Trouble in Bonus Town?

[Lucky Jim]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-orioles-draft-724,0,1561602.story

A little more than three weeks before the deadline to sign 2009 draft picks before losing their rights, Orioles director of amateur scouting Joe Jordan admitted that he is disappointed in the team's failure to sign more of their selections. The Orioles have signed 20 of their 50 picks, including five of their top 10.

"It's very disappointing that we haven't been able to get more of them out early and let them play this summer," Jordan said. "I don't think it's because of a lack of effort on our side. These players are very controlled by the people advising them. Guys are just going to have to understand that they're not going to get the money that they think they're going to.

"Sometimes you just have to hang in there with them and let this play out. We still have a lot of players we're going to sign. We've been trying to get things done, but we're getting to the point where we're going to have to sign the guys that want to go out and play."

Jordan acknowledged that there is a chance that the team won't be able to sign several of its top 10 picks and would instead put the money toward late-round selections the organization wasn't necessarily planning to sign originally.

The list of unsigned draftees includes second-round pick Mychal Givens, a high school shortstop out of Tampa, Fla. Jordan said there has been very little dialogue between the team and Givens' agent, former major league outfielder Ken Felder. If the Orioles were unable to sign Givens, they'd get a compensation pick in next year's draft.

"I hope if it doesn't come to that, but if it does it does," Jordan said. "We're going to make a good effort and if he doesn't sign, I'll be very disappointed. But I'll get over it."

[QBsILLEST1]

This is what I was thinking it meant when we signed our 50th rounder yesterday Tim Berry. We do have a lot of kids in those high rounds who have huge potential, it just that they will also take a good bit to sign to keep them from going to college. I really hope we get Henry and Tolliver. It sounds like Henry should sign, but havent heard anything on Tolliver who was orignially rated by BA as a better prospect than Henry. We could really bennefit frmo signing Coffey as well, those are the ones who I think we need to make a major effort in signing.

On a side note, which is a question, If we do not sign Givens who was slotted at 2:5, what pick will we get next year? Will it be 2:6? Id prefer to get a comp pick if it is 2:6 for next year, there was so much talent left available this year, hopefully in 2010 we make a better pick, Im honestly not thrilled with the Givens pick, maybe its just because I favor pitching so much....

[Lucky Jim]

That's fine. Though it still seems evidence of a gross-misreading of his picks.

[Skywalker76]

Great! First not drafting the best player available in the 1st round, then not signing one player worth mentioning internationally and now not even being able to sign half of the top 20 picks?

You have to be kidding me! I will give them until the deadline but for us the draft is so crucial that if they screw that up as well Jordan and/or MacPhail have to be held accountable.

[QBsILLEST1]

Yes, I see where your coming from with that. IMO as long as we sign some key players, we could have as strong of a draft in 09 as we have in a while though. Just make sure we nab the good ones and the others that would be system fillers, it doesnt matter. Im far from a JJ basher, but if we werent gonna sign em, we may as well have drafted the top notch names and given us a chance that way. I guess though, the theory Joe took into the draft here with the value risky picks, this kind of a process should be expected.

[QBsILLEST1]

Great! First not drafting the best player available in the 1st round, then not signing one player worth mentioning internationally and now not even being able to sign half of the top 20 picks?

You have to be kidding me! I will give them until the deadline but for us the draft is so crucial that if they screw that up as well Jordan and/or MacPhail have to be held accountable.

Half of the top 20 picks? I didnt realize that the signing period was already over........

[Stotle]

As an aside, the "not going to get what they think they'll get" probably isn't going to fly when you're talking about 1st, 2nd tier HSers with the option to go to a decent program and come out with (hopefully) a better economy and a better skill set. If BAL was planning on playing economics (if in fact they are -- we obviously don't have all the facts) then it seems like college juniors would have been the more appropriate focus, no? Shrug. I don't know...still four weeks, so not worth getting riled up. A little disappointing, but there's still time.

[Lucky Jim]

As an aside, the "not going to get what they think they'll get" probably isn't going to fly when you're talking about 1st, 2nd tier HSers with the option to go to a decent program and come out with (hopefully) a better economy and a better skill set. If BAL was planning on playing economics (if in fact they are -- we obviously don't have all the facts) then it seems like college juniors would have been the more appropriate focus, no? Shrug. I don't know...still four weeks, so not worth getting riled up. A little disappointing, but there's still time.

My take, too. There's circumstantial evidence of a bad gambit, but it's hard to say how it will play out.

If we DO fail to sign a handful of these guys - especially our top guys - then I'd rather not spin it, and just take a good, hard look at what we're doing.

We're not in a position to come away w/ half our top picks, no international signings AND early signability picks.

If we thought there was a strong chance that we'd lose out on top-10/20 guys and few-to-no international guys, then we should have gone w/ a different 1st round pick, likely.

That said, nothing definitive yet. And I'm certainly not jumping off the Jordan bandwagon. Just noting talking points for the future.

[PBR Street Gang]

This current situation is very out of the ordinary for Jordan and the O's. There has got to be more to it. Maybe there was a philosophical shift in this year's draft. Seems like there were more HS picks than recent past. No?

Even if we did sign them where would they play? Aren't the MiL rosters full? Perhaps they wasted picks on people they knew they weren't going to sign (later rounds) in some cases?

[Skywalker76]

Half of the top 20 picks? I didnt realize that the signing period was already over........

That is why I said I will wait until the deadline with a conclusion

[Stotle]

This current situation is very out of the ordinary for Jordan and the O's. There has got to be more to it. Maybe there was a philosophical shift in this year's draft. Seems like there were more HS picks than recent past. No?

Even if we did sign them where would they play? Aren't the MiL rosters full? Perhaps they wasted picks on people they knew they weren't going to sign (later rounds) in some cases?

Later rounds (anywhere from mid-teens to early-twenties usually forming the cut-off point) are generally used on organizational filler and long-shot signings. With regards to the latter, you aren't expecting those guys to sign.

If you spend a top 10 round pick on someone, it should be someone who you think you have a good chance of signing. It may not be definite, but you don't pick someone that you know will be a long shot. It seems like BAL maybe picked some guys that are a little more difficult to sign then they expected. The same, perhaps some of these kids have had a change in heart since being selected (though it's probably unlikely that this is true with a large number of them, based on how past drafts have operated).

[bigbird]

Problem is most of these kids are being advised by someone who is really out of their league. Pre draft parameters are set then some Bozo gets involved and gives the kid some bad info. Tells ma a lot about integrity.

[hoosiers]

Problem is most of these kids are being advised by someone who is really out of their league. Pre draft parameters are set then some Bozo gets involved and gives the kid some bad info. Tells ma a lot about integrity.

Agree. Seems like there was some special focus this year on kids who would sign. I believe there have been comments that we did not follow Givens so closely, but the other top 10 kids should be signing.

Givens, and his agent, need to understand where he was drafted and get in line. If they are waiting for $500k or so, it seems like he will go back in the pool. We just get to pick again - which is fine. I'd really like to get Henry and Berry signed and then see who else wants to play pro ball.

The other Berry signing might indicate that JJ is going to start moving on some other kids drafted in case someone like Givens did not sign. In that case, the $ might not be there for Givens if a couple more kids come on board. It's a shame Givens' agent was not called for the article. If his player is being offered slot, I'd be interested in hearing what the issue is.

[Pruke]

I don't know how budgets are managed internally, but money not spent on draftees could/should be used on international signees (hint hint Sano...).

[Can_of_corn]

Unreasonable demands by draftees or not I will be very annoyed if the FA:

1-Goes cheap in the first round

2-Doesn't sign any international free agents of note

3-Doesn't sign Givens

4-Doesn't sign a fair percentage of overslot kids

I can understand one of the above happening, maybe two but not three or all four.