WEDNESDAY, 2:49pm: The Rangers agreed to terms with both Deglan and Skole, tweets Wilson. We learned earlier that Deglan's deal is worth $1MM, while MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo tweets that Skole agreed to a $1.557MM deal.
TUESDAY, 7:58am: ESPN's Richard Durrett confirmed the Rangers' agreement with Deglan last night. He also noted that the team's #15 pick, high school outfielder Jake Skole, is close to signing. Skole already told Georgia Tech he won't be attending, reports Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's a pair of affordable first-rounders for Texas, though it should be noted that they had to be safe with #15 because they would not get a pick next year if the player doesn't sign.
MONDAY, 9:01pm: Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus hears that the Rangers have agreed to a $1MM deal with catcher Kellin Deglan (Twitter link). The Rangers selected the 18-year-old British Colombia native 22nd overall with their second pick of the first round.
Wow, that was fast. Fast track him to A-Ball I guess.
The Rangers’ picks tonight reflect the sad financial state of the ball club. Nolan and JD professed a “best available” philosophy with no impact from the delayed sale of the club. Bull! I can understand the #15 pick since it was unprotected. However, the #22 pick was an absolute stretch. Deglan was rated the #32 prospect by Keith Law at ESPN and #51 by Baseball Propsectus. They passed on Cox, Castellanos and another half dozen players rated in the Top 50 at that #22 pick. Money was no issue???
Did you really believe them even before the draft started?
It was obvious that the Rangers went with signability over talent. Personally, I don’t understand why when the ownership situation should be settled before the signing deadline in August. I guess the new owners will be financially strapped coming in, which doesn’t bode well for the trade deadline.
The Astros did pretty much the same thing even though Uncle Drayton isn’t supposed to be as broke as Hicks.
*sigh* Maybe MLB should allow trades so the have-nots and won’ts can go ahead and trade all their first round draft picks to teams with money like the Red Sox and Yanks. Those teams are always loaded for championship runs anyway.