Since my last post about members of rounds 1 and 1A signing, there have been a few mosre to trickle in. What’s truely interesting is the sheer number of first round hold outs. Out of the top 10 picks Pedro Alverez (2), Eric Hosmer (3 – ASU), Brian Matusz, (4), Buster Posey (5), Yonder Alonso (7), Gordon Beckham (8), and Aaron Crow (9) have not signed,. Only Tim Beckham (1), Kyle Skipworth (6), and Jason Castro (10) have signed.
I think this is interesting since the signing deadline is coming up and this has a chance to become one of the lowest signings draft in a long time. Some of the above guys are asking for huge signing bonuses (Buster Posey and his 12 million dollar price tag). The thing is, the teams knew about the signing requirements before the draft. So by drafting these players, they commit to signing them. For any one of the teams in the first round to not sign their pick would be bad.
The latest players to sign since my first installment are:
- 10 – Jason Castro – Astros -$2.07 million – now playing for Tri City Valley Cats
- 15 – Ethan Martin – Dodgers – $1.7325 million – not playing as of 7/21 (either Ogden Raptors or GCL Dodgers)
- 21 – Ryan Perry – Tigers – $1.48 million – not played as of 7/21 (either Oneonta Tigers or GCL Tigers)
- 26 – Daniel Schlereth – Diamondbacks – $1.33 million – now playing for the Missoula Osprey
- 30 – Casey Kelly – Red Sox – $3.00 million – now playing for the GCL Red Sox
- 40 – Bret DeVall – Braves – $1.00 million – now playing for the GCL Braves
Right now only 3 high schoolers are left who have not signed and are committed to go to college Eric Hosmer (Royals – ASU), Brett Lawrie (Brewers – ASU), and Gerrit Cole (Yankees – UCLA). I am certain all will sign, it’s very rare for a first rounder not to sign. The closer we get to the deadline though the more I think we might see some going back to school. Now truth be told, many teams don’t announce their signings until close to the deadline so the player can start fresh the following season so this isn’t as odd as you think, but with Hosmer, Alverez and Posey wanting huge money we might see either record bonuses or players heading back to school. Should be interesting.
the yankees had 2 first round draft picks are they going to sign them?
At first I would have said yes, but in truth, Cole is going to be looking for over $3 million, since that’s what they gave Brackman last year, and in truth that might mean that he won’t get signed. He could probably make more money anyway, if he went to UCLA and came back in the 2010 draft. As for Bleich, it doesn’t make much snese for him to go back to school, he is a supplement 1 pick and I don’t see him getting higher with another year under his belt. Especially on a depleted Stanford team. So look for him to sign, but maybe Cole to not. If Cole doesn’t sign the Yankees would get an extra pick in the first round in 2009.