Scott Boras Will Advise Anthony Rendon
Anthony Rendon tells Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Scott Boras is acting as an adviser to the college baseball star (Twitter links). In the second tweet, Kovacevic notes that since Boras is just an adviser to Rendon, the relationship doesn't affect Rendon's amateur status. Rendon, a junior at Rice, is eligible to declare for the amateur draft after this season, and is a favorite to be selected with the first overall pick, held by the Pirates.
As Kovacevic mentions in his initial tweet, the Bucs could once again find themselves negotiating with Boras over a highly-touted amateur third baseman should Boras eventually become Rendon's agent. Pittsburgh selected Boras client Pedro Alvarez second overall in the 2008 draft, and the two sides became embroiled in a dispute over whether or not Alvarez agreed to a contract before the August 15 deadline. The situation was eventually resolved, but one wonders if the Bucs might use this incident as motivation to instead take George Springer, Gerrit Cole or another top prospect with the first pick.
Boras has represented the last two #1 picks in the amateur draft (Bryce Harper in 2010, Stephen Strasburg in 2009) and three of the last five overall (Luke Hochevar in 2006).
Odds & Ends: Aardsma, Rendon, Miner, Germano
Let's help ring in the New Year with some links..
- "I've grown to really like that mlbtraderumors.com site," said David Aardsma to Kirby Arnold of The Herald. "I find out so much information about everybody – who we're bringing in, who we're looking at. So, it's kind of hard to miss it. In a way, I'm flattered they believe other teams would want me to be their closer." Welcome to the site, David!
- Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon has been cleared to resume full baseball activities according to Joseph Duarte of The Houston Chronicle. Rendon suffered severe injuries to his right foot and ankle this past July, and is the early front runner to be the first overall selection in a loaded 2011 draft.
- The Royals see Zach Miner as a potential starter depending on how well and how quickly he comes back from Tommy John surgery, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Earlier today the Royals signed the right-hander to a minor league deal.
- Indians reliever Justin Germano has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Columbus, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Meanwhile, the club's signing of Austin Kearns is not yet official due to the holidays.
- Gabe Lacques of USA Today writes that there are no major gaps for the Tigers to fill.
- Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues wonders what the next collective bargaining agreement could mean for the MLB draft.
Rays Loading Up On Draft Picks
The Rays have become baseball's model franchise when it comes to drafting and developing players from within. Four-fifths of their 2010 starting rotation was homegrown (all but Matt Garza), as were sixth and seventh starters Andy Sonnanstine and Jeremy Hellickson. Homegrown products Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria batted three-four in their lineup for much of the season while B.J. Upton roamed centerfield and John Jaso handled most of the catching duties. Jason Bartlett was just traded to the Padres to clear room for Reid Brignac, another homegrown player.
Tampa is going to have to continue to operate this way to contend at the big league level given their financial situation, and there is plenty of more help on the way from their strong farm system. The Rays will also have a tremendous opportunity to replenish the pipeline in the 2011 draft because they are loading up on compensation picks this offseason.
In addition to their own first round pick (32nd overall), the Rays also received Boston's first rounder (24th overall) when Crawford headed north, and they also pocketed three supplemental first round picks for Crawford, Joaquin Benoit, and Randy Choate. That's not it though. They can still receive six more compensation picks if Rafael Soriano (Type-A), Grant Balfour (A), Brad Hawpe (B), and Chad Qualls (B) all sign elsewhere. That's 11 potential first or supplemental first round draft picks, the last of which can be no worse than 64th overall.
Of course having a lot of early draft picks means the Rays will have to spend a lot of money to sign those players. The Angels led the way with five of the first 64 picks last year and spent over $6.2MM to sign those players. That's more than 15 teams spent on their entire draft class. The Blue Jays had eight of the first 100 picks and spent more than $6.55MM to sign those players. No matter how many picks Tampa ultimately ends up with, this will clearly be a costly venture.
The Rays are not shy about spending money on draft picks though. They gave David Price the largest major league contract out of the draft in six years in 2007 and signed Tim Beckham to what was then the largest minor league contract in draft history in 2008. Over the last three seasons Tampa has spent over $21MM on draft picks, the seventh most in baseball.
Tampa has already lost the best player in franchise history as well as basically its entire bullpen via free agency this offseason, but landing all of those extra draft picks will be a nice consolation. The 2011 draft class is widely considered one of the best and deepest in years, and they're well positioned to reap the benefits thanks to scouting director R.J. Harrison and his staff.
Click here to see the current 2011 draft order.
2011 MLB Draft Order
We've updated our reverse standings to sort out teams that had the same record in 2010. The team with the worse record in '09 gets the better pick in '11 in those cases. So, click here to see the 2011 draft order for the first round. Because of compensation picks for the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Brewers within the top 15, the Tigers have the first unprotected pick at #19.
Pirates To Select First In 2011 Draft
No team in baseball will have a worse record than the Pirates this year, so Pittsburgh will have the top selection in the 2011 first-year player draft. The Mariners and Pirates could both finish 61-101 if the Mariners lose all of their remaining games and the Pirates win all of theirs, but even if that happens, the Pirates will have the first overall pick. Pittsburgh's record was worse than Seattle's in 2009, so the Mariners will not select higher than second. For a look at how the rest of the picks are shaping up, check out MLBTR's reverse standings.
The Pirates will have the first overall pick for the fourth time in franchise history. The organization selected Jeff King (1986), Kris Benson (1996) and Bryan Bullington (2002) with its other top picks. Baseball America's Jim Callis took a closer look at those three picks on Monday.
The Pirates have a poor major league product that clinched an 18th consecutive losing season earlier this year, but GM Neal Huntington has spent aggressively on amateur talent. For example, the team signed second overall selection Jameson Taillon to a reported $6.5MM bonus this year, so look for the Pirates to draft the best amateur player available next June. Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon might be the favorite; Huntington told Dejan Kocacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last night, "Prior to the [ankle] injury, Rendon's a very interesting player. We've got to see where he is post-injury."