With Major League Baseball’s First Year Players Draft coming up in less than two weeks, things are getting more and more interesting, as always.

Boras clients drop on Mock’s because of rumored bonus demands, and the speculation about who might take those players and pay them grows with every second - and includes the Seattle Mariners.

While it’s impossible - for me, or really anyone else - to be remotely correct about what happens 20 picks into the draft, the following Mock Draft is one way I see it going.

As you all know, things can and will change, and I’ll put any notable changes in the following mocks, which I will toss out next Friday, Monday and Tuesday night. Most of those differences will be about teams that are rumored to be changing their mind on a player, ruling players out and the Boras factor.

The left column below indicate the Best Player Available (BPA) according to a five-source consensus ranking I put together using Scouts, Inc., Baseball America, and three individual sources that monitor the draft closely.

The next column is my own collaboration of the best players available, using my most trustworthy sources, including my own eye and analysis.

I apologize for this taking so long to get out. I know a lot of you have been asking about Michael Pineda, and the other three young starters in Wisconsin, too.

Nathan Adcock, Juan Ramirez, Pineda, and now, Phillippe Aumont. Aumont made his first scheduled start of the year over the weekend after spending the first six weeks piggybacking.

Aumont is really good.

Ramirez, too.

Both above links are Farm Reports from the past three weeks, including this week’s report on the club’s No. 1 Draft Pick from last June.

But the buzz beyond the two big names is about Michael Pineda, the club’s Dominican right-hander seeing his first action in the states this season.

Through games of May 19, Pineda is 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA in eight games, five starts. He’s struck out 28 batters and walked just nine in 34 2/3 innings. The right-hander has yielded just 26 hits - just eight for extra bases.

So how’s he doing it and what’s he doing it with?

Pineda uses a four-seam fastball in the 90-92 mph range, and can dial it up to 93-94 at times. He’ll mix in a sinking two-seamer, a pitch he’s still learning, but has shown a good feel for a change that is currently below average but has a lot of promise.

Here is what one American League West scout had to say after watching Pineda’s May 14 start at home versus Burlington.

“That’s a good-looking arm right there. The Mariners ought to be ashamed of themselves with how much success they have in the Dominican and Venezuela and other South American countries. This kid was in charge the entire night. He was mostly fastball-slider, but he spotted a good 90-92 mph four-seamer and I saw some pretty good action on a lot of them.

“In the later few innings, it looked like he was trying to sink his fastball more, and it was working.  That changeup is far from a lost cause, too. He showed pretty decent arm speed with all of his pitches and it was okay on the change.”

Pineda is as projectable as any arm in the system and while it seems he came out of nowhere, he did not.

“Not with that scouting staff, no,” said the scout of Bob Engle and his crew. “It’s not a secret that they (Seattle) has one of the best presences in Latin America in all of baseball - maybe the best. And they gave Pineda, what, a hundred grand?”

Close enough, and a good point.

Pineda’s toolbox, current/ceiling:

Fastball - 60/65

Slider - 50/60

Changeup - 45/55

Command - 55/65

Mechanics - 50/60

Nathan Adcock and Brandon Morrow are what’s left of the Mariners’ 2006 draft that graded out very high, despite Morrow being mishandled let alone overdrafted. Adcock was the club’s fourth-rounder that year behind Morrow, Chris Tillman and Tony Butler, and might have a future in the M’s starting rotation.

Adcock isn’t overpowering, but does touch the low-90s with his fastball, and is also learning to sink the pitch. His breaking ball is a knuckle curve that typically comes in around 76-80 mph and he uses a circle changeup.

The 6-5 right-hander’s arsenal is above-average and reminds one scout of a current emerging star.

“He doesn’t have quite the command, but physically he reminds me of Dan Haren when he was at Pepperdine. Tall, a little bit lanky, but with good tight mechanics and a good feel for pitching at 20 years old. Adcock has something going, I think it’s impossible to not like what you see.”

Adcock may or may not develop the 91-95 mph fastball that Haren employs in his prime, but does have big-league stuff and the physical tools to continue to build on that.

“He’s another opportunity for them (the M’s) to get something out of that draft, since they wasted Morrow’s first two years and traded away the other two guys. He’s not the best talent from that crop, of course, but he has a chance to be in the rotation in a few years. But because he doesn’t throw 95 or have a plus-plus breaking ball, his control and command are the keys.”

Adcock is certainly an arm to keep an eye on as he progresses. He misses enough bats and throws strikes with quality stuff. Sounds like a prospect to me.

He’s got a chance to get back to High Desert later this year, too, particularly after some of the draftees are signed - if the club tabs a college arm or two.

Adcock’s toolbox, current/ceiling:

Fastball - 50+/60+

Curve - 50/60

Change -  50+/55

Command - 55/60

Mechanics - 50/60

To get scale grades on Aumont and Ramirez, make a $5.00 donation and get the 2008 Prospect Insider Handbook e-mailed to your inbox!

Quick addition…

The Mariners picked up right-hander Tracy Thorpe, who had spent his entire pro career in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Aside from the stats you can look up just about anywhere, here’s a mini scouting report on the 27-year-old.

Big fastball that reaches the mid-90s regularly, setting up a decent power slider and a changeup. He’s fiddled around with a splitter the past three seasons and at times it’s been a good pitch for him, but it remains inconsistent.

His command is below average, which is undeniably the main symptom of his presence in the minors over an extended stay in the big leagues.

He’s a big guy - 6-4, 250+, but is fairly athletic and in much better physical condition than in past seasons. He may or may not be a guy that gets a look in Seattle this season, and he’s probably not  the first guy on the call-up list should the Mariners send for a short-relief arm.

With the Mariners already teetering on the brink of elimination from the playoff chase, do you think the Mariners would consider trading Erik Bedard? If so, when would you trade him? Deadline? Offseason? Do you think Bedard would want to resign here if the team continues to lose?

In this week’s installment of the Farm Report, right-hander Phillippe Aumont is the subject. With the 2008 draft coming up, the club’s ‘07 first-round selection is making his mark in Class A Wisconsin, and has just been permanently thrust into the starting rotation after spending six weeks pitching in relief.

In the report, concerns about Aumont’s low arm slot are tackled by his pitching coach as well as scouts who see it as alarming. Also included are his current pitch count limits and a great quote from a scout who said Aumont’s sinker is the best in the minors.

Here is an excerpt from the Farm Report:

“He’s going to get a lot of outs with that heavy sinker,” the scout said. “Down there, the bats aren’t ready for that. They swing at a fastball and instead they get a 95-mph biter that eats their bat for lunch. Kids think twice about swinging at that pitch again. And then he throws the four-seamer, which is what they were looking for the first time. Strike two — and in a big hole.”