Jays may sign Alford after all - let him play FB

[dagger]

@JimCallis
Two sources tell me #BlueJays will sign 3rd-rder Anthony Alford & let him continue to play football. Working to confirm bonus. #mlbdraft


5m Gregor Chisholm ‏@gregorMLB
The move isn't without risk as Alford could eventually choose football over baseball but it's an interesting gamble. #BlueJays

[Fairview4Life]

Bonus = 3rd round slot + 4->10th round slots - 7 hot dogs.

[Al_Oliver]

@JimCallis
Two sources tell me #BlueJays will sign 3rd-rder Anthony Alford & let him continue to play football. Working to confirm bonus. #mlbdraft

well done AA/Tinnish... thought this would be the only way for Alford to be a Jay

[Skin Blues]

Sign another guy for a thousand bucks, re-allocate budget bucks. That sounds nice and all, but are there real signability issues that this will address? Do they actually need to free up this much of the budget, or are we just missing out on taking legit players with our 3/4/10 picks to give a slight bonus boost to guys that we would have signed anyways?

[-MetA4-]

Do they actually need to free up this much of the budget

Yes, they do. Smoral is signing for around a million over slot, Alford looks to be getting around ~$400k over slot, and DeJong is reportedly signing for a few hundred thousand over slot as well.

[Fairview4Life]

Sign another guy for a thousand bucks, re-allocate budget bucks. That sounds nice and all, but are there real signability issues that this will address? Do they actually need to free up this much of the budget, or are we just missing out on taking legit players with our 3/4/10 picks to give a slight bonus boost to guys that we would have signed anyways?

Keep this graph in mind, too:

[Moxie]

So how long would he be playing in the minors per season? I just don't know how the two schedules conflict.

Pretty damn risky, but risks are the name of the game in the draft. Hope it works out.

[blaateeee]

Chris Toman ‏@Chris_Toman

Alford will continue playing football at Southern Mississippi, but confirmed he will be signing. Heading to Florida on Saturday #BlueJays

[Moxie]

Man, Smoral and Alford signing already. Looking like a good draft, folks.

[Garmfay]

Great news, doubt hes gonna make the NFL. Too many QBs in college anyways.

[-MetA4-]

Too many QBs in college anyways.

Yes; at least one per team.

[Wally West]

Great news, doubt hes gonna make the NFL. Too many QBs in college anyways.

The thing with Alford is that when you read his football profile on ESPN and what he projects out to be in the future, he sounds like a dynamic QB like a Michael Vick but with less of an arm. Man, I hope things work out with him and the Blue Jays. Impressive stuff A.A. and Tinnish!

[Aimless Outlook]

I may not be using proper terminology here, but how would this affect his status as a minor leaguer?

If he stays in college for 4 years, do those 4 years count towards his Pre-Arbitration years? Would he need to be added to the 40 man roster fairly quickly after completing college?

[Garmfay]

Great news, doubt hes gonna make the NFL. Too many QBs in college anyways.

The thing with Alford is that when you read his football profile on ESPN and what he projects out to be in the future, he sounds like a dynamic QB like a Michael Vick but with less of an arm. Man, I hope things work out with him and the Blue Jays. Impressive stuff A.A. and Tinnish!

Look at like guys like Pat White who was more high profile didn't make the cut. I hope he does horrible in football for the Blue Jays sake lol

[dagger]

Alford makes me think of this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condredge_Holloway

Holloway had a great college career and then a nice CFL career. He's done well in life. But man, 4th overall in the MLB draft, and preferred baseball. You have to wonder what kind of a career he might have had.

[Brinbe]

Good ****, worth the risk.

[torontoaces04]

This is great news. BTW, I've done a bit of background on him as an FB prospect...he's a 4-star recruit, but nowhere near where he's ranked in baseball.

This is a low-risk, high reward type venture. Hopefully this kid see's the light (and the dollar signs) and realizes that his future is in baseball, after a few years of playing FB in college. At worst, this costs us money, nothing more, nothing less.

[YogiStewart]

Alford makes me think of this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condredge_Holloway

Holloway had a great college career and then a nice CFL career. He's done well in life. But man, 4th overall in the MLB draft, and preferred baseball. You have to wonder what kind of a career he might have had if he wasn't born black.

fixed, sadly

[SharoneWright]

Alford makes me think of this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condredge_Holloway

Holloway had a great college career and then a nice CFL career. He's done well in life. But man, 4th overall in the MLB draft, and preferred baseball. You have to wonder what kind of a career he might have had if he wasn't born black.

fixed, sadly

The Color Orange is an amazing documentary.

[-MetA4-]

BTW, I've done a bit of background on him as an FB prospect...he's a 4-star recruit, but nowhere near where he's ranked in baseball.

He was absolutely one of the top QB recruits in last year's class.

This is a good risk signing, but its hard to really imagine how well it will work out. Letting him play football will hurt his development (these football/baseball things rarely work out), and what really hurts is that he actually ended up at a far lesser football school than his skills suggest. Realistically you'd hope that he'd eventually give up football and play baseball full-time, but the fact that he signed with USM means that he is almost a shoe-in to start and play early. He is their best football sign in years and USM plays in a mid-major conference. Had he ended up at LSU or Alabama he realistically could have rode the bench and been more inclined to give up football.