9:12pm: Ben Badler of Baseball America writes that despite signing Zunino for well under the slot recommendation, the Mariners are $36,600 over their bonus pool for the first 10 rounds of the draft. Badler also gives a brief recap of Zunino's season, noting that he was Baseball America's College Player of the Year.
8:45pm: ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that Zunino will receive a bonus of $4MM — well below the slot recommendation (Twitter link).
8:32pm: The Mariners have signed No. 3 overall pick Mike Zunino, the team announced (on Twitter). A press conference to introduce Zunino will be held tomorrow.
Details of the signing are not yet known, but the recommended bonus for the third overall slot is $5.2MM. Over the weekend, we had heard that the Mariners were expected to sign the former University of Florida catcher in the near future. Baseball America says Zunino's hitting ability "projects to be above-average for a Major League catcher" while noting that he offers strong intangibles that draw Jason Varitek comparisons.
With the signing of Zunino, there are now eight first round picks who have yet to sign.
Yes, our plan to pay over slot value on the lower guys in hope that Zunino would accept a lower than slot bonus work out!
Haha glad he finally signed!
I wonder which over-the-hill, failing reliever the Mariners will get in return in a trade for Zunino and Dustin Ackley.
Think Heathcliffe Slocum is available this time of year, or should we go for
Spoljaric and Tomlin?