Strasburg Signs

[Frayed Knot]

For around $15mil acc to SI.com/MLBN's Jon Heyman


No word yet on Mets #72 Matz
Baseball America's website is jammed

[metirish]

From Rubin

The Mets reportedly signed lefthander Steve Matz, their top draft pick, for an $895,000 bonus. Matz was drafted 72nd overall out of Ward Melville High School on Long Island. The Mets would not confirm any deal.

[Frayed Knot]

The Strasburg deal reportedly got finalized at 11:58:43

And they said it would take until the last minute.





In the end only three 1st-rounders failed to sign:

- #14 pick Tim Purke, a HS LHP picked by Texas. He'll take his scholarship and head to college (TCU) instead

- #30 LaVon Washington - 2B Tampa. A HS kid who's going to go to a Junior College and try the draft again next year

- and #12 Aaron Crow, the RHP who didn't sign last year either. But because he no longer has college eligibility left the Aug deadline doesn't apply to him and so he and KC can keep talking until a week before next year's draft.
And, no, this is NOT a Boras client.

[metirish]

So Boras or his media buddies puts $50 million out there and settles for $11-15.....great strategy.

[Benjamin Grimm]

[metirish]

If that Strasburg was founded by Pierre Bezaillion why not name it that.....silly man.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suppose he was humble and loyal to his home town in the old country.

Also, he probably figured that Americans wouldn't know how to spell "Bezaillion." (After all, we can't even spell "Francoeur.")

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think Strasburg should have held out for at least a bezaillion.

[DocTee]

If Matz (72) got 895K something's amiss since I was told Colorado OF Tim Wheeler (30) got 900K. Is there that big of a value added by being a LHP?

[Frayed Knot]

Part of it is leverage. HS kids have it by waving a college scholarship in front of the team's eyes and saying 'meet my price or I'll walk'.
College players are more of a sure thing in terms of "knowing" what they'll be but also have fewer options. A late 1st round college pick (usually a junior) either can take what he's offered or risk playing his Sr year and maybe winding up in a worse spot and another year behind his peers.

There are mid & later round picks who got between $1 & $2 million. It's a bigger risk/reward thing for the team but some are willing to do that for the right player if they project he'll be an even tougher sign 3 years down the road (after college) when he's bigger, stronger & (hopefully) smarter.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

="Frayed Knot"]#12 Aaron Crow, the RHP who didn't sign last year either. But because he no longer has college eligibility left the Aug deadline doesn't apply to him and so he and KC can keep talking until a week before next year's draft. And, no, this is NOT a Boras client.

I have a vague recollection of someone who went drafted-and-unsigned multiple times, and ended up a cautionary tale, eventually signing with a low-level independent minor-league squad or semiprot team a couple of years later. I also remember that this was fairly recent (10-15 years). Unfortunately, I can't remember anything else.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

EDIT: Never mind-- I know what I'm talking about: The guy is Matt Harrington, and he's currently employed at a Texas Costco.

[nymr83]

Harrington failed to sign 4 or 5 times and I think he got exactly what he deserved for being so greedy.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"] ="Frayed KnotDoes anyone know what I'm talking about? EDIT: Never mind-- I know what I'm talking about: The guy is Matt Harrington, and he's currently employed at a Texas Costco. Oh! Costco rocks! You go there on a Saturday and you can sample your way around the store AND turkey burgers for like $9.99. And if you break your camera within 90 days of buying it, you just bring it back and they give you a new one. I speak from experience.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 18 2009 10:55 AM

="metsguyinmichigan"] ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"] ="Frayed KnotDoes anyone know what I'm talking about? EDIT: Never mind-- I know what I'm talking about: The guy is Matt Harrington, and he's currently employed at a Texas Costco. Oh! Costco rocks! You go there on a Saturday and you can sample your way around the store AND turkey burgers for like $9.99. And if you break your camera within 90 days of buying it, you just bring it back and they give you a new one. I speak from experience. LWBetterHalfer and I used to "do brunch" at the one in Queens with her late father; it was one of the few places where his movement (impaired by stroke and Parkinson's) would actually seem to get easier and less stilted. He and I used to love making our ambit, then loop back to hit our favorites one more time. My personal weaknesses were the deli-on-a-cracker bits-- I could never turn down a good mini-mozzarella-and-tomato-on-toast sammich. Neither would we (nor, I'm guessing, he) have turned down 4 million dollars or 1.2 million dollars to play baseball. But hey... we're all like snowflakes, I suppose. Frayed Knot Aug 18 2009 12:20 PM Yeah Harrington was a mess of a story. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently heard Tim Kurkjian tell the story about Chipper's father explaining to him that he could make a lot more money if he wanted to hold out and threaten and maybe get a different team involved (as other #1 candidate that year Todd Van Poppel eventually did do). But Chipper wanted to go #1 and he wanted to start as quickly as possible. So with Dad an his agent, the negotiations took about an hour (signed June [u:3jmn5ovu]4th[/u:3jmn5ovu]) and he was on the fast-track to being in the majors at age 21 and a full-timer by 23 - and it only took that long due to a knee injury in between. Now you wonder about Aaron Crow, already 14 months past being drafted 9th overall, 2 months after being picked 12th, and maybe 9 months or more from either getting signed or going back into the pool again. Even if he gets the extra cash he's apparently looking for is it really worth it in the long run? Just from developmental time alone I can't see how it is. John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 18 2009 12:36 PM I hope we get Crow, because wisecracking robots are good to have.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

="metsguyinmichigan"] ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"] ="Frayed KnotDoes anyone know what I'm talking about? EDIT: Never mind-- I know what I'm talking about: The guy is Matt Harrington, and he's currently employed at a Texas Costco. Oh! Costco rocks! You go there on a Saturday and you can sample your way around the store AND turkey burgers for like $9.99. And if you break your camera within 90 days of buying it, you just bring it back and they give you a new one. I speak from experience. LWBetterHalfer and I used to "do brunch" at the one in Queens with her late father; it was one of the few places where his movement (impaired by stroke and Parkinson's) would actually seem to get easier and less stilted. He and I used to love making our ambit, then loop back to hit our favorites one more time. My personal weaknesses were the deli-on-a-cracker bits-- I could never turn down a good mini-mozzarella-and-tomato-on-toast sammich. Neither would we (nor, I'm guessing, he) have turned down 4 million dollars or 1.2 million dollars to play baseball. But hey... we're all like snowflakes, I suppose.

Frayed Knot Aug 18 2009 12:20 PM

Yeah Harrington was a mess of a story. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently heard Tim Kurkjian tell the story about Chipper's father explaining to him that he could make a lot more money if he wanted to hold out and threaten and maybe get a different team involved (as other #1 candidate that year Todd Van Poppel eventually did do). But Chipper wanted to go #1 and he wanted to start as quickly as possible. So with Dad an his agent, the negotiations took about an hour (signed June [u:3jmn5ovu]4th[/u:3jmn5ovu]) and he was on the fast-track to being in the majors at age 21 and a full-timer by 23 - and it only took that long due to a knee injury in between. Now you wonder about Aaron Crow, already 14 months past being drafted 9th overall, 2 months after being picked 12th, and maybe 9 months or more from either getting signed or going back into the pool again. Even if he gets the extra cash he's apparently looking for is it really worth it in the long run? Just from developmental time alone I can't see how it is.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 18 2009 12:36 PM

I hope we get Crow, because wisecracking robots are good to have.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah Harrington was a mess of a story.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recently heard Tim Kurkjian tell the story about Chipper's father explaining to him that he could make a lot more money if he wanted to hold out and threaten and maybe get a different team involved (as other #1 candidate that year Todd Van Poppel eventually did do). But Chipper wanted to go #1 and he wanted to start as quickly as possible. So with Dad an his agent, the negotiations took about an hour (signed June [u:3jmn5ovu]4th[/u:3jmn5ovu]) and he was on the fast-track to being in the majors at age 21 and a full-timer by 23 - and it only took that long due to a knee injury in between.


Now you wonder about Aaron Crow, already 14 months past being drafted 9th overall, 2 months after being picked 12th, and maybe 9 months or more from either getting signed or going back into the pool again.
Even if he gets the extra cash he's apparently looking for is it really worth it in the long run? Just from developmental time alone I can't see how it is.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I hope we get Crow, because wisecracking robots are good to have.