Boston Red Sox: 10 biggest first-round draft pick disasters
By Sean Penney
Red Sox 1985 Draft
No. 21 – Dan Gabriele
No. 22 – Rafael Palmeiro (Cubs)
If you’re seeing a trend of Red Sox draft picks who never made it to the majors, you’re not wrong. That’s going to be the case for a lot of the players on this list. Right-handed pitcher Dan Gabriele is no different, having never made it beyond Double-A.
Rafael Palmeiro wasn’t much of a power threat in his early years before his steroid-enhanced peak but he did make an All-Star team with the Cubs in 1988. He was traded to the Texas Rangers after that season amid rumors of an affair with the wife of teammate Ryne Sandberg.
The four-time All-Star bashed 38+ home runs in nine consecutive seasons and finished his career with 569, the 13th-most in MLB history.
Jose Canseco identified Palmeiro as a steroid user, claiming he injected his teammate himself. In 2005, Palmeiro testified under oath at a Congressional hearing that he “never” used steroids and any rumors to the contrary were false. Canseco isn’t exactly the most reliable source but when Palmeiro tested positive for a PED in August of that year, he lost all credibility.
Palmeiro has a controversial past that Red Sox fans may prefer to have never been a part of but there’s no denying that he was a far better value than Gabriele late in the first round of the 1985 draft.