Kevin Gausman has now signed for the Orioles

[Chavez Ravine]

Or, as another option, they could have held firm at 4 million for Gausman then only had a 68K overage.

Do you think Gausman would have left 4 million on the table?

Without being purview to the details of the negotiations, this debate is a bit silly. But my guess is that as of yesterday Poche would not commit to signing to a number that would allow the orioles to say to Gausman “Look we are going to offer you 4 mil so that we can sign Poche for X; that’s our last offer”. The O’s decided they were done playing chicken with their #1 pick for the likes of Poche and greased the skids with Gausman with the Poche allocation.

[Flash- bd]

I wasn't just talking about Kim.

This organization is still desperately thin after their top 5 draft picks. They could have used a top 100 talent. They could use a dozen top 100 talents.

Absolutely. We don't disagree in our desire for us to sign Velazquez so much as we disagree about the actual possibility of it ever happening. Let's put it this way: you can pretty much guarantee they were done negotiating with Velazquez/Poche a few days ago. At this point it's almost like, why not give the extra money to Gausman?

[Can_of_corn]

Absolutely. We don't disagree in our desire for us to sign Velazquez so much as we disagree about the actual possibility of it ever happening. Let's put it this way: you can pretty much guarantee they were done negotiating with Velazquez/Poche a few days ago. At this point it's almost like, why not give the extra money to Gausman?

Why not give the extra money to me? Why not let Big Joe sit on the ML roster for a couple extra days during the all star break? Why ever spend more then you have to on something? The world would not have ended if the O's had ended up 132K under the cap at 5 PM today.

[xian4]

Is it possible the deal came down to the last minute to see if Poche or Velazquez would come down on their numbers ?

[Flash- bd]

Why not give the extra money to me? Why not let Big Joe sit on the ML roster for a couple extra days during the all star break? Why ever spend more then you have to on something? The world would not have ended if the O's had ended up 132K under the cap at 5 PM today.

Yes, but the world would have ended (on here at least) if the Orioles hadn't signed Gausman. 132K makes it pretty certain it gets done. You're really stretching to level a complaint at the FO, it seems to me...

[Can_of_corn]

Yes, but the world would have ended (on here at least) if the Orioles hadn't signed Gausman. 132K makes it pretty certain it gets done. You're really stretching to level a complaint at the FO, it seems to me...

Gausman isn't Wieters, Machado or Bundy. I don't know if the Gausman doesn't sign thread would have even been as long as the Eveland trade thread.

Looking at the names that went around him, the O's should not have gone overslot. It could set a bad precedent with future drafts under DD.

[xian4]

Orioles Director of Scouting Gary Rajsich, 1st round draft pick Kevin Gausman & EVP of Baseball Ops Dan Duquette. pic.twitter.com/8GdnsOSn

[Lucky Jim]

Overage is taxed at 75%.

Gotcha. Too much small print for me.

[Flash- bd]

Gausman isn't Wieters, Machado or Bundy. I don't know if the Gausman doesn't sign thread would have even been as long as the Eveland trade thread.

Looking at the names that went around him, the O's should not have gone overslot. It could set a bad precedent with future drafts under DD.

Of course he isn't...that's like saying Nick Markakis isn't Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, or Matt Kemp. Those are once-in-a-generation kind of prospects. All 3 of those guys would've easily gone #1 in this draft.

The second part of your claim is where you're off-the-mark, I think; Gausman was the best SP in the draft (by most accounts) and had good leverage as a college sophomore. I really have a hard time seeing this hurting them in future negotiations...

[Lucky Jim]

Let's put it this way: you can pretty much guarantee they were done negotiating with Velazquez/Poche a few days ago. At this point it's almost like, why not give the extra money to Gausman?

Well, that would be yet another way this FO deviated (in unfortunate ways) from the prior, no?

[mark_beckens]

Would rather have Gausman and "overpay" to sign him, then have him go back to school and be able to sign Poche and Velasquez, sp.

[Flash- bd]

Well, that would be yet another way this FO deviated (in unfortunate ways) from the prior, no?

Eh, it's hard to really compare this to other drafts. There's no real corollary, here. I think it's pretty clear that Poche--as Weams said--changed his number and it wasn't a number the O's were willing to go to (possibly from a scouting perspective as much as a financial perspective), and Velazquez wasn't going to sign for a number that was going to allow them to sign Gausman (there's a reason he dropped to the 15th round, people...if he were an easy sign, or even a slightly likely sign, a BA top 100 guy doesn't fall out of round 11, you'd have to think).

The job was to sign Gausman. They signed him.

[Chavez Ravine]

Well, that would be yet another way this FO deviated (in unfortunate ways) from the prior, no?

Only unfortunate if you like percolating.

[Flash- bd]

IMO, a more plausible criticism (if you must criticize) is drafting Poche in the first place. There is an argument to be made we should've spent our 5th round pick better and had a sense he was going to be a guy that was going to be too difficult to sign. I still think that's a stretch, but less of one than the other criticisms that are being made.

[Can_of_corn]

Eh, it's hard to really compare this to other drafts. There's no real corollary, here. I think it's pretty clear that Poche--as Weams said--changed his number and it wasn't a number the O's were willing to go to (possibly from a scouting perspective as much as a financial perspective), and Velazquez wasn't going to sign for a number that was going to allow them to sign Gausman (there's a reason he dropped to the 15th round, people...if he were an easy sign, or even a slightly likely sign, a BA top 100 guy doesn't fall out of round 11, you'd have to think).

The job was to sign Gausman. They signed him.

Not upset about Poche at all. Word out of Velazquez's mouth was 500K. They O's could have signed Gausman for slot and still gave him 500K. Instead they waved the white flag and overpaid. I guarantee you whomever the O's pick in the first round next season, their adviser is going to point out that they went over slot for Gausman.