Major League Baseball's annual free agent draft is wrapping up. Depending on who you are, the Padres are either blowing hot air, or the cold wind of ailed selections of the past are in the past.

In a week in which the troubled last place team desperately needed to get impact players, it looked as if they did, at least early on in the 2011 MLB Draft.

Of course, they had to, for San Diego has compiled one of the worst track records in modern baseball when it comes to the draft. If the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have had 18 consecutive losing seasons, are viewed as the worst in drafting, then San Diego cannot be far behind. Oddly, Wednesday morning, both were fighting to stay out of last place.

Words like disgrace, utter disgust, incompetence, and penny-pinching rocket through Petco Park and ricochet out of the radio from sports talk fans. The history of Padres baseball drafts has been horrible. Thank you Tom Werner and John Moores, and all the scouting directors in between.

The new leadership has promised to rebuild the farm system. So far, so good. With the young players they have drafted and acquired, it is obvious the Padres are heading in the right direction. The Monday and Tuesday selections of the draft, if the critics are correct, could be one of the better hauls of young talent in years.

Gone forever may be the days when the team passed on great talent like Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, Tim Lincecum and others. These talents were passed on because prior ownership told front office executives they would not pay inflated signing bonuses to blue-chip players atop the draft board. That past front office also had a history of botching picks themselves, taking players with injury issues or players who broke down mentally.

The end result was a baseball scorecard of despair.

Fans have screamed in recent weeks about the pitiful team batting average at Petco Park and horrid start to the season. At one point this week, the Padres' home batting average was an embarrassing .199. Raise the red flag.

In the past 17 years, of all the first round draft picks, only two have made any sort of impact in San Diego. Shortstop Khalil Green and pitcher Tim Stauffer are the only two to have any quality contributions on the Padres behalf.

Greene's career was sidetracked by emotional problems, stress and anxiety attacks after two very good years of great defense and flashes of power. He was traded to St. Louis following the 2008 season. Three years later, he is out of baseball.

Stauffer arrived with arm problems, eventually undergoing labrum surgery. It was only until the 2010 season that he achieved success. He is now a young veteran on an improving pitching staff.

That's right, 2 for 17. That equals an average of .118, lower than the Padres' current batting average. You have to go back to 1988, pitcher Andy Benes, and 1991, fellow hurler Joey Hamilton, to find any legitimate stars from a San Diego first round selection. That was a lot of Tony Gwynn base hits ago.

But the franchise that gave us Matt Bush, Mike Phillips, Allan Dykstra, Vince Faison, and Jake Gautreau now believes they have set sail on better days. Scouts from other teams and analysts who rate and rank the draft, think so too. Anything is better than that 2 for 17 batting average on the draft board.

The Padres landed possibly the best pure hitter in the draft, second baseman Corey Spangenberg, who hit .477 at Indian River Junior College this season and .399 in a college summer league. Baseball America rated him the best pure hitter and the fastest player in the draft. Spangenberg has already told the Friars he will sign and wants to play this summer.

San Diego stockpiled pitching, lots of pitching from that point on. Joe Ross, a wiry-hard throwing pitcher from Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California, and Mike Kelly, a side-arming, 6-foot-4 right-hander from West Boca Raton Community High School in Boca Raton, Florida, were the next two choices.

Devoid of catching in the farm system, San Diego landed power hitting, switch-hitting catcher Brett Austin from Providence Senior High School in North Carolina, and tall, rangy shorstop Jace Peterson from McNeese State in Louisiana to wrap up a very impressive first day. Most think the five players selected in the first 59 picks were excellent.

The second day of the draft continued much like opening day. The best high school defensive catcher in Southern California, Austin Hedges came early, followed by the selection of nine more power arm pitchers during the following rounds.

Money will be no object this time around. There will be signing bonuses, but there will be battles. UCLA has a commitment from Joe Ross, as well at Hedges. The big question will be whether San Diego can convince them to sign and move through the system quickly.

The Padres' new leadership, led by General Manager Jed Hoyer and Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Grady Fuson, added as many as ten new scouts to their front office in the last year. Ten scouts all took looks at Spangenberg during the course of the season, and all came to the same conclusion: a perfect Petco Park player who wants to be here.

The last two drafts, in which part-owner Jeff Moorad shelled out big bonuses, have yet to pan out. The top pick for the Friars in 2009, Donavan Tate, has had several nagging injuries in two seasons, and has played in virtually no games. They gave him about $6.25 million in signing bonus money. Last year's top pick, pitcher Karsten Whitson, never signed, but is pitching well this season at the University of Florida. He cannot be re-drafted for another two years.

Past failures of the Kevin Towers's regime, coupled with what happened the last two years, have hurt this franchise. This group must be signed, and this group has to produce.

The draft can be the lifeline to becoming a competitive franchise. If you miss on players, don't sign players or players get injured, it eventually catches up to you. Can you say last place, Padres?

In an era where top picks get to "The Show" quickly, Washington National and San Diego native Stephen Strasburg arrived in three months, Tim Lincecum in two seasons, amongst others, it is important this June class is turns out to be quality, and moves through the minor leagues soon.

The ill winds of the Padres' drafts of the past need to be replaced by blue-chip talent that might help raise a pennant flag that can blow in the breeze off the bay at Petco Park.