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Blue Jays Do Not Expect To Sign First-Rounder Bickford
3:30pm: Jim Callis of Baseball America spoke with a person who is "in the know" on the Bickford situation and confirmed that Bickford is likely to attend Cal State Fullerton. Callis adds that it's not a physical issue preventing Bickford from signing and reminds readers that Bickford's pre-draft asking price was $4.25MM (Twitter links).
Callis also tweets that it's starting to look like the Jays won't sign 11th-round pick Jake Brentz, who was regarded as a second- or third-round talent. Baseball America had ranked Brentz 80th among draft prospects, while ESPN's Keith Law ranked him 45th. Brentz is committed to the University of Missouri. As Callis notes, the Blue Jays may only spend about $2MM on this year's draft.
10:36am: The Blue Jays do not expect to sign first-round pick Phil Bickford, GM Alex Anthopoulos told reporters including broadcaster Mike Wilner (Twitter link). The issue is not money, adds Wilner.
The Blue Jays drafted Bickford, a hard-throwing prep righty, tenth overall. He was a late riser on draft boards. In their scouting report, Baseball America noted that Bickford "could be a tough sign away from Cal State Fullerton." The Jays will receive the 11th overall pick as compensation next year if they fail to sign Bickford by tomorrow's 4pm central time deadline. The Blue Jays are believed to have offered the slot value of $2,921,400, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Toronto previously failed to sign their first-round pick in 2011, Tyler Beede, as well as supplemental round pick James Paxton in '09.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
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