I know you're not the only person in the Padre front office that frequents the GLB...but you're the highest ranking member with a "verified" account, so I'm addressing this to you in hopes that you'll pass it around.

I would just simply like to say Thank You. Thank you to you, Mr. Moorad, Grady Fuson, Bill Gayton, KT and everyone else in the organization that made the 2009 Padres draft one we as fans can be proud of. After the nightmares of Padres past when it comes to the draft, you have to understand why there was such skepticism on the day of the draft when names like Donavan Tate and Everett Williams were announced.

This draft was aggressive, professional and showed with actions, not just more talk, that this ownership group is committed to making this a competitive organization once again.

Of all the articles, commentaries and quotes that chronicle the disaster of the Matt Bush selection in 2004 the one that is permanently burned in my mind is one from a guy you're very familiar with - former D-Backs Director of Scouting Mike Rizzo. Rizzo told Jerry Crasnick this about the 2004 draft:

"The Padres can spin it any way they want to spin it," Rizzo says. "But if I have the first pick on the playground, I’m picking Stephen Drew over Matt Bush 100 out of 100 times. If I’m going to pick a guy to win the championship, I’ll pick Stephen Drew over Matt Bush and about 13 of the 14 guys that went before Stephen."

We don't want anymore spin around here. We want the best players available and we want them signed. You guys did three things yesterday that we hope we can count on seeing in future drafts:

1. You drafted on ability...not sign-ability.

2. You didn't shy away from drafting a Boras client.

3. You signed ALL of your Top 10 picks.

Hopefully over the next few years we can look back at this draft and say that it's the best one in Padre history. You guys did your part...now it's just up to the players.

Thanks, again.

Such a great picture! Go Friar!