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).
Purke should go #1. Well, not unless they think Alvarez is destined for first base but if he can play even passable defense(note i didn’t say good, or even average), he is much of an asset at 3rd than 1st.
If Rendon is the top talent, you take Rendon, it’s that simple. Personally I think it’s not close between Rendon and the top pitchers anyway. Rendon has more than enough bat to play first base if necessary, and some have speculated he could move to second base if his organization needed him to. Alvarez also likely has the bat for first base. Having Rendon/Alvarez at the infield corners would be excellent for the Pirates long-term regardless.
will see how he hits this year with these BBCOR bats, no pop
I’m hoping the next CBA enforces “slotting” for draft picks. So small market teams don’t have to put up with Boras reaching for a new price ceiling with “unproven” draft prospects.
How un-American.
The MLB draft is one of the few times one gets to witness the little guy hosing the big guy.
USA! USA!
(and I’m not even American)
exactly I can see how a small market team can’t compete on big name free agents but there is no reason at all everyteam no matter market size should not spend big on the draft that is the only way to compete with big market teams and if they can’t do that they might as well move citys
Worst thing ever. everyone would just go to college and hope to be first round where the real money is at. Would hardly be any high schoolers in the minors
considering the NFL has one of the best CBAs and the new one is going to limit the contracts for rookies i would not be surprised at all to see the MLB follow suit. There is no reason a guy who has not even seen low A pitching shold get a 9 mill deal(strasburg) they should be forced to work their way up and into the money much like the real world and soon to be NEW NFL and NBA….even in the NBA there are rookie caps…
MLB is behind the NBA and NFL in terms of money they give to “unproven players” that sign to get into the pros. However, once in the professional ranks, they are more than willing to overspend on unproven commodities (hello Jose Bautista.)
I don’t see why Strasburg gets all this grief for being the top player in the draft. Nobody put a gun to the head of the Nationals brass and made them draft him – they selected him because he was the top talent.
If you want to complain about a player not being worth the money based on some sort of track record, look at Arnolis Champman who made twice the money of Stephen Strasburg.
I’m gonna go with Purke, of course its still very early. Either way, the Pirates are sitting in a great position. If they take Rendon, he will get to Pittsburgh fast and they will challenge the Royals in a couple years for best young infield in the game. If they go Purke, he will also get to Pittsburgh fast and they will challenge the Braves for best young staff in the next few years. In the end, I give the nod to Purke for now because I prefer to draft talented pitching, the Pirates are in more desperate need of pitching, and the Pirates are stocked with high-upside arms that surely won’t all pan out….. fortifying it with a more fast-mover like Purke would greatly improve the odds of producing a quality unit.
I don’t see how you can pass on Rendon. He’s an Evan Longoria type talent, sure Boras will make sure he signs a major league deal but the Pirates gave one to Alvarez so its not like its something which will scare them off. Purke is great but farther from a sure thing.
The Pirates might as well take Rendon, they could use a talented bat in their system since most of their hitters graduated already. I’ve been saying for years that they need to hit big on a prospect and get a Longoria, Braun, or Votto type, a guy who’s an MVP-Caliber hitter, and Rendon could be it. Let the positions at the major league level sort themselves out and they have enough young pitching in the low minors for now.
Take Rendon please take Rendon. Pitchers are highly more likely to get injured than postion players (thats just how it is) ask Strasburg, Wood, Prior, Volquez ect…
Rendon is much more talented than Purke. Imagine this lineup in a couple of years…
LF Tabata
2B Walker
CF Cutch
1B Alveraz
3B Rendon
C Sanchez
RF ?
SS ?
P Taillon
I’m not sure why everyone here thinks that Purke is the logical “other” #1 choice. At this point, I’d rank both Cole and Springer above him. Purke’s arm slot/angle worries me, personally.
I’m hoping that if the Pirates do take Rendon, the M’s get Gerrit Cole with the #2 pick. :)
I like Cole, but he hasn’t pitched as well as you would expect from someone with that kind of stuff. I also like Jungman. Purke pitched as well as anybody late in the year, as a frosh, and just had that look about him. Not many players that age have that look like the gears are working and he knows exactly what he is doing. I think he has the chance to be a “2nd-half of his career Cliff Lee,” but much earlier.
I sure would not pick against Rendon becoming an All-Star and the leader of a resurgent dynamic offense in Pittsburgh, if he goes there. But I don’t think the margin above everyone else is that great. I think two things could lead to Rendon being overrated so far. One, over the past two years we already had knock-down, etched in stone, number-one picks at this point in the year. In fact, even more than that, they were been legit phenom-types. It’s only natural to want to back that up once again, but I am not sure it is warranted here. Two, there are thousands of writers and bloggers out there, each wants to report something different and many want to be controversial. I think this had a lot more to do with the “Rendon over Harper, if he were available,” hype.
When it comes time for Pujols to pass the mantle, I suspect it will be Rendon who receives it. You absolutely take Rendon with the No. 1 pick. I’d argue that it’s nearly the no-brainer that Strasburg was, broken ankle not withstanding.