Ackley wasn't the miss in the 09 draft. Not losing the last game for Strasburg was. So was signing Josh Fields, Bavasi's 1-20 pick in 2008 when Boras was trying to get him back to school. He doesn't sign Fields, and we end up with pick 1-21 in the 2009 draft...3 picks before Trout. I don't think Mac misses on that pick. 2 big decisions, but that is the difference between us with Strasburg/Trout and Fields/Ackley.
To me, Z lacked strategic thinking, prioritized the wrong baseball skills, didn't know how to build a MiLB system, never took risks, and never abused the broken systems in MLB.
09 was a culmination of that. But so was 2010 - we should have tanked for Harper. Instead he builds a decent team that can win 8x games. Poor strategic planning, didn't think about 5-6 years in the future, just the present and we lost our chance at another Griffey.
In 2011, he takes the risk free pick in Hultzen instead of risking it all on Rendon and his ankles. We needed hitting, every scout raved about Rendon even without the numbers and injury risk. Instead of the risk, he picks the safest option. We lose out on a star and end up with a dud.
We never abused Cuban prospects of Japanese prospects being undervalued. Not even a rumor about us on Cespedes, Soler, Darvish, Abreu, etc. Maybe it's an ownership thing, but we didn't even kick the tires and send scouts
We target the wrong players. Morse, Smoak, Montero, Trumbo, Wells, etc. Robinson, Jackson, etc. Guys no one thinks is good but us. And we lose good players like Pineda or Fister, cheap established talent, to acquire them.
We have no MiLB system. Theo gets to Chicago and first thing rebuilds how the MiLB system is worked. Z? I don't even think they get proper diets down there. Our MiLB system is a joke, considering we can't produce a single hitter to save our lives. We even kept Franklin switch hitter, when his left side was much better.