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Thread: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

  1. #826
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    Re: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

    Tim Beckham-SS- Rays Jun. 19 - 3:01 pm et
    FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that the Rays have signed top pick Tim Beckham.
    Sources tell Rosenthal that he got a $6.15 signing bonus. It was thought that the ability to sign Beckham factored into the team's decision to draft him top overall, and the two sides reached a deal two months faster than last year's top pick did. Beckham could reach the majors in 2-3 years.


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  3. #827
    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

    I was doing some research on where some of the other unsigned players are right. I'll post more as I find them, but this from mlb.com from yesterday:

    Talks continue with Bucs and Alvarez

    07/23/2008 9:26 PM ET
    By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com

    HOUSTON -- For the first time since the June 5 First-Year Player Draft, Pirates president Frank Coonelly spoke publicly about the current negotiating process with No. 2 overall pick Pedro Alvarez.
    While Coonelly, like all others involved in the negotiations, would not divulge any specifics regarding talks with Alvarez and his agent Scott Boras, he did acknowledge disappointment in the fact that an agreement has not already been reached with the Pirates' first-round pick.

    Furthermore, alluding to the standard set during the signing period last year, Coonelly suggested that it remains likely that the negotiations will be ongoing up to the Aug. 15 signing deadline.

    "As we expressed with Pedro when we drafted him, we thought it was important for Pedro to sign early and have a full season of development in the system," Coonelly said on Wednesday. "That will allow for the acceleration of his development and arrival in Pittsburgh.

    "We made every effort to make that happen," he continued. "It's disappointing that it hasn't happened, but we're continuing to work hard on the process and are confident that we will reach an agreement with Pedro to get him in a Pirates uniform."

    Coonelly stressed that the organization was aggressive in trying to get Alvarez, a third baseman out of Vanderbilt, inked as soon as possible. The hope was that he could spend at least two months playing in the system before the Minor League seasons end.

    It appears as if the Pirates, though, are now stuck in a position where Alvarez and Boras are going to hold out until close to the final hour in hopes that doing so would force the organization to put more money on the table.

    It was a precedent set last year, when four of the top five Draft picks waited until the final hours -- and some the final minutes -- before the midnight deadline on Aug. 15 to agree to a deal. Daniel Moskos, the Pirates selection at No. 4 overall, was the only one not to wait until that final day.

    "Unfortunately, it appears that clubs' behavior last year has made it more difficult to get negotiation started seriously early in the process," Coonelly said. "It appears that we have conditioned players and advisors to players to not get serious in the negotiation process to near the end for fear of leaving money on the table if they negotiate a deal prior to Aug. 15."

    Coonelly also reiterated that the negotiations will continue behind closed doors, with no one permitted to speak publicly about the process or the status of the talks.

    "Based on my experience from the Commissioner's Office and my experience negotiating contracts, I found that rarely does it help the negotiation process to discuss through the media where the parties are," he said.

    Addressing other Draft items, Coonelly also said that the organization is still hopeful of signing a handful of its other Draft picks. As of Wednesday, 27 of the Pirates' 50 selections had been signed.

    If the Pirates get to the point where they feel that they will be unable to come to an agreement with Alvarez, Coonelly said that the organization wouldn't hesitate to use the surplus signing bonus money to go more aggressively after some of the later round picks that are demanding higher-round bonuses.

    One of those picks could be second-round selection Tanner Scheppers, a right-hander out of Fresno State. Projected to be a top selection, Scheppers fell in the Draft after a right shoulder injury forced him out in early May. The Pirates scooped him up early in the second round.

    After missing an extended period of time -- including his team's run to the College World Series title -- Scheppers has now returned to throwing off the mound.

    Coonelly confirmed that Scheppers is scheduled to make a visit to Pittsburgh in the near future, where he will be evaluated by team doctors and throw in front of the organizations' evaluators.

    The Pirates are expected to dive into negotiations with Scheppers, assuming that they are satisfied with the results of that medical examination and observation.
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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  4. #828
    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

    This one's from a month ago from the KC Star - now a month has passed and they still haven't reached an agreement. Has anyone seen him playing with Midland?

    Drawn-out negotiation not what Royals want
    By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
    The Kansas City Star

    The one thing the Royals really don’t want to see happen again is for their top draft pick — in this case first baseman Eric Hosmer — to go right down to the Aug. 15 deadline before deciding whether or not to sign.

    You may remember last year when the Royals didn’t sign Mike Moustakas until seconds before the deadline. The Royals came that close to losing the rights to him.

    Don’t look for any quick signings with Hosmer, either. He recently told The Miami Herald that his signing wasn’t imminent.

    “I haven’t decided anything,” said Hosmer, who has the option of a scholarship at Arizona State. “Probably around August we’ll start cracking down on stuff.”

    August? It’s still June, and we’re talking August? Well, of course, Hosmer does have Scott Boras as his agent.

    “Knowing the history there (with Boras) it probably will take some time,” Royals director of player development J.J. Picollo said by phone. “Agents are most likely going to hold out until the end.”

    While there were early reports that Hosmer and Boras could have commanded as much as a $7 million signing bonus, this year’s No. 1 pick, high school shortstop Tim Beckham, already has signed a $6.15 million signing bonus.

    Hosmer was picked No. 3.

    “I’m not inside on what the numbers will be, but I can tell you that this kid wants to play ball,” Picollo said. “A few days after we drafted him, he had already reported to play summer ball for Midland. He’s not the type to sit around and wait.”

    Midland, based near Cincinnati, is one of the top traveling amateur teams in the country. Hosmer, a power hitting, left-handed first baseman, will DH this summer.

    “He’s going to take ground balls during practice and before games,” Picollo said. “But he’ll DH during games, mainly to stay away from any potential injuries.”
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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  5. #829
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    Re: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

    From the July 2nd Baltimore Sun:

    Matusz talks unchanged

    The Orioles had hoped to announce the signing of left-handed pitcher Brian Matusz, their first selection in the 2008 draft, during the current homestand, but that now appears unlikely.

    Orioles scouting director Joe Jordan said today that negotiations with the University of San Diego pitcher haven't progressed to the point where a deal is imminent.

    "There aren't any changes," Jordan said. "Negotiations are ongoing. We haven't made as much progress as we thought. We're just going to have to wait it out a little bit."

    The Orioles have until Aug. 15 to sign Matusz before losing his rights, though team officials have said they don't expect the deadline to become an issue.

    The club has signed 27 of its 50 draft picks and is close to adding Nathan Moreau, a left-hander from the University of Georgia who was chosen in the 11th round.

    Matusz, shortstop Gregory Miclat (fifth round), pitcher Robert Bundy (eighth round) and third baseman Chris Herrmann (10th round) are the remaining unsigned top 10 picks.

    Asked about Miclat, the University of Virginia shortstop, Jordan said, "We've got a lot of ground to cover on that one. It's just the nature of the beast right now. It takes longer than you want."
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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  6. #830
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    Re: 2008 MLB Draft Thread

    From The Albany (GA) Herald, sounds like the Giants are going to get rough, but of course, we'll have to see, dated 7/14/08

    Posey, Giants mum on negotiations

    More than a month removed from the MLB Draft, Leesburg’s Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants – who picked Posey fifth overall – still have yet to agree to terms.
    Danny Aller

    When the Major League Baseball All-Star break officially begins today, the game’s present stars will take the field in at Yankee Stadium in New York.

    But across the country in San Francisco, the Giants continue to wonder about the status of its future ones.

    The Giants’ top four draft picks taken in the June 5 MLB First-Year Player Draft remain unsigned, most notably its first-round selection at No. 5 overall, Florida State junior catcher and Leesburg native Buster Posey.

    And unfortunately, neither side is saying much about where the negotiations stand.

    "When we're in the process of signing new players, whether a free-agent or a drafted player, we really don't discuss or characterize negotiations out of respect for both sides," Bobby Evans, the Giants' director of player personnel, told The Herald during a telephone interview Friday afternoon.

    "We want to be helpful, but I'm not sure what to say beyond that. We just don't talk about negotiations (that are still ongoing)."

    Attempts to reach Posey or his reported representative, Jeff Berry, were unsuccessful. Posey returned to Leesburg last week after winning the Brooks Wallace Award in Lubbock, Texas, and will be in New York on Wednesday as one of the finalists poised to win arguably college baseball's most coveted honor, the Golden Spikes Award.

    With the Giants' top four picks still unsigned, it doesn't appear unusual that Posey and the team haven't reached terms. In fact, Evans said that of the 50 players the Giants selected in the 2008 Draft, only "22 of the 50 are currently signed." All players have until Aug. 15 — the MLB deadline for anyone taken in the 2008 Draft — to ink a contract.

    However, the clock may be ticking faster for Posey than others.

    While Evans is the point man for negotiations with the FSU star, San Francisco GM Brian Sabean was quoted in a Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat report July 4 as saying that if Posey was not signed by the All-Star break, that per organizational policy, Posey likely would be issued a 2009 minor-league contract and would miss the remainder of the 2008 minor-league season.

    "It would probably be a post-dated contract if he waits that long," Sabean told the Press Democrat. "If you've laid off and don't get out till that time, really the rest of the minor league season is an exercise in futility, to waste that protection year."

    The "protection year" Sabean speaks of means, according to MLB rules, college players do not have to be protected on the 40-man roster until after their third season, which would assure Posey would be a member of the Giants' organization through at least 2011, rather than 2010 if he was to sign a 2008 minor-league contract and immediately go into the Giants' farm system.

    When asked about Sabean's comments, Evans said he hadn't read the Press Democrat article, but then added: "If Brian said that, then ... he runs the show. That's certainly been our policy we've operated under in the past, but I'm not prepared at this time to say (definitively) what we would do if he's not signed before the All-Star break because I haven't read Brian's quote."

    Of course, there's always the other option — and it's one both sides likely don't want.

    If Posey and the team don't come to terms by the Aug, 15 deadline, he would then have the option of either returning to Florida State for his senior year or playing for a non-MLB-affiliated organization for a season until he could re-enter the draft the following season. Such was the case of former Florida State star and Lowndes native J.D. Drew, who was drafted No. 2 overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, but when he and the team couldn't agree by the deadline (Drew and agent Scott Boras reportedly wouldn't settle for less than a $10 million signing bonus), Drew chose to play one year for the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League.
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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