What does Strasburg or Boras gain by not signing a contract? Unless he has found a new loophole that will get Strasburg declared a free agent, he’ll only be hurting his return. He’s already been selected 1.1, and it’s not like a big spending team is in line for next year’s top pick.

Will the Pirates give Strasburg his $25M+? Will the Royals? Both teams are willing to spend money, but I doubt either will give Boras more than the Nats will this year. So, by not signing he’ll lose a year of development, risk injury and will probably get a worse offer because of less leverage.

Bailey had better feel for his secondary pitches coming out of high school . . .hammer curve and a passable idea of a change for his age. Miller’s secondary stuff grades out a notch below that, but he does have the great arm strength. The other things can be taught, or so the idea goes . . .and sometimes, it really does work out that simply.

I’m sorry - when were they found guilty of collusion? Did I miss something?

I didn’t know that about Purke at all. Very interesting. He has much more leverage than thought then. If his mechanics are as questionable as advertised it might be best to let him reassure/be exposed in college for two years anyway. I wouldn’t want to overpay for a guy with that sort of consensus.

Of course we don’t know what he actually thinks, but I’m sure his agent understands that even if Gibson is a top-5 talent (which sounds reasonable to me), his health is going to force him to take a discount. I think if the Twins are smart, they’ll go somewhat over-slot this time to get a guy who could be worth much, much more than a #22 pick normally is

But the Twins just don’t really go overslot. If anything, they like going UNDER slot. They did go over significantly to get Manship, but even that amount of cash would probably be only be like 40 percent of what the divide is between the Twins and Gibson. In other words, we’re not just talking about the Twins doing something that they rarely do . . .we’re talking about them doing something that they have NEVER done.

I’m sure they knew and still know that Gibson was going to cost them more than slot, but I’m guessing they thought something like $1.5-$1.7M would get the deal done . . .and Gibson wants at least half a million more than that (rumor has it at $2.5M, maybe he goes down a bit from there). It’s a massive difference, but frankly, if the team needs to cut some corners next year to get the deal done, I think they have to take the gamble and get Gibson signed.

I think the money will probably move somewhere. Maddox had a poor spring, but he does have a lot of power potential and a premier arm. Without their top two picks, I think that they probably will sign someone who they had originally written off. Whether that be Maddox, Floro, Dennis, et al. is yet to be seen.

Daniel Fields, shortstop

But this is why you go best player available. Initial demands mean very little (wasn’t Alvarez demanding $11M+ last deadline?). Even if he couldn’t be talked down, that’s what compensation is for, and he left enough talent unsigned where it would have been easy to use the money elsewhere. I don’t think that there’s any question when you look at some of the signings (see: Grant Green for $2.75M) that Neal misread the market and overpaid for Tony Sanchez.

This doesn’t mean he’s a bad player, and I hope he continues to hit well.

The Braves evidently feel that Minor is a “legit” prospect. They wouldn’t have drafted him otherwise. And they are those who think he’ll pitch better in pro ball.

Still, after having seen all the bonuses roll in, one thinks that they might have misread this a bit. Alex White could have been had for slot and we know the Braves liked him. Or they could have reached a little for a guy who was a better fit for their developmental program but still could have been had under slot. One guy who comes to mind is Madison Younginer, a guy from a southern state with excellent stuff but will need time.

winner from tonight was Stan Kasten. This ought to get him a lot of love from the league offices for holding fairly firm. He didn’t go crazy, started at 10, then 12, ended at 15. If the rumors are correct and he wants out from DC, he ought to be able to find a nice solid landing spot.

He gets paid pro-rated league minimum for this year
Then he gets the remainder of that $15.whatever over the next 3 years
Then, because he does not have 6 full years of service time yet, he will not become a free agent
He is under the Nationals’ control for three years after that $15.whatever, but will be arbitration eligible

Really, the more you think about it, the more you realize that Boras just totally wrecked the Nationals in these negotiations. It’s not $50M, but it stands to be a TON of money, unheard of money for a guy on his initial contract out of the draft