A Couple of Late Signs

It has been reported that 2009 Draft picks, pitchers Aaron Crow (12th overall pick, Royals) and Tanner Scheppers (44th overall pick, Rangers) have signed with their respective drafting teams today.  They were able to sign after August 17, unlike the vast majority of other draftees, because they were drafted in 2008 but refused to sign.

Aaron Crow had been offered $3.5 million by the Nationals as the 9th pick in the 2008 Draft.  However, he and his agents held out for $4.4 million, and he didn’t sign.  There was more to the story than Crow and his agents’ stupidity and greed; apparently, the Nationals final offer was lower than what Crow’s agents had previously thought was on the table.

Nonetheless, Crow’s failure to sign in 2008 ultimately will cost him money.  He got a guaranteed $3.0 million from the Royals, but can earn almost $4.5 million if he spends all of 2010-2012 on a major league roster.

The incentive money isn’t much of a risk for the Royals, since he’ll be a bargain if he spends all of 2010 through 2012 on the major league roster.  It’s also highly unlikely since Crow pitched only sporadically in an Independent A league the last season and a half, and won’t pitch in the Royals’ regular season minor league system until the beginning of 2010.  I’d be very surprised if he pitched in the majors before September 2010 at the earliest.

Crow has also cost himself major league service time, as a number of players drafted in 2008 have already begun to accrue major league service time, including Gordon Beckham and Buster Posey.

The Royals, like the Pirates, were aggressive in this year’s draft, committing $6.45 million in guaranteed money to Crow and third and fourth round picks C/3B Wil Myers and LHP Chris Dwyer, according to Baseball America’s Jim Callis.

On the other hand, Tanner Scheppers came out ahead by refusing to sign in 2008, at least in terms of bonus money.  He signed with the Rangers for $1.25 million, setting a record for a Supplemental first round (sandwich) pick.

Scheppers had been drafted with the 48th pick in the 2008 Draft by the Pirates, but had not signed because the Pirates were concerned about possible arm problems.  He pitched well in Independent A ball, and clearly got more guaranteed money this year than he would have gotten last year.

While the Rangers are likely very pleased to have signed Scheppers, they failed to sign the ‘09 Draft’s 14th pick, high school pitcher Matt Purke, who will instead go to college at Texas Christian University.  Around the August 17 signing deadline, it was reported that Purke turned down an offer of $4 million from the Rangers.  However, Jim Reeves of the Dallas Star-Telegram reports that the Rangers’ current financial situation is so precarious and the Rangers are so dependent on MLB for operating funds (the team has had to borrow $15 million from MLB), that while the Rangers wanted to offer Purke $4 million, the Commissioner’s office forced the Rangers to offer the recommended slot amount, which was probably around $2.0 to $2.2 million.

I tend to think Reeves is right.  I just can’t see the 14th pick turning down a cool $4 million in guaranteed money in this economy.

I also tend to think that the Rangers current dire financial straights have a lot to do with the infamous $252 million contract Rangers owner Tom Hicks gave to Alex Rodriguez all those years ago.  Clearly, the current state of the economy is equally as important to the Rangers’ current fiscal woes.  However, the ARod contract was just absolutely devastating to the Rangers.

The Rangers gave ARod so much money that they had one of the larger overall payrolls in baseball, but didn’t have enough money to sign enough other good players to put a winning team on the field.  Fans want winners more than superstars, and they buy their tickets accordingly.

Then, when the Rangers were finally able to send ARod off to the Yankees, they had to eat tens of millions of dollars of ARod’s remaining contract for the privilege of getting rid of him.  According to this article, the Rangers had to eat $67 million of the remaining $179 million left on the contract at the time the trade was made.   If Hicks and the Rangers had that $67 million now, they probably would have signed Matt Purke.