Jim Callis at
Baseball America has this on MLB's draft bonus recommendations:
In a development first reported by Murray Chass, MLB commissioner Bud Selig said his office will reduce its recommendations for bonus slots by 10 percent. Selig made the comments at an owners meeting last week in New York, and Baseball America has confirmed his plan with multiple sources.
MLB recommends bonuses for each pick in the first five rounds, as well as a maximum for all picks afterward. Last year’s estimated slots ranged from $4 million for the No. 1 overall pick to $155,000 for the final choice in the fifth round (No. 172), with a $150,000 threshold for subsequent picks.
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Prepare for a slew of holdouts this year, especially in the first round. Several of the draft’s best prospects are advised by the hard-bargaining Scott Boras Corp., and two years ago clubs showed they wouldn’t walk away from their top choices over a difference of 10 percent.
"If I’m advising a first-round pick," one agent said, "I’m telling him there’s no reason to sign before Aug. 15. The longer you wait, the more money you’ll get."
Jim Callis at Baseball America has this on MLB's draft bonus recommendations: 
Real Baseball Intelligence (RBI), a leading resource in the evaluation of amateur baseball talent and draft coverage, offers its 2009 Baseball Draft Guide. The Guide includes RBI's Top 400 draft prospects, scouting reports of the top ten players at each position, a mock draft and more. It is available at withthefirstpick.net/guide
ReplyDeleteI think the slotting system is ridiculous. Bug Selig doesn't realize that paying on the draft, building from within, is more efficient than wasting money on free agents. And if you're not going to enforce the rule, anyway, why have this nonsense? It's just going to prolong the process for many kids with college scholarships who will hold out. The kids may even have deals worked out before August 15, but the team will have to make it look like they were in heavy negotiations to avoid getting grief from Selig and MLB.
ReplyDeleteMost kids make the majority of their money as a professional baseball player on their initial signing bonus, because most baseball players fail. With the NCAA rules--thank goodness for the Andy Oliver ruling, because preventing a teenage kid from counsel on the most important decision of his young life is absurd--the process works against the players.