Five clubs now have new top prospects heading out of the amateur draft, writes ESPN.com’s Keith Law (Insider link). He lists the White Sox (Carlos Rodon), Angels (Sean Newcomb), Mariners (Alex Jackson), Tigers (Derek Hill), and Mets (Michael Conforto) as teams with a new man on top of their respective totem poles. Of course, none of these players have been reported to have signed with their new clubs.
Here’s more on Rodon as well as some other notes from around the game:
- The White Sox appear to have saved $385.6K with their round two-through-ten amateur draft signings, tweets Jim Callis of MLB.com. That would free the club to commit up to $6,107,100 to Rodon, the third overall selection of the draft, without incurring any penalties.
- Cuban prospect Raisel Iglesias, a right-handed pitcher, has been granted an extended signing window, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America. By operation of several rules, Iglesias would have been required to sign by June 15 to avoid being subject to the next year’s July 2 bonus pools. Instead, he and three other, lesser-regarded Cubans (Jozzen Cuesta, Eduardo Rives, and Orestes Solano) will now be permitted until July 1 of this year to sign without being subject to changes in the international signing system. Last we heard, Iglesias (whose first name has been spelled in various ways in different reports) was set to put on a showcase in Haiti, where he has established residency. He is said to be capable of potentially joining a major league bullpen as soon as this year.
- In other international news, the Yankees have agreed to substantial bonuses with several top July 2 players, reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. Dermis Garcia ($3.6MM bonus), Nelson Gomez ($2.8MM), and Christopher Torres ($2.6MM) are all said to be headed to the Yankees. Kiley McDaniel of Scout.com previously reported that the trio, among others, was set to sign with New York, though the indication at the time was that Garcia would land $3MM while Torres would get just $1MM.
- The Tigers could end up regretting their move to lock up Justin Verlander two years before his original extension was set to expire, Ben Lindbergh writes for FOX Sports. Though Verlander bounced back from struggles last year, Lindbergh explains that a variety of indicators suggest that the 31-year-old may no longer be the elite arm that he once was.
- In an interesting discussion of pitching risk regarding another key Tigers hurler, Max Scherzer, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs writes that the ace is showing the possible value of utilizing private insurance rather than opting for the two extremes of signing an extension or bearing the risk of reaching (and landing a big contract in) free agency. Cameron concludes that policies like Scherzer’s “are almost certainly cheaper [for the player] than taking the kinds of long-term deals that MLB teams have been offering of late.” You’ll want to give the fascinating piece a full read.
