August 15th draft pick signing date.

[John Miller]

So does anyone have any leads on draft signings for the crew? Since there are only a couples days left?

[Boy Jeenius]

No reports on Brewers out there yet, but there is an alarming trend this year that may significantly affect them in the 2008 draft. As of this AM, 18 of the first 64 players drafted have not signed. The newest "slotting system" of bonuses has many players and their advisors(agents) upset.

There is a good chance that many of these players will go back into next year's draft, and the teams that drafted them will recieve the corresponding pick next year. So for draftniks that are excitedly looking forward to Milwaukee getting 4 extra picks from Linebrink and Cordero, those picks could be moved back considerably (as well as their 1st and 2nd rounders etc) as well. Texas alone has not signed their 1st rounder(#17), nor their 2 sandwich picks(35 & 64). They also appear to have lost their #5 (no compensation).

[colbyjack]

No news, as the Brewers scouting dep't. keeps this info pretty quiet. I do know they were hoping to sign Scarpetta depending on how he performed over the summer.

 

The slotting system isn't new, that's been going on for a few years. Many agents and players are trying to push teams to get slot value based on last year's numbers, not this year's (which went down 10%). I think many people expected a lot of the early picks to hold out as long as possible, knowing that they had until the August 15th deadline. I don't think anyone is necessarily upset at anyone else, it's just working the system, as time is the best tool when it comes to negotiations in an attempt to make the other side sweat.

 

The sandwich round next year won't be as long as it was this past year, as the classifications for Type A and Type B FAs are going to change heading into this offseason. I believe Type A FAs used to be the top 30% of players at their respective positions, which will be changed to the top 20%. Type B FAs used to be the top 30-50%, which will now be the top 20-40% IIRC. That means the picks will be reduced by roughly 20%, in theory, which means that the 34 picks from last year could be cut back to the 25-28 range. Of course it also depends on the FA pool, which I'm not in tune with.

 

Having the new unsigned draft pick compensation though at Boy Jeenius noted could be interesting. The talent that goes back into next year's draft vs. the picks caused by those unsigned players could be close to a wash. It should be an interesting couple of days.

[Boy Jeenius]

Good point Colby, I had not thought of that. The picks won't really be diluted in value, because that talent will go back too(Texas' #1 has signed with Navarro JC and one of the sandwich picks was a college junior). I guess some of them might go to a 4 year. Interesting day or 2 ahead.

 

Didn't I read that MLB was trying to push the slotting $$ back a bit, as well as moving up the signing date?

[colbyjack]

I think Texas will get Beaven signed. I think most people have been surprised how long it has taken the Rangers in particular to sign their early picks, but that may have to do with them playing the waiting game with Julio Borbon, a Scott Boras advisee and a player that really could benefit from going back for his senior year since he missed at least a month of his junior year due to a broken ankle and wasn't the same player upon his return.

 

The Yankees and Red Sox reportedly have come to terms with several of their draft picks, but are just waiting to make the announcement. Some news and notes from a couple of prospect publications:

 

http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2007/notebooks/allansimpson/notebook_81307.aspx

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=196

[Pioneers3]

I know the Braves and Jason Heyward had agreed to a deal in early July late June but they didn't want to sign to early because it was way over slot value and the Braves didn't want to make the MLB Commish upset, but most teams will sign the top pick today or tomorrow and most if not all will be over slot value, and the clubs will say, hey we had to get our top pick signed and we did what was best for us and not MLB!

[bklynbrewcrew]

Baseball America is saying that Detroit is close to signing Rick Porcello for a 7 million dollar major league deal. The draft isnt even working like its intended to when the best pitcher in the draft goes at the end of the first round for signability issues.

[colbyjack]

The Detroit Tigers deserve a lot of props over the past few years for not allowing signability to get in the way of their player development and scouting. The past three years they have drafted and signed Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and now Rick Porcello. That's quite the haul given the slots they were picking at, and seem to be poised to be a very good team for a while.

 

They have also reportedly come to above-slot deals with Casey Crosby and Cale Iorg.

[KCBrewerfan34]

FYI, per Baseball America all 1st rounders signed. The new system is great for baseball, Boras and others can't drag negotiations on forever and if you don't get your player signed you get a pick minus 1 slot next year, finally baseball is doing something right. It's not a perfect system but its BETTER.

 

 

Go Brew!!!!

[SoCalBrewfan]

I am not sure how MLB arrived at the arbitrary 10% reduction in signing bonuses, but that seemed to cause some serious friction in the first round, with a number of guys signing for 2006 slot money instead of the MLB recommendations for 2007. Still, in the end they all signed...even KC got their guy and without spending anything close to what Boras was talking about earlier in the summer.

 

Any word on whether the Brewers signed Cody Scarpetta?

[colbyjack]

I really think the only reason everyone seems so surprised by the money that was handed out because it all came down to one day. In the past these signings would have still happened, they would have just been spread out more. It shouldn't be a surprise that every single first-round pick signed, including the sandwich picks, as that is usually the case every year. Teams want to sign their picks and the players taken that early want to sign, knowing getting that kind of money is a once in a lifetime opportunity (usually).

 

The highest unsigned player is Josh Fields of Georgia, the 5th overall selection in the 2nd round. He will return to Georgia for his senior year and see if he can get back on track. As of right now, the '08 draft class isn't anywhere near last year's class when it comes to the depth in short relievers, and with a good spring Fields could put himself back in the middle of the first round.

 

Hunter Morris is the only other unsigned 2nd rounder.

 

There were 4 unsigned 3rd rounders, so there will only be 6 compensatory picks due to the new draft pick compensation rules.

 

And I'm waiting to hear if the Brewers managed to sign anyone else. I'll be sure to share that info when and if I get it.

[ImGantnerDamit]

Not sure if it has been posted yet but the Brewers just signed Cody Scarpetta.

 

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/SPORTS/108160078/-1/NEWSNOW02

[Blazer25]

Former Blazers who signed this year:

 

Cody Scarpetta-Brewers

Brett Zawacki- Cardinals

Cal Stanke- Dodgers

Ryan Zink- Yankees

 

That brings our total to 13 former guys who are in pro ball.

 

Congrats.

[colbyjack]

Thanks for finding and sharing that link ImGantnerDamit (still the best handle ever). That's good news to have Scarpetta in the fold.

 

And congrats to you and your former players Blazer.

[colbyjack]

I have learned that not only have the Brewers signed Cody Scarpetta, but they have also signed 44th round catcher Shawn Zarraga. Zarraga is an extremely athletic catcher that will add depth to a position that seemed to be an organizational weakness but is slowly but surely becoming a modest strength.

 

Kudos to the Brewers scouting dep't. for signing all of their picks within the top 20 rounds, and 32 players overall.

[mls4]

I think the brewerfan.net FAQ, draft section should re-do the definition of "draft and follow" to reflect the new rules.

[colbyjack]

Scarpetta signs for $350,000 per PGCrosschecker:

 

 

 

 

[link]http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2007/notebooks/allansimpson/notebook_81707.aspx[/link

 

 

 

 

The Brewers and Mets also made significant runs at signing their picks, both signing their first 19 selections. The Brewers went over slot on only one of their selections in doing so, signing Scarpetta in the 11th round for $350,000.

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that MLB only makes slot recommendations for the first five rounds. After that, they ask that any pick signed after the 5th doesn't exceed what the last slot in the fifth round was (I believe around $120,000).

[Nader Raider Tim]

That is kind of dissapointing that the Brewers didn't exceed slot value, it would have been nice if they could have gotten one or two extra players for above slot but oh well. Not that I know much/anything about him, and I am certain he would have been uber costly, but Jonathan White was a guy I was hoping would get signed.

 

Does the comment about not going over slot value, does that include the signing of the 44th round Catcher, Za...(whatever it is)? Just curious about him, playing at such a small school I wonder what sort of a prospect he actually is.

[colbyjack]

I mentioned the part I did about signing bonuses after the 5th round because for all we know the Brewers dropped some signifcant money on players that were drafting in the 11th rounds and below.

 

For instance, the Brewers signed 6th rounder Dan Merklinger for over $123,000, the so-called slot value for any pick after the fifth round. They also dropped $115,000 on 7th rounder Efrain Nieves and $100,000 on 9th rounder Kristian Bueno. Their respective slot values, if they were to continue to decrease pick-by-pick beyond the 5th round would be significantly less than those amounts.

 

I also remember reading/hearing somewhere on the forums that 20th rounder Cameron Robulack signed for a pretty healthy amount, and I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Zarraga, Wheeler, Morales and Paciorek signed for healthy bonuses, even if none of those bonuses were considered over slot.

 

And they have already dropped $450,000 on Itaniel-Guzman, the outfielder from the DR.

 

Jonathan White is a guy I also would have loved to see sign, but I knew as soon as I saw his name that we would be heading back to Vanderbilt with the possibility of being a 3rd-5th round guy next year, possibly signing in the $500,000 range.

[DHonks]

Plus, it's hard to be disappointed when they signed far more players than in any other recent draft.

[beckyjean69]

Is the Blazers a team somewhere?

[colbyjack]

The Midwest Blazers are a traveling scout team based out of SE Wisconsin, but made up of players from around the Midwest (and even nationally):

 

http://eteamz.active.com/blazerhs/index.cfm?showdonate=1

[colbyjack]

I'm sure this will rile up a few people, but according to a subscriber-only based feature on Baseball America's homepage, the Brewers were 25th among the 30 big-league teams in regards to how much money was spent to sign their selections in the top 10 rounds. And one of those teams below the Brewers were the Astros, who only spent $536,000 since they didn't pick until the 3rd round and even then managed to not sign their 3rd, 4th and 8th round picks (that's miserable).

 

And of course the teams on the top are the ones that dropped a huge chunk of change in one or two players (D-Rays, Orioles, Tigers) and/or those with a lot of extra early picks (Giants, Padres, Blue Jays, Rangers).

 

The Brewers spent $3,177,700 on their first nine picks (they forfeited their 2nd rounder), and $2M of that was on LaPorta. David Price, Mike Moustakas, Josh Vitters Matt Wieters, Rick Porcello and Andrew Brackman all received signing bonuses greater than what the Brewers dropped on their top nine picks.

 

Now, of course a few things make this happen. Had the Brewers had their 2nd round pick, they would have dropped another $460,000 or so based on slot value on that player, which would have jumped them up six spots.

 

The Brewers also seemed to have signed a few of their later rounds picks to greater than slot value, particularly Cody Scarpetta.

 

The Brewers also had one of the pricier DFE classes, and signed a Dominican OF for nearly half a million.

 

I know that sounds like excuses, but the money is being spent. I do wish the Brewers would make a bigger splash on draft day one of these years given some of the players that fall annually, but if nothing else this only backs up what I say each and every year about forgeting the notion that the team will actually do so.

[beckyjean69]

"The Midwest Blazers are a traveling scout team based out of SE Wisconsin, but made up of players from around the Midwest (and even nationally):

 

http://eteamz.active.com/blazerhs/index.cfm?showdonate=1 "

 

Thank you for the information......I had never heard of them before. Kind of looks like a little league team for bigger kids.