Last year when Mark Appel turned down the Pirates offer, which was well below what he was expecting to get, it seemed like Appel would not have any leverage in the 2013 draft. The reason for this is that he really has no other alternative. Unlike last year, he can't return to Stanford. He could sign with an independent team, but this isn't likely.
Jim Callis explains why he does in fact have leverage this year.
There are two good reasons that a team won’t take a hard line with Appel. First, he’s advised by the Boras Corp. Clubs legitimately fear that draftees, even college seniors, will walk away from a deal that Scott Boras doesn’t like.
Second, Appel could take a hard line with a club. Let’s say the Astros choose him and make him a take-it-or-leave-it $5 million offer. I agree, it would be silly to turn that much money down to re-enter the 2014 draft.
But Appel could decide not to sign until right before the July 13 signing deadline of 5 p.m. ET. Houston couldn’t risk spending the $2,790,400 they saved on his bonus to land other players until he was in the fold. If the Astros spent the savings before Appel signed, they’d risk losing their next two first-round selections, including the possible No. 1 overall choice in 2014.
I'm not sure I really agree with the first reason Callis mentions, but the second one is quite obvious when you give it some thought.
It is possible he falls in the draft like he did last year at which point he won't come close to getting the signing bonus he's wanting. More than likely, though, he'll be taken in the first two picks of the draft. The Astros will get first shot, but if they want to save some money and spend it later on like they did last year, Appel will be available for the Cubs and it's hard to imagine them passing him up.
Comments
Ben Revere just made the catch of the year. Wow.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
And here it is in slo-mo:
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Check the video.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_04_15_wasmlb_miamlb_1&mode=gameday#gid=2013_04_15_phimlb_cinmlb_1&mode=gameday
Talk about a pick-me-up, and especially today, we all need a good pick-me-up.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
That point about the draft pool tied to a player is pretty important. I think the top two teams (Astros and Cubs) negotiate with Appel, find out the amount he’d agree to, and then they’d pick him. They wouldn’t risk losing the first slot’s pool at all, that’s like $7-8MM right? Also, they need to ensure, given such a high pick, they actually get SOMEONE…of which I guess there are six possibilities, at least.
/comma-happy
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
That’s up there with Trout’s catch last year.
joshQuote Reply
They can afford Appel. Pay the man!
joshQuote Reply
I’d be totally OK with the Cubs drafting pitchers with the first 20 picks in the draft.
MylesQuote Reply
@ Myles:
I’d be totally okay with the Cubs having the first 20 picks in the draft.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
I saw that and didn’t change it knowing full well that someone (probably you) was going to give me shit 🙂
MylesQuote Reply
Erik Bedard start tonight: 0.1 IP, 6 R
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
He’d fit right in with the cubs bullpen.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
Comments at Yahoo News about the Boston bombs. Stuff like: “Now the Democrats will want to ban bombs.” And horseshit conspiracy/racist stuff. I never read that crap, but I scrolled past some ad, and there they were.
SVBQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
He can’t hit it to the warning track, but at least he can field it there!
SVBQuote Reply
Why wouldn’t a team just draft Appel and say, we’ll pay you (slot-x). If you don’t take it, you can walk. And spend the savings on whoever else they wanted anyway? I would negotiate with him before the draft if allowed, and then give him until day 2 of the draft to sign. At which point, I’d adjust my draft strategy.
They could then potentially draft some kids they could pay much more than slot in rounds 16-whatever. Those don’t count against the cap, right?
SVBQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
Only the first $100,000 is exempt from the cap after round 10.
GBTSQuote Reply
$100,000 per signing, mind you. Any overage over 100k goes against the cap.
GBTSQuote Reply
I’m not ever really paranoid about stuff like this, but given the days events, the following just happened the last 15 minutes or so:
I go to npr.org to read a bit of updates, when I click the link on the main story, it goes to a page whose article title and only text was: “The Syrian Electric Army was here”. I reloaded/reopened the page 2-3 times, still the same. Now when I click it, it says page not available. Npr.org was hacked I suppose? Wait it’s back that way now:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/15/177349725/syrian-electronic-army-was-here
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
welp now its back to the regular npr thing
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
@ Recalcitrant Blogger Nate:
Hacked by 12 year olds would be my guess. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
alrite. i’m out fuckfaces
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
New shit http://obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/jot-cubs-minor-league-recap-4-15-13.html
dmick89Quote Reply