... unless of course, they come from the horse's mouth. Stone has a pretty interesting article up right now talking about Zduriencik's role in the draft (i.e. employing Tom McNamara and letting him do his own thing rather than be super-involved in micromanagement). There was also a quote from the scouting director himself that seems to dispel the idea that the Mariners are torn between UNC 1B/OF Dustin Ackley and a pitcher:
"We have the boards set up, and we're going over as many guys as possible," McNamara said. "We're doing the best we can to get the right player. We feel pretty comfortable about two [the second overall pick[. We're working on 27 and 33 today, and working our way down.
They're not going to say who it is that they're sure about at #2, of course (McNamara declined to even give an appraisal of Stephen Strasburg beyond "He's got a good arm"). But here's hoping it's Dustin Ackley, as he's pretty clearly the #2 prospect in the draft and has managed to answer questions about his power and ease some doubts as to where he'll end up playing for a big league team. Baseball America's Jim Callis recently threw out a Todd Helton(!!) comparison. If we end up with Ackley in the draft, it'll be time to get super-excited. Less so if we don't.