Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Signing Day

This is a follow up post to my draft day post. With today being the signing deadline for drafted players (the deadline is midnight eastern), I figured the players that I discussed I should look at, and see if they signed and what they signed for.
Top 6 picks                                                                                                    
In my previous entry I stated how crazy the first 6 picks were with players falling and teams selecting guys nobody thought they would (Mariners). I wanted to see how this worked out for each team and if they were all able to sign the players they picked despite most with high contract demands.
Gerrit Cole-Pirates- Signed for 8mil, great great deal for Pirates, got an excellent talent who has touched triple digits and didn’t have to break Strasburg’s deal to get it done. Cole was rumoured to be asking for 15mil.  
Danny Hultzen-Mariners- Signed for 8.5mil over 5yrs, 6.35 signing bonus, max value of the deal could be 10.6mil. Good job by the Mariners to get their guy, they passed on players like Rendon who people thought might go here but they wanted Hultzen and got him.
Trevor Bauer- Diamondbacks- Signed a Major League deal worth $7million, the only player of the top 6 to sign before deadline day.  He signed on July 25. I really like when players sign before the deadline. It’s really in both the teams and the players benefit to sign early. When a player signs early he is able to start playing right away, where as players who signs right at the deadline won’t be able to play this season. Players who do sign early have the extra season of professional ball under their belt. Bauer has already reached AA and there are rumours he may get a call to the MLB. He is getting valuable experience that the other top picks aren’t getting. I applaud him and the D’backs for getting s deal done early.
Dylan Bundy-Orioles Signed for 6.225, the Orioles got they guy they wanted and got a solid deal not quite as much as Cole or Bauer but right up there.
Bubba Starling-Royals Signed for 7.5mil, Royals had to get this kid signed no matter what it took, they passed on local product Albert Pujols, they couldn’t let Kansas guy Starling get away from them. He is the second 18yr old to sign for at least 7.5 mil, the first one being Bryce Harper last season.              
Anthony Rendon-Nationals Signed for 7.2mill, the Nationals got the best college hitter on a good deal. He is more polished than Starling who got more money but Rendon coming out of college had less leverage.
Blue Jays Picks
The Jays had the second most picks with 5 in the first round and the supplemental round.
21-Tyler Beede- Did not sign, he now has to play college ball for 3yrs before he is draft eligible again, could be big changes to the CBA by then, should have taken the Jays offer (rumoured to be 2 million) he should have taken the money because he may not get that much in 3 yrs.
35-Jacob Anderson- Signed for $990K Good sign by the Jays they really like his bat to take him at 35
46-Joe Musgrove- Signed for $500K the player the exact same age as me got a good pay day. Wish I could say the same
53-Dwight Smith Jr- Signed for $800K solid signing got a pretty good player for cheap
57-Kevin Comer- Signed for 1.65mil was in the same situation as Beede but he didn’t follow Beede to Vanderbilt,  good sign by the Jays who for a while looked they were going to miss on Beede and Comer.
 74-Daniel Norris- Signed for 2mill, great deal for the Jays, Norris was considered the top HS lefty in the draft, was rumoured to be seeking 4mil good for Jays to get him for 2mil.
Other Notable Players/Signings
37-Zach Cone Signed for $873K, scouts laughed when he was selected but he got a good amount of money. Rangers must like him a lot.
39-Larry Greene Signed for 1million, as of 10:30 he has the highest bonus of any of the supplemental picks. You knew he was going to sign, he showed up at the draft, was the only one to do that. Hopefully he becomes a big leaguer and may inspire more players to come to draft day.  
Josh Bell signed for 5mil by the Pirates, was considered the top HS hitter in the draft, was a tough sign which is why he fell to the second round, but good job for the Pirates who had an excellent draft getting Cole and Bell.
Clay Holmes a HS right-hander selected in the 9th round by the Pirates was given the highest bonus ever for a player selected in the 9th round. He signed for 1.2million. He has a big fastball his slider is decent but it’s not consistent. He was committed to Auburn.
Shawon Duston Jr 11 round pick by Cubs signed for 1.275million. He is a HS OF, is an athlete with great speed. Is the son of former MLB player Shawon Duston (surprise there).  
Most of these later round picks, who sign for millions, are guys who are immensely talented but had leverage in negotiations and teams shied away from them. Many of them are first round talents.

My Thoughts on the Signing Deadline
I stated this above but I felt like its necessary to say again, the Pirates had one great draft. Getting the top college pitcher in Cole and the top HS hitter in Bell was excellent for the Pirates. If those two develop like they are expected to, they will be key pieces when the Pirates are contending.
The Mariners are building something special. They already have King Felix and rookie Michael Pineda, now with the signing of Hultzen they have a lefty to go in between them. They are following the path of the Giants developing home-grown front of the rotation starters. All the Mariners need is for Hultzen to develop into another ace and they need Dustin Ackley to carry the offence the way Buster Posey did last season for the Giants.
Now just a couple of thought on the Jays draft for Alex Anthopolous, links from twitter (via @wilnerness590).
AA was pleased with the overall signings. Had a lot of tough signs and managed to sign most of them. They considered taking Norris with the 21st pick. He is an absolute first round talent and his bonus reflects that. AA said that they could have signed Beede and Norris but at their (jays) value. When you make aggressive picks players are going to go unsigned.
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