DRAFT NOTEBOOK (June 7th)
By ALLAN SIMPSON
Hochevar: Perfect Fit For Royals
While it seemed like the whole world had Kansas City taking North Carolina lefthander Andrew Miller with the No. 1 pick all spring and even in the waning few hours before the draft, the seeds were planted for Miller not to go to the Royals months earlier.
Miller, a favorite to be the first selection after being the highest unsigned pick in the 2003 draft, privately acknowledged that he didn’t want to become a part of Major League Baseball’s losingest team all along and established a price tag for his services that made it unlikely the budget-conscious Royals would bite. The Royals, too, didn’t want to get into another protracted holdout like they had with Alex Gordon, the second overall selection a year ago. They also weren’t prepared to pay a record bonus to sign a player whose talent didn’t warrant it.
Though the Royals scouted Miller heavily this spring, with most of their key front office officials seeing him on multiple occasions and their area scout seeing Miller 10 times, they never locked in on him. They were determined to take a pitcher all along, but they also looked closely at Washington righthander Tim Lincecum and Houston righthander Brad Lincoln—smallish righthanders who didn’t fit the profile of a No. 1 overall pick. It left the Royals in a quandary, lamenting the opportunity of drafting first this year.
When former Tennessee All-American Luke Hochevar, the highest unsigned pick from 2005, failed to sign with Los Angeles by the start of the closed period (one week before this year’s draft), it gave Kansas City the opening it needed. The Royals saw Hochevar make all his starts this spring with the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association—including his final start in front of general manager Allard Baird and a delegation of Royals front office officials.
Baird was fired a day later, but by then Hochevar had cemented himself as a viable option for the Royals. He had a long history with the club. They had scouted him in high school and heavily a year ago at Tennessee, when they seriously considered him then as a candidate to go second overall, before a late-season fade caused them to shift gears and take Gordon. Even as other teams looked past him as well, Hochevar refused to back off his bonus demands, at the direction of agent Scott Boras, and he slid all the way to the Dodgers with the 40th pick overall.
Negotiations went slowly between the Dodgers and Boras initially, but he was offered $2.3 million to sign last fall just as he had to decide whether to return to Tennessee for his senior year. He declined. The offer was bumped to $2.98 million when a frustrated Hochevar temporarily switched agents, before returning to Boras. Negotiations became so testy at one point that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt told Boras and Hochevar in a face-to-face meeting that the Dodgers would never up their ante. They never did. They never made another overture as Hochevar went back into this year’s draft uncontested—much to the delight of the Royals.
When Hochevar flashed his customary 92-95 mph fastball, along with an above average slider and curve and the makings of an average changeup, in his four starts with Fort Worth before the draft, it was apparent that Hochevar’s skills had not diminished this spring. It was clear then that Kansas City’s choice would come down to Hochevar and Miller—the consensus two best talents in this year’s draft.
While Baird’s untimely dismissal left things uncertain who would call the shots for the Royals, incoming general manager Dayton Moore worked quietly behind the scenes with scouting director Derek Ladnier and other Royals officials to maneuver Hochevar into position. Boras did his part, making it abundantly known that Hochevar was very much available and anxious to sign for what the Royals were prepared to pay.
Boras was fully appraised that the No. 1 pick this year would get a bonus of about $4 million—a discount from the $6.1 million Justin Upton received as the top pick last year, but the same amount Gordon got from Kansas City. Such a scenario also would represent a substantial raise for Hochevar from anything the Dodgers offered; it would give the Royals the out they needed so they would not have to take Miller or a compromise choice.
The selection of Hochevar over Miller made a winner of both the Royals and Boras—not to mention Hochevar.
The Royals were getting a player that was further along in his development than Miller and was more cost-effective. It’s expected Hochevar would sign immediately and possibly be in Kansas City by September. Of more significance, it gave them an out on a player they didn’t really want to draft and who didn’t want to sign with them, either.
For Boras, it was the chance to return to the limelight at the top of the draft. Boras has been a driving force in the draft for 25 years, but not since Alex Rodriguez in 1993—following Ben McDonald in 1989 and Brien Taylor in 1991--had a Boras-represented client been the top pick in the draft.
So while the whole world had the Royals taking Miller, a lot of behind-the-scenes dynamics made Hochevar the perfect pick for Kansas City.