DRAFT NOTEBOOK

By ALLAN SIMPSON

June 30, 2006

BIG LEAGUE TEAMS TOE THE LINE ON BONUSES—FOR NOW

Slowly but surely, Major League Baseball is getting it right.

Since signing bonuses for first-round draft picks peaked at an average of $2.154 million in 2001, they have been steadily rolled back at MLB’s urging to a point that the average bonus for the 22 first-rounders from this year’s draft who had signed by June 30 was just $1,708 million. That represents a drop of 26.1 percent in the past five years and a dip of 6.2 percent for the corresponding 22 picks from 2005.

Not only are players signing for less, but they’re signing faster. The 22 first-rounders who had signed to date represent the most that had signed by the July 1 milepost of any draft year this century. The next highest total was 21, last year. The trend represents a substantial upgrade from 2001, when only 12 of 30 first-rounders had signed by July 1 and none of the first six picks that year signed by late July. No year in draft history had as many holdouts, or was as turbulent.

Major League Baseball has been on a mission to curb bonus payments since they ran amok in the 90s, culminating in 2001, and it is largely accomplishing its goal. Bonuses to first-rounders have dipped in four of the past five years after showing an increase in 15 straight years that bordered on runaway inflation in some years.

“It’s apparent the pressure the commissioner’s office is putting on clubs to get this thing under control is having results,” a scouting director said. “It’s not perfect yet, but at least they’re headed in the right direction.”

While first overall pick Luke Hochevar had yet to sign with the Royals, the second, third and fourth overall picks this year had signed for bonuses that were significantly smaller than the corresponding selections a year ago. Second overall pick Greg Reynolds signed with the Rockies for $3.25 million, a $750,000 drop from 2005. Third overall selection Evan Longoria signed with Devil Rays for $3 million, $400,000 less than the same pick a year ago. And fourth overall pick Brad Lincoln received $2.75 million from the Pirates, a full $225,000 less than the same pick in 2005.

MLB instituted a de-facto slotting system at the turn of the century as its primary measure to curb bonus payments and teams have largely bought into the plan, rather than incur the wrath of the commissioner’s office. The recommended slots in the first round this year are pretty much identical to a year ago and in eight instances players been paid the identical bonus that a player in the same slot was paid a year ago. The highest such occurrence was with the seventh pick, where the Dodgers signed Texas lefthander Clayton Kershaw for the same amount, $2,300,000, as Troy Tulowitzki received from the Rockies in 2005.

Hochevar is one of eight first-rounders who remain unsigned, but his signing is not expected to be drawn out or contentious like first-rounders in recent years, specifically Justin Upton a year ago. Upton signed a record $6.1 million deal with the Diamondbacks almost eight months after being selected.

Hochevar, through agent Scott Boras, had agreed to the parameters of a deal with the Royals prior to the draft—reportedly somewhere between the $4 million the Royals paid second overall pick Alex Gordon as the No. 2 overall pick a year ago and the $5.3 million major league deal another Boras client, Mike Pelfrey, received from the Mets as the ninth overall selection. Hochevar never was on a mission to set any bonus records and expressed a desire to begin playing immediately, but sources close to the negotiations indicated the deal has been held up by the commissioner’s office because of concerns the amount Hochevar will receive might influence other first-round signings. So the waiting game goes on.

“Recent history suggests the handful of top picks in the first round won’t get signed until the end of the process,” an agent said. “The commissioner’s office doesn’t want them to set the bar until the rest of the players are locked up, so you can expect Hochevar and (Andrew) Miller to be the last ones to sign.”

Hochevar, who was offered $2.3 million by the Dodgers a year ago and elected to hold out the entire year, was anxious to get his career started. The former Tennessee All-American made three starts for the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association prior to the draft but hadn’t pitched in a month, while negotiations dragged on. He’s been at his home in Knoxville, Tenn. , anxiously waiting for his chance to pitch again.

Miller, who might have been Kansas City’s top pick had he been amenable to signing more in line with what the Royals (and other teams behind them) were prepared to pay, didn’t complete his college season until the final day of the College World Series, when North Carolina was eliminated. It is not anticipated that Miller, drafted sixth overall by Detroit , will reach agreement with the Tigers any time soon.

THE FOOTBALL FACTOR

While teams have essentially toed the line to date on bonuses in the first round, the $7.25 million bonus awarded by the Cubs to their fifth-round pick, Notre Dame righthander Jeff Samardzija, clearly caused the industry to do a double take and drew the ire of the commissioner’s office, with commissioner Bud Selig himself admonishing the Cubs for the selection.

The amount is the highest ever committed to a player signing with the team that drafted him, topping the $6.1 million deal the Diamondbacks gave to Upton , the first overall pick in 2005. It falls short of the $10.2 million and $10 million bonuses given loophole free agents Matt White and Travis Lee, respectively, by the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks in 1996, or the guaranteed amounts in the major league contracts signed by draft picks Pat Burrell ($8 million in 1998), Mark Prior ($10.5 million in 2001) and Mark Teixeira ($9.5 million in 2001).

Samardzija’s deal is conditional, however. It is heavily backloaded over the five-year life of the contract and while it allows him to play football at Notre Dame this fall it also requires him to make baseball his primary sport in the future for him to approach the maximum value of the deal. Samardzija is considered a potential first-round pick in next year’s football draft and he could be swayed to play in the National Football League with an even more lucrative offer than the Cubs deal.

No matter, the deal caused a lot of waves in baseball circles

“The whole industry is baffled by it,” one scouting director said. “There was debate, to begin with, whether he was even a consensus first-round baseball talent. He’s got the body and throws hard, but that’s it. He has a long way to go with his secondary stuff and his ability to pitch.”

Samardzija will pitch for the Cubs short-season affiliate at Boise of the Northwest League until Aug. 1, when he will report to Notre Dame for his senior year of football. A wide receiver, he caught a record 15 touchdown passess last fall for the Irish.

Samardzija’s lucrative deal isn’t the only one given to a significant football talent that deviated substantially from the bonus slot recommended by Major League Baseball. The Royals signed their fourth-round pick, Florida high school outfielder Derrick Robinson, to an $850,000 bonus. Robinson, considered the fastest player in the draft, had committed to the University of Florida to play both football and baseball. The Royals will be allowed to spread his bonus payments out over a five-year period, per the dual-sport provision that exists in a standard player contract.

BASEBALL FIGHTING BACK

While Major League Baseball has enacted measures like slotting to curtail the willful spending of bonus payments, and dual-sport language to discourage players from abruptly quitting baseball to pursue a second sport (normally football), it has also quietly introduced measures in the last year that will penalize players for walking away from the game after receiving their bonus money.

In almost all contracts to first-year players this year, there is language that specifies a player will be forced to pay back a pro-rated share of his signing bonus if he quits beforehand or doesn’t fulfill all of the seven years that he is bound to an organization when he signs his contract. For instance, if a player quits the game after four years, he would be contractually bound to return three-sevenths of his signing bonus.

Over the years, baseball has been burned on numerous occasions by players who have received their bonus money—typically half the bonus is paid upon approval of the contract, the other half on or about Jan. 15 of the following year—and walked away from the game, keeping all of their bonus money in the process. Now they’ll be required to repay a portion of their bonus, if the provision is included in their contract.

“We had that thrown at us by Major League Baseball on the day of the draft last year,” a scouting director said. “It was new language and we didn’t fully understand it, so a lot of clubs didn’t apply it last year. This year, it’s become pretty standard in most player contracts.

“It’s not performance-related or aimed at a player who gets hurt, but it’s geared towards the kid who walks away from his bonus or doesn’t like the way he’s being used and simply quits. I’m sure most clubs won’t go after players that sign bonuses as low as $10,000 to $20,000, but it will cause a lot of players to think twice about quitting.”

THE SIGNING PROCESS

Player signings are progressing at a steady rate this year, with most clubs inking players in the first 25 rounds at the slot amount recommended by Major League Baseball. Among the clubs achieving the greatest success signing their players:

--The Reds had signed their first 13 picks.

--The Marlins signed 21 of their first 22 picks. Mississippi third baseman Chris Coghlan, a supplemental first-rounder being advised by Boras , is the notable exception.

--The Phillies had signed all but two players in the first 24 rounds: first-round pick Kyle Drabek, who has balked at slot money of $1.55 million; and Florida high school outfielder Riley Cooper, a 15^th-rounder who has committed to play football at the University of Florida .

--The Pirates had signed 16 of their first 18 selections, the exceptions being North Carolina high school infielder Lonnie Chisenhall (11^th round) and Florida high school righthander Brandon Holden (13^th round). Chisenhall, a South Carolina recruit, was hotly pursued by clubs in the second round before they balked at his asking price, causing him to slide. Holden, a Florida signee, might have been a first- or second-rounder had he been healthy. He was slowed in the spring by a tender elbow and the Pirates were expected to monitor his progress this summer before deciding to make another run at him.

Meanwhile, several clubs were having trouble signing their early-round picks.

--The Indians had signed only two of their first nine selections, including UCLA lefthander David Huff, their first pick (39^th overall). Huff had expectations of going in the first round, which would have practically guaranteed him a seven-figure bonus, but he was in line to receive somewhere between $850,000 and $900,000—the figures the players immediately below and above him got—if he’s resigned to signing for slot money.

--The Diamondbacks had signed all but one pick from the third round through the 25^th round, but had not signed three of their first four selections—Missouri righthander Max Scherzer, Oklahoma high school lefthander Brett Anderson and Oregon State righthander. It may be a while before any of the three sign as Scherzer is represented by Boras , has a high price tag and the two sides had not even begun negotiations yet. Both Anderson and Buck had expectations of being paid at least $1 million entering the draft as both were projected first-round picks at one point or another during the 2006 season.

THE YANKEE FACTOR

The Yankees had signed only four of their first nine selections and there were rumblings in the industry that they will defy the commissioner’s office and substantially overpay all their unsigned selections to get them under contract. In every case, the five unsigned players were projected at one point or another during the 2006 season to go in the first round.

There are reports that the Yankees already have a deal in place with first-round righthander Ian Kennedy for an amount in excess of $2 million—substantially more than the $1.45 million slot for the 21^st pick--but they are in no hurry to announce it. It is also expected that the Yankees will pay their next pick, Nebraska righthander Joba Chamberlain, substantially more than his slot amount of $850,000.

It won’t stop there as fourth-rounder Colin Curtis, eighth-rounder Dellin Betances and ninth-rounder Mark Melancon are all expected to receive substantial bonuses--possibly seven figures in the case of Betances—if they agree to terms.

“They’ll get them done,” a rival scouting director assured. “The way they look at it is they’ll get criticized more by their own fans for not signing the players, because they’ve got the money to sign them, than they will by Major League Baseball for doing the deals.”

Meanwhile, it’s anticipated that a number of other teams, specifically the Angels and Red Sox, are laying in the weeds waiting for the right time to sign a handful of players that fell to the lower rounds because of signability reasons.

“The problem this year is there were a lot of players who were second-round talents that were seeking first- or second-round money, but there were only so many second-round slots for them all,” a scouting director said. “Once they didn’t get picked in the second round, they pretty much priced themselves out and they slid. But I really think a lot of them will still get their money. It may take most of the summer, but a lot more teams seem prepared to step to the plate and sign players, no matter what the commissioner’s office has to say about it.”

While it’s not anticipated that any other bonus this summer will come close to topping Samardzija’s record deal, there could be a number of other jaw droppers—perhaps as many as 15 or 20—before all signings are in the bag. In recent history, the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees have been the clubs that have bucked the commissioner’s office most frequently and all three are expected to be at the forefront again when the dust has settled on this year’s draft.

But other clubs have let it be known they are not going to stand idly by and let those clubs get away with it again.

“The draft is the only chance we have to compete for talent with big-revenue clubs, and we’ll do what we have to do this year—especially if those clubs are doing it,” a scouting director said. “We’re not going to toe the line any more, if those clubs can keep getting away with it.”

DRAFT NOTEBOOK

--The Rangers had signed every player they’d drafted in the first 10 rounds, except fourth-rounder Marcus Lemon. There are reports that Lemon, an infielder committed to the University of Texas and the son of ex-big leaguer Chet Lemon, has agreed to terms on a $1.5 million deal but the signing won’t be announced for several weeks.

--UCLA outfielder Jarrad Page has teased scouts with his talent since being drafted in the fifth round by the Brewers out of a California high school in 2002. In two years with the Bruins baseball team, Page hit just .194-4-28 with 94 strikeouts in 221 at-bats while juggling a baseball career with a promising one in football. A former Pac-10 all-conference defensive back for the Bruins, Page was expected to be selected in this year’s NFL draft but was bypassed, causing him to redirect his interests back to baseball. Though he didn’t play baseball this spring for the Bruins, he was drafted in the seventh round by the Angels. He hadn’t signed by June 30—in large part because he was asking for a bonus of a reported $1.7 million.

--Among the nation’s top college programs, Texas appears to have come out the most unscathed from the draft with no notable recruits lost to date. Among the Longhorns top recruits that were significant drafts are Lemon, third-rounder Russ Moldenahauer (third-rounder, Angels), righthander Nathan Karns (10^th rounder, Astros), lefthander Brandon Belt (11^th round, Red Sox), righthander Jordan Walden (12^th round, Angels), lefthander Carmine Giardina (28^th round, Red Sox). Florida , Florida State and Miami all lost three picks apiece that were drafted in the top three rounds.