With Major League Baseball on target to set an
attendance record for the fifth year in a row and revenue streams from other
sources at unprecedented levels, there is no question that baseball is awash in
cash like no time in its rich history. That point was driven home on Friday
when teams spent record amounts as the signing deadline for the 2008 draft came
and went.
Fueled by three of the six largest bonuses ever signed by draft picks signing
with the team that selected them, including a draft record $6.2 million deal
given to Giants first-round pick Buster Posey, the average bonus paid to
first-round picks was $2.485 million. That topped the previous record of $2,154
million, set in 2001, and was an 18.4 percent increase from last year’s
first-round average of $2.098 million.
Remarkably, this year’s record average could have been higher had two
first-round picks not gone unsigned. The Nationals failed to get a deal done
with Missouri righthander Aaron Crow, the ninth overall pick, and the Yankees
couldn’t reach an agreement with California high school righthander Gerrit
Cole, the 28th overall selection. Both players were in line for significant
deals, but the Nationals and Crow remained so far apart in negotiations all
summer that even an 11th-hour compromise on both sides couldn’t close the gap.
Crow will be forced to re-enter the 2009 draft, but recently signed to pitch
with the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association for the
balance of the 2008 season and beginning of next season. Cole reportedly had a
change of heart about signing with the Yankees over the course of the summer
and elected to honor his college commitment to UCLA.
A third first-rounder, Georgia righthander Josh Fields, also went unsigned but
as a college senior he was not bound to sign by the Aug. 15 deadline. The
Mariners, who selected Fields with the 20th overall pick, have until a week
before next year’s draft to sign him but indications are that Fields’ signing
is imminent.
Assuming Fields signs, that would leave two unsigned first-rounders, an
occurrence that hasn’t happened since 2001, when high school pitchers Jeremy
Sowers (Reds) and Alan Horne (Indians) went unsigned. With the money now at
stake at the top of the draft, it’s become rare for a first-round pick not to
sign and the last time that had even happened before Friday was in 2004, when
the Orioles couldn’t ink a deal with Rice righthander Wade Townsend.
Record bonus money this year wasn’t limited to the first round, either. A
number of significant seven-figure bonuses were doled out in the later rounds
in the dwindling hours on Deadline Day, including $2 million by the Red Sox in
the fifth round to Rhode Island high school outfielder Ryan Westmoreland. That
tied him for the ninth-largest bonus paid out this year and was a record for a
fifth-round pick.
In addition, the Rangers gave Kentucky lefthander Robbie Ross $1.575 million,
the largest bonus in the second round. The Royals signed Missouri high school
righthander Tim Melville for $1.25 million, the largest bonus in the fourth
round; the Pirates gave Texas high school outfielder Robbie Grossman $1
million, the largest bonus in the sixth round; and the Athletics signed
Pepperdine righthander Brett Hunter for $1.1 million, the largest bonus ever in
the seventh round.
Overall, just 22 players in the top 10 rounds did not sign, including nine in
the 10th round. That was not a draft record as only 15 players in the top 10
rounds went unsigned in 2005.
Other significant players who went unsigned this year were the Pirates
second-round pick, Fresno State righthander Tanner Scheppers, and the Yankees
second-rounder, Mississippi righthander Scott Bittle. Medical issues played a
significant role in those players going unsigned. Both players were left with
little recourse but to return to college for their senior year.
Reckless spending in this year’s draft was not limited to the first 10 rounds.
In response to not signing Crow, the Nationals reached out at the last minute
to their 15th-round pick, Texas high school outfielder J.P. Ramirez, and
lavished him with a $1 million bonus—a record for that round. With disposal
cash at hand for not signing Scheppers, the Pirates signed their 20th-round
selection, New Jersey high school righthander Quinton Miller, for $900,000. The
Yankees also felt compelled to spend the bonus money earmarked for Cole and
Bittle to ink their 27th-round pick, North Carolina high school shortstop
Garrison Lassiter, for $600,000.
Lassiter’s signing was just the latest blow to North Carolina’s 2009 national
championship aspirations. On the final day that players could be signed, the
Tar Heels lost the heart of their recruiting class (Lassiter, Melville and
Miller). Earlier this month, they lost another key piece to their team when
rising junior outfielder Tim Fedroff signed with the Indians for $725,000 as a
seventh-round pick.
The Indians proved to be one of the big spenders in this year’s draft. Not only
did they sign Fedroff for significantly over slot in the seventh round, but
they also gave substantial bonuses to their second-round pick, Texas high
school righthander Trey Haley ($1,250,000); their fifth-rounder, Michigan
righthander Zach Putnam ($600,000); their 16th-rounder, Mississippi high school
lefthander T.J. House ($750,000); and their 22nd rounder, UC Irvine righthander
Bryce Stowell ($725,000).
Led by Posey’s record deal, here’s the revised list of the 10 largest bonuses
in draft history (NOTE: We’ve considered only the actual cash bonus paid and
players signing with the team that drafted them. The record bonus for a draft
pick remains the $10.2 million given by the Rays to loophole free agent Matt
White in 1996; the largest guaranteed deal given to a draft pick signing a
major league contract remains the $10.5 million given by the Cubs to Mark Prior
in 2001).
|
| Rank |
Player |
Pos. |
School |
Drafted by (Round) |
Amount |
| 1. |
Buster Posey |
C |
Florida State |
Giants ‘08 (1/5th pick) |
$6,200,000 |
| 2. |
Tim Beckham |
SS |
Griffin (Ga.) HS |
Rays ‘08 (1/1st pick) |
$6,150,000 |
| 3. |
Justin Upton |
SS |
Great Bridge HS, Chesapeake, Va. |
D’backs ‘05 (1/1st pick) |
$6,100,000 |
| 4. |
Pedro Alvarez |
3B |
Vanderbilt |
Pirates ‘08 (1/2nd pick) |
$6,000,000 |
| 5. |
Eric Hosmer |
1B |
American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla. |
Royals ‘08 (1/3rd pick) |
$6,000,000 |
| 6. |
Matt Wieters |
C |
Georgia Tech |
Orioles ‘07 (1/5th pick) |
$6,000,000 |
| 7. |
*David Price |
LHP |
Vanderbilt |
Rays ’07 (1/1st pick) |
$5,600,000 |
| 8. |
Joe Borchard |
OF |
Stanford |
White Sox ’00 (1/12th pick) |
$5,300,000 |
| 9. |
Joe Mauer |
C |
Cretin-Derham Hall, St. Paul, Minn. |
Twins ’01 (1/1st pick) |
$5,150,000 |
| 10. |
B.J. Upton |
SS |
Greenbrier Christian HS, Chesapeake, Va. |
Rays ’02 (1/2nd pick) |
$4,600,000 |
|
| *Bonus was part of major league contract
|
| --ALLAN SIMPSON |
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