't go until the 20th round," he said with a chuckle, "so the party didn't last long."

Three years later, there were no worries about him sliding to the 20th round. He'd had a few conversations with teams that were drafting at the top of the first round, in fact, and he fully expected to hear his name called early. He and his family went to a restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., and set up a laptop on a table in a quiet corner to wait for his name to be called.

But then he started to slide again.

The online ticker and audio broadcast weren't quite synced -- "The audio was way behind the ticker," he said -- and that made the draft difficult to follow. Either way, though, the first 10 teams all passed on Bard. So, too, did the next 10 teams. All of a sudden, there was a long line of teams set to pick who'd had very little contact with Bard just because they never expected him to last beyond No. 15 or 20 overall.

The Red Sox had met in the fall with Bard and North Carolina teammate Andrew Miller -- Miller was drafted at No. 6 overall by Detroit and now pitches for the Florida Marlins -- almost as a formality. Both pitchers filled out a questionnaire, but that was it.

The first time Bard's phone rang, it was an old coach who was working as a scout for St. Louis. The Cardinals had the No. 30 pick, and the scout wanted to know if Bard would sign for "slot" -- the bonus recommended by the commissioner's office recommended for each draft pick -- if he lasted until No. 30 and the Cardinals drafted him.

"Um, man, I can't really give you a definite answer on that," Bard said.

Before Bard could even finish his sentence, though, the scout cut him off.

"Whoops, sorry -- congratulations, man," he said -- and hung up.

"Congratulations for what?" Bard said, but he already was speaking to emptiness.

"I didn't know what he was saying, 'Congratulations,' for," the rookie relief pitcher said this weekend. "I looked and they were on, like, pick 18. I didn't end up going until 28, so that's how behind our (computer) was."

Bill Belichick translated

If Bill Belichick had a translator standing next to him at his post-draft press conference, here's what you might have heard:

On Ellis Hobbs: Was that a chance to clear cap space or a chance to give Wheatley and Wilhite a chance?
"There are a lot of forces at work there. I would just say that it's a combination of a lot of things that we felt like, from a timing standpoint and moving forward, what's the best thing for our football team? That was just the right move at this time. Philadelphia was a partner on that and it just felt like when we talked to them that that was the best thing for our football team. It wasn’t any one thing. It wasn’t any one force, but it was just kind of a combination of all of those things coming together.

Salary cap? Depth chart? Sure, tell yourself that if you want to. But Ellis Hobbs allowed too many big plays last season, and I didn't think he was a good enough cornerback to keep on the roster. Best of luck to him -- and to Philadelphia.

On the available crop of linebackers
"The outside linebacker group was a little bit different this year. I mean, generally speaking, I think that there were more shorter players, maybe a little less speed than what we’ve seen, maybe a little more power with good production. There weren’t a lot of 4.6, 4.65 (40-yard-dash) guys. There weren’t a lot of 6-4, 6-5 guys. I’d say it was a much smaller pool of those types of players."

The pool of quality linebackers who fit in my system pretty much dried up after Brian Cushing came off the board, and even he was a questionable fit. Just wait until I unleash Shawn Crable on you.

On second-year players, specifically linebacker Shawn Crable
"The player at this point in time can do things to prepare for when he does go out on the field, and that’s physically, film study, meeting with the coaches, having a better understanding of the system. Certainly a rookie player, whether they played or not, that’s been in our program for a year knows a lot more and is a lot better prepared for all the things that he’ll be doing both on and off the field, in the classroom, in practices and all that than he was a year ago when he walked in cold.

"I think the whole mental and physical process is really accelerated in the second year relative to the first year because they know a lot more about what to expect, what they need to work on, what their weaknesses are, where they’re deficient, where they need help: coaches, technique, training, whatever it happens to be. I think any player that is open to that, works hard at it and tries to address it will make significant improvements. Hopefully, that’s what they’ve all done and we will see that when we get back on the field."

Seriously, just wait until I unleash Shawn Crable on you.

On where he sees the three new defensive tackles playing
"(Darryl) Richard and (Myron) Pryor are quick guys that run pretty well for their size. (Ron) Brace is a bigger player, very powerful and explosive, different playing style. (He’s) a little bit taller so I think there is some degree of flexibility between playing on the center, playing on the guard, and playing between the tackle and the guard, or on the tackle in varying degrees with all three players. How that actually manifests itself, we’ll see. But I think there is some degree of versatility with all those players in doing that as there is with some of the other players we have on our roster."

Except for Brace, who's going to look like Vince Wilfork's twin brother, I can play these guys pretty much anywhere I want. I'm actually thinking of lining them up at corner. They couldn't get burned worse than Hobbs, could they? Man, I'm glad to be rid of that guy.

On Tyrone McKenzie
"Of all the players that I’ve talked to and we’ve interviewed this year and even through the years, that Tyrone is amongst the most impressive. Maturity, intelligence, what he’s done with the opportunities that he’s had or that he’s had to overcome, how he’s approached them, how he’s dealt with them, how he’s made the most of them. It hasn’t been easy. Yet, he’s continued to excel, jump over hurdles and overcome obstacles that I think would have derailed a lot of other people and/or football players. I think he’s a very impressive, mature, humble young man."

You wanted me to draft a linebacker? Tyrone McKenzie -- that's a frigging linebacker.

On Brandon Tate's progress with his knee injury
"We’ll know more about that when he comes in here this weekend. But he’s rehabilitating it and I expect him to work hard to try to get back on the field as quickly as possible, whenever that is. So that’s a medical decision."

You do know who you're talking to, right? I know I'm wearing a suit and tie and not the hoodie and thigh-high cutoff shorts you see me wearing occasionally, but you still ought to know who you're talking to. I'm Bill Belichick. I don't talk about injuries. Brandon Tate is day-to-day. He's been day-to-day since he took a helmet to his knee last October against Notre Dame. Before that hit, as far as I'm concerned, he was day-to-day. He'll be day-to-day all season this season. He'll be day-to-day all next season. He's a Patriots. He'll be day-to-day until the day-to-day he dies.

On his general feelings after the draft
"We tried to use our picks productively, but at the same time look forward into the future and position ourselves to be in a good competitive situation in 2010. Hopefully, we will still be in business then. The draft’s a short-term project, but it’s a long-term project. It’s into the future, too. That’s the grassroots of your team is players that you draft this year, next year and in future years. All of that is important."

We tried to use our picks productively, but at the same time look forward into the future and position ourselves to be in a good competitive situation in 2010. Hopefully, we will still be in business then. The draft’s a short-term project, but it’s a long-term project. It’s into the future, too. That’s the grassroots of your team is players that you draft this year, next year and in future years. All of that is important.

Oh, and I'm still smarter than Mangini.

The draft is in the books

Here's a complete rundown on what the Patriots got, after all the maneuvering and wheeling and dealing, out of their draft picks:

No. 34 -- Patrick Chung, safety
No. 40 -- Ron Brace, defensive tackle
No. 58 -- Sebastian Vollmer, offensive tackle
No. 73 -- Traded to Jacksonville for a 2010 second-rounder
No. 83 -- Brandon Tate, wide receiver
No. 89 -- Traded to Tennessee for a 2010 second-rounder
No. 97 -- Tyrone McKenzie, linebacker
No. 123 -- Rich Ohrnberger, offensive guard
No. 159 -- Traded to Philadelphia for Greg Lewis, wide receiver
No. 170 -- George Bussey, offensive tackle
No. 198 -- Jake Ingram, long snapper
No. 207 -- Myron Pryor, defensive tackle
No. 232 -- Julian Edelman, wide receiver
No. 234 -- Darryl Richard, defensive tackle

Welcome aboard, George Bussey

With the 34th pick in the fifth round (No. 170 overall), the Patriots have drafted offensive tackle George Bussey from Louisville. He's the second offensive tackle Bill Belichick has selected in this draft.

He earned first-team All-Big East honors during his senior season with the Cardinals. He's a former walk-on who played his way into a scholarship. He's strong if not explosive. He's quick on his feet but doesn't necessarily have the long arms to keep pass-rushers from getting into his body -- and that in turn leads to him being pushed out of his low stance and getting pushed back.
How do you feel today if you're Nick Kaczur? Nervous?

(The Patriots now have two sixth-round picks and two seventh-round picks remaining. You have to think they'll take a quarterback with one of those four picks.)

Hobbs dealt for offensive lineman

The Patriots turned around and dealth the two fifth-round picks they acquired from Philadelphia to Baltimore for a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick.

With that fourth-round pick, No. 198 overall, the Patriots drafted guard Rich Ohrnberger out of Penn State.

From his Penn State bio:
"Ask any Nittany Lion who their funniest teammate is and Rich Ohrnberger's name likely is to come up first. They can't explain why; he's just funny. Whether it's in the locker room, or trying to bring some levity in the huddle, the talented guard has a natural gift of humor."

It's probably just coincidence that the Patriots replaced perhaps the most accessible Patriots on the roster with a guy known for his sense of humor. We'll see if he shows off that sense of humor when the media is allowed into the locker room or if he'll do what most Belichick rookies do and keep his mouth shut.

***

I'm off for Fenway Park for tonight's Red Sox-Yankees game. Check back later for more draft news as well as updates from Terry Francona's pregame press conference, locker room availability and more.

The Patriots have traded Ellis Hobbs

So says Twitter.

Ellis Hobbs? For two fifth-round picks? That's it?

Wow.

Looks like Darius Butler is going to be the smart-money pick on that poll up there.

Welcome aboard, Tyrone McKenzie

The Patriots have selected their outside linebacker: Tyrone McKenzie of South Florida.

McKenzie had 121 tackles as a junior and 116 tackles as a senior; he had 14 pass break-ups and just 2 1/2 sacks in those two years, though, which probably indicates he's more of a run-stopper and cover guy than a pass-rusher.

The Patriots don't have a fourth-round selection; it went to Oakland in the the trade that allowed the Patriots to move up and snag defensive tackle Ron Brace.

Patriots bank another future pick

The Patriots have dealt the No. 89 overall pick to Tennessee for a second-round pick in 2010.

That's two second-round picks the Patriots now have banked for 2010.

Welcome aboard, B-Tate

With their first pick in the third round, the No. 83 pick overall, the Patriots have selected wide receiver Brandon Tate out of the University of North Carolina.

Patriots trade into next year

The Patriots have traded their first pick in the third round (No. 73 overall) to Jacksonville for a second-round pick next year.

Banking a pick for the future. That's the Bill we know.

Welcome aboard, Sebastian Vollmer

With the No. 58 pick, the Patriots have selected offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer, an offensive lineman out of Houston.

The Patriots are done for the day -- probably.

Surprise! Belichick defies expectation

You though Bill Belichick would draft a linebacker in the first round? You were wrong. You thought Belichick would draft a linebacker with one of his picks in the top half of the second round? You were wrong.

Despite the loss of Mike Vrabel and the questions surrounding the aging Tedy Bruschi, the Patriots did not use any of their first three draft picks on a linebacker. Instead, the Patriots drafted a run-stopping safety (Patrick Chung), a run-stuffing defensive tackle (Ron Brace) and a ball-hawking cornerback (Darius Butler).

Here's a quick look at all three:

* Patrick Chung, SS, Oregon (5-foot-11, 212 pounds)
Chung is just 21 years old but already being lauded for his maturity and leadership. That had to appeal to Belichick. What also had to appeal to Belichick, though, was the way Chung can hit. Chung can hit hard.

Chung redshirted as a 17-year-old at Oregon but made 51 consecutive starts over the next four seasons, recording at least 80 tackles in each of those four seasons and twice earning first-team All-Pac 10 honors. He had 19 career tackles for a loss, including four sacks, and nine interceptions in his career at Oregon.

Unlike Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders, he's more of a run-stuffing safety than a cover safety -- like Rodney Harrison, perhaps?

* Ron Brace, DT, Boston College (6-foot-3, 330 pounds)
This selection might be a sign the Patriots are losing traction in their negotiations with nose tackle Vince Wilfork. This selection also might be a chance for the Patriots to get a little leverage over Wilfork. This selection also might just be a move to build depth where the Patriots really don't have much -- right smack in the middle of their defensive line. (Mike Wright is not a natural nose tackle; the selection of Brace frees up Wright to play more end than tackle.)

Brace teamed with Green Bay Packers draftee in the middle of the seventh-best run defense in college football last season. He can fight off double-teams and free up linebackers -- exactly what he'll need to do in the Patriots' scheme. He recorded 23 of his 85 career tackles in the backfield, including 5 1/2 sacks. But tackle totals don't mean much when it comes to defensive linemen. The biggest question, really, will be this: How much did he benefit from playing alongside Raji, and how much did Raji benefit from playing alongside him?

* Darius Butler, CB, Connecticut (5-foot-10, 183 pounds)
Butler, long rumored to be an object of Belichick's affection, didn't jump in the draft the way he might have hoped -- but he can jump for the ball as well as anyone in the draft. He's got the footspeed and the hands to be a fantastic shut-down corner, and he can go up and get the ball even against taller wide receivers. Analysts question his ability to defend the run, but if he can be the next Ty Law against the pass, that's not going to matter.

In his career with the Huskies, Butler intercepted 10 passes and returned two of them for touchdowns. He even played a little wide receiver, something that had to appeal to the versatility-loving Belichick.

Oh, and his cousin is Willis McGahee, so that's fun, too.

Welcome aboard, Brace and Butler

The Patriots have selected Boston College defensive lineman Ron Brace with the No. 40 pick, the eighth pick in the second round and the pick acquired from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for the No. 47 pick, a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick.

They then selected UConn cornerback Darius Butler with the No. 41 pick, the ninth pick of the second round. That's the first of three picks acquired from the Green Bay Packers for a first-round pick and a fifth-round pick.

Welcome aboard, Patrick Chung

The Patriots have selected a hard-hitting safety out of Oregon with the No. 34 pick. That's the pick they acquired from Kansas City for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel.

Patriots trade the pick again

In Bill Belichick's ongoing effort to one-up Eric Mangini, he's traded his first-round pick to Green Bay.

The Patriots have traded their first-rounder (now No. 26) and the fifth-rounder they got from Baltimore (No. 162) for a second-round pick (No. 41) and two third-round picks (No. 73 and No. 83). The Patriots now have eight picks in the top 100 -- but zero first-rounders. They have four second-round picks: No. 34, No. 41, No. 47 and No. 58.

Baltimore selected offensive tackle Michael Oher with the No. 23 pick. Green Bay selected Clay Matthews with the No. 26 pick.

Fascinating. Matthews looked like a great fit for the Patriots.