Count me as someone who is fascinated by the opportunity that the Rays have with their extra picks this year. I plan to run a shadow draft for them (just 5 rounds) and track it long term. I would appreciate some extra help with this study if any of you plan to do the same.

Here's the rules:

Post your Rays shadow draft (5 rounds) following the draft. You can not pick a player the Rays choose in a slot lower than their pick.

Following the Signing Deadline (Aug 15?), I will calculate how much the Rays spent in signing their picks in the first 5 rounds. I will supplement that figure with 50% of the amount that the Rays go overslot from rounds 6-50. There is no science behind the 50% figure but to me it feels like it is probably a generous bit of financial flexibility.

Given that money, you can sign as many players as you can afford. Sorry if your player does not sign, there is no way you can sign him. The player's bonus will be the greater of the player's bonus or 100% of slot at the draft position where you selected him. You get to make the decisions on how to allocate the finances that Stu Sternberg grants to you as calculated above.

MLB Slot values are circulated just before the draft. A slot guideline can be found here.

I am largely making this up on the fly, so if you see there is a way to improve this excercise, let me know.