New Melewski article with Jordan interview

[winudi]

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2010/08/as-the-signing-deadlines-nears-a-q-and-a-with-joe-jordan.html

Sounds like things are going well in Jordan's eyes. I really like how open he is about the negotiations.

[QBsILLEST1]

Not sounding overly optimistic on Anderson or Bywater. Doesn't surprise me, they seem like they are some of the more expendable arms in the draft, though I am thinking we will get atleast one of them. The back up plan however is what I am interested in......

[Frobby]

Good info, thanks for posting. Sounds like Klein may get to Frederick (or even Bowie) in time for the playoffs, after scraping off the rust at Aberdeen. That's exciting.

[PapaRick]

This is really encouraging. I would be happy with a couple of the late round, high upside over slots if we can't get the remaining top three (after Machado, of course).

[justD]

Sounds like Klein may get to Frederick (or even Bowie) in time for the playoffs, after scraping off the rust at Aberdeen.

No, you mean gutting off the rust.

"...There is no goal in terms of innings or appearances, it's just get him out there, gut the rust off and get some work."

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. God knows, I do typos all the time, I just thought it was funny when I read it.

[QBsILLEST1]

This is really encouraging. I would be happy with a couple of the late round, high upside over slots if we can't get the remaining top three (after Machado, of course).

There are 4 or 5 I'd absolutely love to have, Ken Wise, Austin Urban, Esquivel, Robinson......When the dust settles, I have a feeling that we are gonna wind up with just about the same amount of overslotters as last year, as a whole have about the same upside, but much much much safer, not only because we have a couple college guys sprinkled in there, but also because none of these guys are injury concerns.......

We really did a good job on this draft, its weird because I hated it at first, but now I like it more than 08 or 09 if we can nab 3 or 4 of those above mentioned overslotters.....

Also, if you add in the fact that we got Veloz and some other Dominican pitcher for another 6 figure bonus, we definitely injected our system with some much needed talent...

[LookinUp]

"As far Bywater and Dixon Anderson. You know we are working those things, but I'm not overly optimistic that we sign both of them. We're still working on them and will continue to do that for the next couple of days.

"We've got some really good backup plans. Things that we purposedly did, down in the draft. At some point in time, I'll turn my attention toward those guys, but we are going to make every effort to sign all three of the guys you mentioned. Whether we get that done, I really don't have a good feel for that."

Interesting stuff here. In other words, we'll spend right about what our budget allows, as opposed to we'll spend as much as necessary to add as many talented players into our system as possible.

Sounds reasonable, but it's not what a lot of people will want to hear.

[hoosiers]

Interesting stuff here. In other words, we'll spend right about what our budget allows, as opposed to we'll spend as much as necessary to add as many talented players into our system as possible.

Sounds reasonable, but it's not what a lot of people will want to hear.

I would not draw any conclusions on the above.

Last year, Jordan cut off talks with our second round pick, signed Coffey and Ohlmann, and then came back to sign our second round pick.

I would be happy with Dixon, Gonzalez and Urban. At the end of the day, if we miss with Bywater, I can live with that.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Interesting stuff here. In other words, we'll spend right about what our budget allows, as opposed to we'll spend as much as necessary to add as many talented players into our system as possible.

Sounds reasonable, but it's not what a lot of people will want to hear.

I'm not sure about that interpretation. The final decision may be driven by perceived value as much as by budget; i.e., they have a figure in mind for each of them, and they'll sign those who will come in at that level.

That's not necessarily the same as "We'll keep signing them until we run out of room in the budget."

Also, the idea that there's a hard budget limit is a pretty good negotiating ploy for getting kids and their families off the fence. ("This offer good only until we hit our limit; don't be the last to raise your hand."

[blazer]

This article is very encouraging to me. We seem 50/50 on Dixon/Bywater/Gonzalez; I'd be surprised if at least two don't sign. The last time we did not sign more than one of our top 10 picks was 2004 when our #1 pick did not sign. If we don't sign one or two of those guys, then it sounds like we'll overpay a little for a later round pick(s). I still think we sign one or two of those guys even if all three sign, so that would be another 4-5 players minimum we sign in addition to Machado, all of which would be overslot at this point. In all that would be 39-40 players of 49 possible.