Draft day is one of the most exciting days of the year for baseball executives.

There are 362 days to prepare for it, then, in a matter of three days, we get to add the rights to (approximately) 40 new players. It's what culminates from a year of hard work by our scouting department, led by the scouting director, national and regional cross-checkers and the scouting supervisors, plus all their assistants and bird dogs. Draft day is when a franchise's long-term future can change dramatically for the better. We invest millions of dollars in employees, hotels, transportation, computers, radar guns and meal money just to make sure we draft the best player -- or best fit -- with each of our selections.

Draft preparation is usually completed the night before the draft, and trying to sleep that night can be challenging because of the excitement and anticipation of draft day. When the day arrives, all the preparation, organization and decisions have already been made; it's just a matter of going pick by pick and finding out which players are going to be left on the board when it's your turn to select.

When I was a general manager, I used to get up really early in the morning, and I was usually the first one in the office.