Oh, Mirabelli also wanted to fill some organizational needs, but talent is what he was looking for in a player draft that, baseball experts say, was short on impact players.

No Chipper Joneses or Mark Priors or Alex Rodriguezs were going to jump off the ballfields at high schools and colleges and give a ballclub a quick infusion of can't-miss talent, the experts say.

Mirabelli didn't disagree with them.

Still, he saw the '02 First-Year Player Draft, if it turns out a success, as a tribute to hard work his scouts did in scouring the land for diamonds that might need polishing. He thought the Indians had plucked more than a few of those diamonds from the field of talent.

From No. 1 Jeremy Guthrie to No. 72 Pat Osborn or No. 82 Jason Cooper, Mirabelli, the draft's architect, thought the Indians had achieved their mission.

"When I look at those top 20 picks, I see a nice balance of young players, more advanced players and even some college players like (Brian) Slocum, Osborn and Cooper," Mirabelli said. "I'm pretty happy with the balance we got in those picks."v

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What he also liked, he said, was that the Indians found players who could fill some organizational needs. The consensus was that the Tribe's farm system was short of positional players, and if the 2002 draft had a positional tilt for the Indians, it was toward those kinds of players, and not pitching.

Mirabelli saw picks like third baseman Matt Whitney (No. 31), second baseman Micah Schilling (No. 43), first baseman Fernando Pacheco (No. 124), outfielder Louis Francisco (No. 154) and outfielder Brian Wright (No. 214) as bolstering the pool of talent in the organization's farm system.

"I think these guys addressed a lot of our needs," Mirabelli said.

He said he and his lieutenants started with a plan and stayed with it. The results, he said, are draft picks with more upside than the shallow pool of talent might indicate.

But a draft of baseball players is simply a hope in the unseen. Nobody can look seasons ahead and see how all of those diamonds look with more polish. They still could be rough gems not worthy of a high price tag.

Still, that doesn't mean Mirabelli is not happy with now those players look in the aftermath of the draft.

"How it turns out, we'll see," he said. "But we couldn't be more than pleased with how things fell for us."

	INDIANS 2002 DRAFT PICKS
	22	JEREMY S GUTHRIE	RHP	STANFORD U
	33	MATTHEW J WHITNEY	1B	PALM BEACH GARDENS HS
	41	MICAH C SCHILLING	2B	SILLIMAN INSTITUTE
	63	BRIAN J SLOCUM	RHP	VILLANOVA U
	72	PATRICK B OSBORN	SS	U FLORIDA
	82	JASON M COOPER	RF	STANFORD U
	94	DANIEL E CEVETTE	LHP	ELKLAND AREA HS
	124	FERNANDO PACHECO	1B	MONTGOMERY HS
	154	LOUIS B FRANCISCO	OF	U CALIFORNIA
	184	MICHAEL K HERNANDEZ	LHP	FRESNO ST U
	214	BRIAN G WRIGHT	OF	NORTH CAROLINA ST U
	244	BLAKE T ALLEN	LHP	UNION U
	274	SHAUN M LARKIN	2B	CALIFORNIA ST U
	304	KEITH RAMSEY	LHP	U FLORIDA
	334	WILLIAM PEAVEY	1B	U SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
	364	RANDALL C LONGWORTH	LF	JJ KELLY HS
	394	REID G SANTOS	LHP	SADDLEBACK CC
	424	MICHAEL D MITCHELL	RHP	ST CHARLES JC
	454	NATHAN E PANTHER	OF CF	MUSCATINE CC
	484	OMAR CASILLAS	C	ANA J CANDELAS
	514	JEFFERY W OSTRANDER	LHP	PATRICK HENRY HS
	544	JAHSEAM GEORGE	LHP	SAN JOSE ST U
	574	CURT T MENDOZA	OF	REDLANDS HS
	604	CHRIS WHITE	LHP	KENT ST U
	634	EZEKIEL A PARRAZ	SS	CC SOUTHERN NEVADA
	664	CLAYTON A MCCULLOUGH	C	EAST CAROLINA U
	694	AARON TENNYSON	LHP	MILAN HS
	724	DANIEL N DONALDSON	LHP	MEMORIAL HS
	754	NICHOLAS J PESCO	RHP	COSUMNES RIVER COL
	784	JOSE CARDONA	LHP	AMERICAN MILITARY ACADEMY
	814	DEREK A DUNNE	RHP	SULLIVAN HS
	844	TIM R SABO	RHP	DON BOSCO PREP
	874	RUBEN FLORES	RHP	RIVERSIDE HS
	904	DANIEL EISENTRAGER	RHP SS	CALIFORNIA ST U
	934	JEFFREY B DAVIS	RHP	U KANSAS
	964	ROBERT S DOUGLAS	LHP	U SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
	994	JENSEN D LEWIS	RHP	ANDERSON HS
	1024	CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS	C	MARCUS HS
	1054	KEVIN D HAWKINS	RHP	EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL
	1084	AARON J BRAITHWAITE	OF	INDIAN RIVER CC
	1114	LUIS A DEJESUS	SS	NEW MEXICO CC
	1144	JOHN E MORAN	SS	SOUTHAVEN HS
	1174	BLAKE G TAYLOR	RHP	U SOUTH CAROLINA
	1204	SHEA S MCFEELY	SS	FEDERAL WAY HS
	1234	ANDREW J KNIGHT	LHP	MAIZE HS
	1264	CHRISTOPHER A ROSARIO	CF	PINE RIDGE HS
	1293	MATTHEW D PAZ	RHP	CALIFORNIA ST U
	1321	RICHARD F WELLS	3B	GLENDALE COL
	1348	TRUAN J MEHL	CF	HUTCHINSON CC
	1375	AARON C DAVIDSON	2B	U FLORIDA
	1401	JAMES M MAYER	SS	SOMERSET SR HS
	1427	BRYCE Z KARTLER	LHP	ARIZONA ST U
	1452	DANIEL S LINDNER	RHP	POTOMAC ST COL
	1476	RICARDO CONCEPCION	RF	PETRA CORRETSER HS

Justice B. Hill covers the Indians for MLB.com. He can be reached at jbernardh@aol.com