ESPN Baseball Tonight

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Maybe I don't undserstand it totally but where the whole "slot" thing seems to matter most is in the later rounds, where the team meeting slot would not for example, incentivize a prospect to skip college, or whatever. The name that comes to mind there is Pedro Beato.

[Guest Triple Dee]

AG/DC wrote: Let's not get away, though, from sticking Humber with Jim Duquette.

Yes, of course -- probably the result of a suppressed memory of a traumatic period.

[Guest Triple Dee]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Maybe I don't undserstand it totally but where the whole "slot" thing seems to matter most is in the later rounds, where the team meeting slot would not for example, incentivize a prospect to skip college, or whatever. The name that comes to mind there is Pedro Beato.

My understanding is that teams are less likely to pay over the slot in later rounds.

If you take Humber as a case study; he was drafted by the MFY in 2001 as a 29th round pick but he didn't sign because they only offered him a nominal signing bonus. However, after dominating at Rice, it was highly probable that he'd get paid over the slot as an early round pick.

[Guest AG/DC]

I think the slot issue is with guys bound for college with early round talent. Poorer teams pass over them, because they don't want to bid against a kid's opportunity to go to college (or return to college) and re-enter the draft in a hopefully better position. Richer teams have the resources to draft these kids in the middle rounds and blow them away with early-round money.

But, if they're cooperating with the MLB agenda, they don't always. In recent years, the Mets have been cooperating.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I interviewed Phillips for a story once. I was impressed because I was doing a story on a minor league coach who was from the Flint area, and put in a call thinking he'd never return it. But he did, and was really nice.

Then I ran into him again at Tiger Stadium during that first inter-league series in 1997. He was sitting behind home plate near the scouts and I recognized him, and we talked for a while.

None of this means he is a great commentator or GM. Just saying he was nice to me.

[metirish]

Phillips is certainly one of the better talking heads on ESPN regarding baseball , I especially find him informative when talking contracts and what a GM might do around the trading dead line.

That's a cool story Metsguy.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

metgguy - "Just saying he was nice to me."

Well, that certainly counts for something.

Thanks for sharing your experience.