Per Jordan, O's Won't Sign 6th/Anderson & 7th/Bywater Round Picks

[QBsILLEST1]

Hmm interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bywater get done. Of course you want to sign everyone, but both these guys are of the more expendable drafted players this year IMO. Anderson is one of those guys whose potential has never quite added up to production....

As far as Urban and Esquivel, I am a big fan of both kids. Esquivel is especially interesting to me. He hit a growth spurt in his senior year which helped spike his velocity into the low 90's. He also flashes a plus curve. PerfectGame said the growth spurt allowed for more physical projection for him to grow into now as he matures more. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out....

[glorydays]

Really, we all know this? Classic Sports Guy, welcome back, you were missed this week .

Ha! Not to derail my own thread but... SG - Did you see JTrea in your travels? I was just wondering... Haven't heard very much from him the past 2 weeks or so.

[dcterp]

Perhaps Jordan is sending Bywater a message that the Orioles have given about all they're willing to give on negotiations and if he wants to get it done it's time to be realistic. This strategy seemed to work with Givens last year.

[Jammer7]

Melewski has an entry that states the Bywater negotiations are ongoing and he is open to signing. Seems to be just a bit more positive than the entry in the OP.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2010/08/os-7th-round-pick-matt-bywater-still-open-to-signing.html

To me Jordan is posturing a bit in this. We'll see, but I think Bywater gets done.

[Tony-OH]

Bywater has not budged off his number since day one. Not A penny. To his credit, this is the number he told teams it would take to sign him. Unfortunately for him, he's going to lose leverage and money by becoming a senior sign and he'll lose a year of professional development.

At some point the young man has to decide whether he wants to go play pro baseball. His fastball barely touches 90 MPH so he's not going to suddenly go back to college and get drafted higher and get a bunch more money.

He'd be a nice extra arm in the organization but if he fails to sign it won't be the end of the world. The Orioles can't be held hostage by every one of these kids and their "advisors" who think they are so special. The Orioles are offering over slot. I can understand if Jordan walks away.

[olehippi]

I agree with Tony's post. Bywater isn't the end-all of college pitchers. Plus, from what I've read here and elsewhere, it sounds like the high school pitchers that Jordan mentioned might have more upside that Bywater. One already throws in the mid/high 90's.

[eb45]

Signing Urban would make not signing Bywater more than okay with me.

[MurphDogg]

Bywater has not budged off his number since day one. Not A penny. To his credit, this is the number he told teams it would take to sign him. Unfortunately for him, he's going to lose leverage and money by becoming a senior sign and he'll lose a year of professional development.

At some point the young man has to decide whether he wants to go play pro baseball. His fastball barely touches 90 MPH so he's not going to suddenly go back to college and get drafted higher and get a bunch more money.

He'd be a nice extra arm in the organization but if he fails to sign it won't be the end of the world. The Orioles can't be held hostage by every one of these kids and their "advisors" who think they are so special. The Orioles are offering over slot. I can understand if Jordan walks away.

Thanks for the insight Tony. Based on this he sounds like a classic victim of the deadline being mid-August rather than mid-July. A developed college starter who doesn't project to improve his stuff much should be mowing down hitters in the NY-Penn League and starting 2011 in Delmarva. Because of the late start, even if he signs tomorrow it would be surprising to see him begin next season in Delmarva and his advancement will have been seriously retarded.

[QBsILLEST1]

I agree with Tony's post. Bywater isn't the end-all of college pitchers. Plus, from what I've read here and elsewhere, it sounds like the high school pitchers that Jordan mentioned might have more upside that Bywater. One already throws in the mid/high 90's.

None of the HS arms we took throws in the high 90's. Both kids mentioned(Esquivel and Urban) touch the low 90's. Urban reportedly touched 95 in a predraft work out with the O's, but I wouldn't expect 95 from him at this point on the reg. But, yes, our HS guys mentioned in the Meleski blog have much higher upside than Bywater.

I was also hoping we would make a run at maybe Ken Wise and/or Joe Robinson. Robinson apparently can touch 96 on the occasion and has "solid average" secondaries with good command.

[eb45]

The video I saw of Esquivel had him sitting at about 87. Granted I think it was from March so maybe he's brought it up a bit since then, but to say he touches the low 90s isn't all that accurate. He's got a pretty good curve from what I understand though and misses a lot of bats.