With regular season over, '16 Draft order set
The Phillies won't necessarily remember 2015 fondly. They lost 99 games, their worst season since 1969, saw manager Ryne Sandberg resign in June and dismissed general manager Ruben Amaro in September.
But the silver lining for Philadelphia is that by virtue of finishing with baseball's worst record, it gets the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 Draft. The only other time the Phillies had the top selection, they chose Pat Burrell in 1998.
Complete updated 2016 Draft order
With the assigned pick values rising in step each year with MLB's revenue growth, Philadelphia likely will be allocated more than $9 million for the No. 1 choice. Considering that the first pick in 2015 (the D-backs' Dansby Swanson) signed for $6.5 million, the Phillies will have a lot of Draft cash to play with.
As was the case in the 2015 Draft, there's no consensus top prospect for 2016. The leading possibilities as of the end of the regular season included Barnegat (N.J.) High left-hander Jason Groome, Oklahoma right-hander Alec Hansen and Florida southpaw A.J. Puk. There's no obvious position-player candidate, with Chaminade Prep (Los Angeles) outfielder Blake Rutherford perhaps the best of that crop.
Following the Phillies, the next four Draft choices will belong to the Reds, Braves, Rockies and Brewers. Cincinnati matches its highest pick in the previous 51 Drafts, having taken Kurt Stillwell at No. 2 in 1983.
Draft database: Every pick from every Draft
Free-agent signings will lead to several changes in the first-round Draft order between now and next June. Teams had until five days after the end of the World Series to make a qualifying offer (one year at the average of the top 125 salaries in 2015, or $15.8 million) to their free agents. Three of the 20 players to receive qualifying offers (Colby Rasmus, Astros; Matt Wieters, Orioles; Brett Anderson, Dodgers) accepted, while Marco Estrada signed a two-year deal with Toronto. If a player signs elsewhere after receiving a qualifying offer, his former club gets a pick at the end of the first round as compensation.
A team that signs a free agent who received a qualifying offer loses its first pick unless it has one of the top 10 picks. In that case, the club forfeits its highest selection outside the top 10.
First-round and compensatory round Draft order for 2016
Draft order is based on the reverse order of 2015 regular-season standings, with 2014 records used to break ties.
1. Phillies (63-99, .389)
2. Reds (64-98, .395)
3. Braves (67-95, .414)
4. Rockies (68-94, .420)
5. Brewers (68-94, .420)
6. Athletics (68-94, .420)
7. Marlins (71-91, .438)
8. Padres (74-88, .457)
9. Tigers (74-87, .460)
10. White Sox (76-86, .469)
11. Mariners (76-86, .469)
12. Red Sox (78-84, .481)
13. D-backs (79-83, .488)
14. Rays (80-82, .494)
15. Orioles (81-81, .500)
16. Indians (81-80, .503)
17. Twins (83-79, .512)
18. Nationals (83-79, .512)
19. Giants (84-78, .519)
20. Angels (85-77, .525)
21. Astros (86-76, .531)
22. Yankees (87-75, .537)
23. Rangers (88-74, .543)
24. Mets (90-72, .556)
25. Dodgers (92-70, .568)
26. Blue Jays (93-69, .574)
27. Royals (95-67, .586)
28. Cubs (97-65, .599)
29. Pirates (98-64, .605)
30. Cardinals (100-62, .617)
Qualifying offers reshape 2016 Draft
Compensatory round
31. Ian Kennedy, Padres
32. Justin Upton, Padres
33. Jeff Samardzija, White Sox
34. Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners
35. Wei-Yin Chen, Orioles
36. Chris Davis, Orioles
37. Ian Desmond, Nationals
38. Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals
39. Yovani Gallardo, Rangers
40. Daniel Murphy, Mets
41. Zack Greinke, Dodgers
42. Howie Kendrick, Dodgers
43. Alex Gordon, Royals
44. Dexter Fowler, Cubs
45. Jason Heyward, Cardinals
46. John Lackey, Cardinals