Wow.

Forget the Werth signing, Rizzo, you have been absolved. Rendon, Meyer, Goodwin, AND Purke!? Rendon was widely assumed to be the number 1 pick for the 2011 draft and dropped to 6th. Purke was a potential number 1 pick in the 2011 draft until injury concerns got in the way, and was still a favorite to be number 1 in 2012. Rizzo and the Nats thought so much of Meyer that he was considered with the 6th pick until he dropped into Rizzo's lap. Keith Law wrote that Brian Goodwin was a probable top 5 pick for 2012. So to recap, the Nats landed two number 1 overall talents, a top 5 talent, and a young pitcher with tremendous upside. This draft is unbelievable. The 2009 draft was huge with Strasburg and Storen, and the 2010 draft was equally huge with Harper, Cole, Solis and Ray all signing. But the 2011 class is ridiculous. While Purke and Rendon have some injury concerns, Goodwin has character concerns and Meyer has command concerns, that doesn't particularly matter. The Nats went way over slot to land one of the greatest draft classes (on potential) ever. The Lerners dropped a lot of money, but how much is a star hitter in FA? How much are two potential top of the rotation arms? How hard is it to find a starting CF?

Even if just two of these guys pan out, it is well worth the cost. Even though these 4 got a lot of money, it is a fraction of what they would receive on the FA market. And allow me to dream for a moment: imagine a Nationals rotation of Strasburg, J-Zimm, Cole, Purke, and Meyer/Solis/Ray. Really? That is a very, very, very optimistic rotation, but that talent and upside is hard to top. Not to overreact, but this class moves the farm system a lot closer to the Royals/Jays/Rays than the middle to back of the pack. It seems that Rizzo has convinced the Lerners that the key to winning is through the draft, and today is every bit as exciting as the last two deadlines. With a potential hard slotting system coming very soon (which is a terrible idea), this could be the last great haul for the Nats. Watching this team grow over the next few years is going to be a real treat.