Rule 5 Draft: We skated

You'll hear how we lost four players in today's lottery, but it's hard to imagine them lasting the full season with those teams, and it's a good thing to actually have more talent than you can protect... we haven't had such a problem for a long time.

But before anyone moans about the players taken -- three young pitchers and Reegie Corona, who was always an overachiever -- sit down and think about the guys who didn't get taken.

JB Cox is supposed to someday be our next Jeff Nelson. He was a high pick, lost a year through surgery, and he's our homegrown Humberto Sanchez (except for the body.) A lot of people opined that he would be snatched up, because he's almost MLB ready. Strange. Nobody took him.

Alan Horne was going to be the guy who rolled into New York if Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy faltered last year. Instead, he was a walking injury list. It's been hard to figure out how fragile the guy is, because he was a workhorse in the lower minors. He throws really hard. Think of him as a minor league Ben Sheets. His dad goes on a yankee fan forum and gives updates now and then. I guess the other teams figured he wouldn't be ready for spring.

Kevin Whelan is one of the guys who came with Humberto. He's the one who used to be a catcher, then became a closer, and he must be a nutjob, because he painted his face. That's OK. If this guy gets control, he could really help us. He seemed most likely to go.

One note here: I donno what the fuck I'm talking about. I've only seen Cox pitch once, to one batter. The totality of what I'm saying is merely what I've read on these stupid web forums, but at least I'll admit it.

None of them figured any of these teams would pull up this Ivan Nova kid. Great upside. But San Diego must be totally fucked throughout their system if they're groping for this guy. He is wayyyy away from the major league level, unless they know something that the genius bloggers of the web don't. (And that's impossible, right?)