2017 MLB Draft Thread, June 12-14

[Schad]

Do we have any hard to sign picks?

Don't know with the top guys. We took a bunch of late-rounders who are considered somewhere between hard and impossible to sign...generally, the idea is to hope that a large pile of money sways one of them, but we probably only have the money for one.

[-MetA4-]

So Colton Laws signed for slot and Logue only went $14K under slot. Not much savings there, also I read elsewhere that they reported Lundquist's bonus incorrectly and he signed for more than reported as well.

[-MetA4-]

Gunner Halter isn't signing, as per his Twitter.

[-MetA4-]

Shi Davidi reporting that Danner will sign for $1.5 mill which pretty much should eat up any savings we've accumulated. I had a feeling this is about what It would take after seeing what other HS catchers (and Prep players in general) were signing for.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays are closing in on deals for first-round picks Logan Warmoth and Nate Pearson, two industry sources told Sportsnet.

Terms weren’t immediately available but Warmoth, a shortstop selected at No. 22, had a slot value of $2,795,200 while Pearson, a hard-throwing right-handed picked at No. 28, had an assigned value of $2,302,900.

The Blue Jays on Sunday announced the signing of second-round pick Hagen Danner, a high-schooler who received an above slot bonus of $1.5 million, according two industry sources.

That deal paved the way for Warmoth and Pearson to sign with the rest of the Blue Jays’ picks from the opening 10 rounds locked up.

The Blue Jays, in their first draft under new amateur scouting director Steve Sanders, have a bonus pool of $8,230,400 for the first 10 rounds (players selected after the 10th round can sign for up to $125,000, with an overage counted against their pool).

Teams that outspend their pools are subject to a sliding scale of penalties, starting with a 75 per cent tax on any overage up to five per cent. Any overages beyond five per cent include taxes and the forfeiture of future draft picks.

The agreement with Danner put them at an overage of about $155,000, leaving them roughly $5.354 million to spread between Warmoth and Pearson without losing a draft pick.

[Cyrus]

Looks like we signed our first rounders. Any word if it was for slot?

[-MetA4-]

Looks like we signed our first rounders. Any word if it was for slot?

Shi Davidi claims that both got over slot as per a source. That isn't surprising for Pearson, as his rumored "deal" at #22 would have likely been under-slot at that pick but over-slot at #28. Its surprising that Warmoth would get over-slot, but I'd bet that its a minimal over-slot in his case.

Either way, expect that both got virtually all the money we had left over. No "big" over-slot signings in the later rounds as Danner and Pearson obviously absorbed all the savings we built up.

We did get HS 3B Davis Schneider signed however. He made his GCL debut yesterday (alongside Danner) and went 1 for 3, 2B, BB.

[polo007]

Looks like we signed our first rounders. Any word if it was for slot?

Read on Twitter

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[Cyrus]

That was basically the rest of our budget without going over - penalty, so I don't expect anyone else to sign unless it's for the given 100K that 11th to 40 rounders get.

[flatjacket1]

Looks like we really loaded up on shortstops in the draft. Not a bad strategy, considering that these guys can play anywhere else on the infield and even corner outfield if they can't stick at shortstop. Also worth noting that we're favorites to sign SS prospect Miguel Hiraldo once the international signing period opens up.

And as with pretty much all of our picks, none are true locks to stay at short (as with most SS picks in draft). SS in college is more like the guy who shows up on time, understands the game well and of course has some tools. You can play a game with late career Manny Ramirez in LF but you sure as heck can't plug him at SS. College is all about winning and 0% development (although if you manage to get in the lineup you are developing).

My big question for the draft was Nate Pearson. He is the type of guy who will likely be the first of the class to make it to the bigs, but there is a fairly decent chance he could have a career ending injury as well. Flame throwers like that can often get injured, the screw in his elbow doesn't help either. He could be a solid bullpen arm if he avoids getting badly hurt though.