FRIDAY, 5:40pm: The Padres have announced the signings of Turner, Gettys, and Lemond.
4:50pm: Turner tweets that he has officially signed with the Padres.
He will receive a $2.9MM bonus that lands about $177K above the allocation for the 13th overall pick, tweets John Manuel of Baseball America. That is an unusual result for a collegiate player, Manuel notes.
1:40pm: Callis now reports that Lemond has agreed to a $600K bonus that will save the Padres about $31K (Twitter link). Turner is the only of their top three picks to remain unsigned at this point.
WEDNESDAY, 9:07pm: The Padres have reached an agreement with Gettys for $1.3MM, reports MLB.com’s Jim Callis (on Twitter). That’s about $217K over slot, and since Turner and Lemond don’t figure to come in on under-slot deals, it will likely have to be made up further down the draft board.
8:16pm: The Padres are nearing deals with each of their top three picks — NC State shortstop Trea Turner, high school outfielder Michael Gettys and Rice right-hander Zech Lemond — a source tells Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The assigned pick values for the Nos. 13, 51 and 86 picks are $2.723MM, $1.083MM and $632K, respectively.
Baseball America ranked Turner ninth among draft prospects, while MLB.com ranked him 14th and ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him 18th. Turner is said by some scouts to possess 80 speed on the 20-80 scouting scale, and most feel that he has the instincts, range and a strong enough arm to handle shortstop. There are questions about his bat, as he could be a strong leadoff hitter if things break right or a bottom-of-the-order type if he doesn’t improve certain elements of his offensive approach.
Gettys (37th per MLB.com, 40th per BA and 45th per Law) is regarded as a true center field prospect with 70-grade speed and raw power but questions surrounding his hit tool. Lemond (36th per Law, 58th per MLB.com and 78th per BA) battled elbow inflammation this season and has spent time as both a closer and a starter in his college career. As Law writes, he could be a mid-rotation starter with improved consistency of his curve and changeup, but if not he should be able to carve out a career as a high-leverage reliever.
The Padres entered the 2014 draft with $6,098,600 to spend on their picks, per BA, and giving slot deals to each of their top three picks would use up about 73 percent of that budget.
