The Marlins have informed first round draft choice Andrew Heaney that they won't sign him, Jim Callis of Baseball America reports (Twitterlinks). The Marlins have yet to offer close to the recommended bonus of $2.8MM, Callis adds. The Marlins offered just $2.6MM and won’t sign Heaney, Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel reports.
The Marlins selected the Oklahoma State left-hander with the ninth overall pick in last month's draft. The sides have until tomorrow at 4pm CDT to agree to terms. Heaney entered the draft as the best college southpaw available, according to Baseball America. He's presently one of six unsigned first round selections. However, Callis can't see the Marlins walking away from such a high pick.
Wow….thats a terrible move. How do you not sign your first round pick? I assume he re-enters the draft next year?
You do realize there is a new CBA right?
Yah, but he is a Lefty with projectable stuff. To me he is a must sign. I understand they are trying to negotiate, but wow. Most of the teams are going to the 5% area to sign picks. You do what you have to do to sign your picks without losing a draft pick
Agreed, and it isn’t a low pick, he is 9th overall, and college player, he would be in the majors in a couple years probably.
He would have been ready by the time Mark Buehrle’s contract ends. Marlins are really dropping the ball here.
It looks to me like Jeffrey Loria gamed the new CBA, just like he gamed the City of Miami to pay most of the price of the new stadium.
To be honest.. The local politicians “gamed” the system and how many have been indicted so far, under scrutiny still from the Mayor on down?
That stadium was a huge mistake from the very start.
I believe so. He’ll be a senior eligible for the draft.
So… They’re willing to shell out massive contracts to Reyes, Buehrle, and Bell. And make a sizable offer to Albert…
But can’t throw 2.8 mil at the best lhp in the draft?
Again new CBA it’s not hard to understand.
You now have flippantly posted that twice. The Marlins have two players left to sign and could sign them both to slot deals and still have $100k+ left over. That doesn’t even count the 5% overage before they lose a pick.
You clearly don’t understand the new CBA.
They can give him $3,162,755 without losing a pick. Granted their 3rd rounder would have to sign at or under the slot bonus. I’m sure this is a negotiation tactic to try to get him to sign for under slot, but you have to sign him. Instead of telling people they dont understand, why not explain so that we all gain some more knowledge?
Everything he said is correct under the new CBA. Is there a relevant point you think he’s missing? That perhaps you’d like to share?
Obviously he’s just trolling, but Heaney was a huge overdraft; best college lefty really doesn’t mean much when you/or I can’t even think of the second best college lefty (Alex Wood?) who was a second round pick.
Marlins will keep a top pick spot for next year (10th) and have the luxury of having the slot money from their actual first round pick to pick a guy with signability issues, like a Mark Appel who would be available next year or even a Kevin Gausman. James Ramsay showed a College senior can still get paid and with the two allotments a guy like Appel could as well next year.
Draft strategies for this year will not work the same next year due to smaller compensation rounds, so why not Shane Loux your pick this year and pick up an Archie Bradley type next year.
Again I don’t know what this dudes refering to, but this is my interpretation. Heaney was just a huge overdraft and if he wouldn’t accept 2.6 mil then he’s a foo and the Marlins are better off with what may turn out to be a very good top ten next year depending on who doesn’t sign this year.
I disagree on him being a “huge” overdraft. He would’ve been gone by pick 20 at the latest, with several teams like the Reds and Indians also looking into him. So maybe he was drafted about 5 spots too high. Not “huge” imo
I think you don’t.
Again, your statements are non-sensical….stop being a delta bravo and explain what that has to do with anything.
They should have offered slot money as a rule of not wasting such a high pick and 1 years time.
Just like with any CBA, the current CBA benefits players who have been playing longest and, of course, the union (MLBPA). They don’t care about the new guys as long as they make their own millions.
These reports of players not signing mean next to nothing until the deadline passes. Both players and teams play leverage games. It’s not worth overreacting at this point…
When you consider that the Marlins have a policy of requiring a physical and full bloodwork before signing a player, not signing him today makes it extremely unlikely he will get signed by the deadline tomorrow.
Most teams won’t sign contracts without physicals. Some teams will get a physical done relatively early on in the process with potential tough signs so that the timing isn’t an issue come deadline time. I don’t know whether that is the case here or not, however.
Wasn’t this draft generally considered to be the top 8 players and then “everyone else”? As such, I would think the slot money for the 9th pick would represent a tremendous overpay. I think the Marlins are playing a little hardball here. Even if they’re offering half of slot, how does a 20 year old kid turn down 1.4M?
I know, and if he gets injured before next year, he loses it all. Also next year’s draft is stronger, so he probably won’t get anymore money.
Next year’s draft doesn’t look to be any stronger.
Exactly. Just like slot is way undervalue for some players (McCullers/Giolito/Appel) it can be be overslot for others.
I’m surprised he wouldn’t take $2.6m. That’s about par for that area of the draft considering he’s not top-8 talent.
My understanding of new draft rules would make it very stupid for Marlins to pass up on trying to sign draft pick this year for next year. The amount that each team gets to play with is based upon the teams record the year before. Theoretically at least the Marlins expect to finish with a considerably better record this year than last year so they would be slotting a second a first round draft pick in with overall less money to do it with and my guess is but I don’t know this is that if they don’t sign pick next year they would lose pick all together and therefore they are going to be in a weaker bargaining position with whoever they draft next year. This is why most teams had deals worked out with first rounders before drafting them. This just reflects bad preparation on Marlins part of changed rules.
Comp picks from players not signing are protected for two years.
You are kinda right about the pool, your record does effect your pool but indirectly.
Every pick has a value and then they add em all up, so comp picks increase the pool based on their own value as do the competitive balance lottery picks.
The player has alot more to lose than the teams, waiting one year isnt a big deal in the long run.
My Phd is in Biochemistry, not Mathematics. However, speaking as someone with 12+ years of college and postdoctoral training who makes less than 100K (professor)… 2.8 MM and 2.6 MM seem very “close” numbers to me.
yes, but did you know there was a new CBA? Because knowing that, and understanding that will answer all of your questions.
Apparently.
I did, and I do. My point was more about the article… they have yet to offer anything close to the recommended value… when in reality they have made a 93% offer, which seems close enough to me to not have to wait a year. Of course he may have Boras representing him.
I guess this is a possibility when you take draft eligible underclassmen instead of waiting for them to graduate. The Orioles are having similar issues with Gausman. He has said his heart’s still with LSU, and though the Orioles have made the offer of the slot amount, 4.2, apparently it’s not enough. The Birds say Gausman will sign, we’ll see.
However, Gausman has said he wants to go back to LSU to win the CWS next year, while the article says Heaney will likely play independent ball. If you’re not going back to college, which Heaney could do, why would you play indy ball when a major league club is offering you 2.6 million? I really don’t understand.
Most college players sign after their junior year.
I agree with everything you just said.
Maybe he doesn’t want to play for the Marlins.
I wish the Orioles could trade Gausman to the Marlins and the Marlins trade Heaney to the O’s. See if something could be worked out. Have MLB grant a one time special dispensation or something.
To me it sounds like the Orioles messed up by picking Gausman and the Marlins with Heaney.
Picks are protected now for two years, new CBA. Marlins aren’t punting any of their bargaining power. Next years pick will be 10th overall unless pirates/orioles fail to sign their dudes. Marlins will have two picks and two multi million dollar bonus pools so unlike the pirates, if someone falls to them they will have the necessary funds to take a guy like an Appel – so who knows yet if this is a good move or not.
Its my understanding they need to offer at least slot to qualify for the compensation pick next year. In other words the Pirates will get a compensation first rounder for next year because they have offered Appel slot, but the Marlins will not enjoy the same benefit if they cant bring their offer up.
There is literally no excuse not to offer the 9th pick slot money. If the Marlins go through with this it will be embarrassing.
I was under the impression they had to at least offer them 80% of slot or else the player can become a free agent. So they have to at least have offered him 2.24 – they offered him 2.4 so they have followed the rules.
Something to think about too. with the state the marlins farm system is in, can they afford to not sign anyone?
What I don’t understand is why, for a first-round pick, the Marlins don’t even offer slot money. I can understand with later guys if you’re trying to save some money for those early picks, but this is the guy you would be saving for! Otherwise why did you pick him that early?
I could understand if they don’t offer over slot, but this one just baffles me.