How Will The Bonus Pool Be Split (The Signing Thread)

[Spencer Michaelis]

3 hours ago, Smichaelis9 said:

I think some of the bigger names will likely sign on Friday when they are back at home. They like to have the biggest bonus players sign at American Family Field, meet with media and take some BP with the team (if they're hitters obviously). And then Wilken will definitely do an interview with whoever the commentary team is on Friday, as well. 

Or not!

[markedman5]

 

[Jastro]

Wilken's $$$

 

[JCREW]

1, Comp, and 5 signed

$1.485M under slot

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[jw5511986]

The reason this is all being announced now is that they have come to a deal with Pratt right?!?

[markedman5]

4 minutes ago, jw5511986 said:

The reason this is all being announced now is that they have come to a deal with Pratt right?!?

 

[csbysam]

4 minutes ago, jw5511986 said:

The reason this is all being announced now is that they have come to a deal with Pratt right?!?

I am hoping. $1.5 mill in the piggy bank for him.

[wibadgers23]

No Carolina for Wilken. He’ll get his feet wet in Arizona and then head straight to Appleton.

[JCREW]

Mostly stolen from Reviewing the Brew

Round (Overall)	Name	Position	Slot Value	Signing Bonus
1 (18)	Brock Wilken	3B	$4,021,400	$3,150,000
CB-A (33)	Josh Knoth	RHP	$2,543,800	$2,000,000
2 (54)	Mike Boeve	1B/3B	$1,546,100
3 (87)	Eric Bitonti	SS/3B	$796,200
4 (119)	Jason Woodward	RHP	$557,900
5 (155)	Ryan Birchard	RHP	$392,700	$322,500
6 (182)	Cooper Pratt	SS	$309,900
7 (212)	Tate Kuehner	LHP	$242,400
8 (242)	Craig Yoho	RHP	$196,700
9 (272)	Mark Manfredi	LHP	$176,700
10 (302)	Morris Austin	RHP	$166,800
11 (332)	Bishop Letson	RHP
12 (362)	Bjorn Johnson	LHP
13 (392)	Brett Wichrowski	RHP
14 (422)	Hayden Robinson	RHP
15 (452)	Josh Adamczewski	SS
16 (482)	Josh Timmerman	RHP
17 (512)	Jacob Gholston	RHP		Did not sign
18 (542)	Dylan Watts	RHP
19 (572)	Isaac Morton	RHP
20 (602)	Justin Chambers	LHP

[JimH5]

I can't understand why any player would sign for less than their slot value.  It will be such a long time before they have any negotiating leverage.

[markedman5]

 

[jw5511986]

1 minute ago, JimH5 said:

I can't understand why any player would sign for less than their slot value.  It will be such a long time before they have any negotiating leverage.

Worked out pre draft in many cases and your leverage is whatever you can get. Lots of guys have turned down money, gone back to school, and damaged their draft stock (and leverage) in the process. Sometimes 'a bird in the hand' isn't a terrible philosophy to follow. It's not right for everyone though!

[Jake McKibbin]

Mike Boeve looks very under slot potential too .. this could be some steal from the Brewers

[markedman5]

3 minutes ago, JimH5 said:

I can't understand why any player would sign for less than their slot value.  It will be such a long time before they have any negotiating leverage.

I think because if they don’t agree to a number it’s likely they won’t get picked in that slot…….so the value goes down…..and they lose leverage.

I think every player has a number in mind……after talking to their family and agents.

 

 

[JCREW]

6 minutes ago, JimH5 said:

I can't understand why any player would sign for less than their slot value.  It will be such a long time before they have any negotiating leverage.

I thought about this for a while the other night. 

I think a HS player and his agent probably agree on a number. If they don't get that number, they go to college. 

But, that college commit is 3 years before they are eligible for the draft again. So for a guy like Knoth, thats $2M now or three years to risk getting TJ or a torn labrum or something. 

[CheeseheadInQC]

5 minutes ago, JimH5 said:

I can't understand why any player would sign for less than their slot value.  It will be such a long time before they have any negotiating leverage.

Because they wouldn’t have gotten picked at that slot if they didn’t agree to it ahead of time. If you figure your best chances of getting a slot deal are 30-35 and someone at pick 20 offers you pick 30 money, it makes financial sense to take it. And if you renege on the pre-draft deal and don’t sign, teams are going to be reluctant to pick you the next time around given how teams plan their draft around the bonus pool.

[wiguy94]

18 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Mike Boeve looks very under slot potential too .. this could be some steal from the Brewers

Yeah I think Boeve, Woodward, and 7-10 (sorry for not listing names) will sign for between $1.15M and $1.5M which with the 5% overage would leave us with $4.875M to $4.525M to work with for Pratt, Bitonti, and 11-20. 

Hopefully we get Boeve, Woodward and 7-10 towards that lower end and can get Pratt and Bitonti for around $2M each. That would leave us $875K to play with for rounds 11-20. 

[StearnsFTW]

Not sure why there isn't a signing thread like always.

 

Much easier to follow.

 

I'm happy to do it as long as it's ok with the mods.

[dtet]

It's a safer strategy to be sure. You're sacrificing potential upside for the offer in hand, though you still have the ability to negotiate another deal (possibly better) in case the Brewers pass at the pick. You're also saving your client potential anxiety from waiting and maybe your client wants to develop in the Brewers org. Looking at the specific numbers, Knoth basically got pick 43 money at pick 33. But there are also teams after 43 that could've offered $2m+ as an overslot deal as well. And the Brewers picked again at 54 ($1.5461m) and likely didn't think he would be there. As an advisor, you have to feel pretty comfortable that the other teams don't value your client as highly as the Brewers, difficult to know in the heat of the draft. The risk/reward and the math have to work (often the case at the top of the draft).

It's a bit like getting an offer for your house and deciding to take it, instead of listing it on the market.

In general, HS players usually want to sign overslot deals after the first 20 picks or so. Of course, there are only so many overslot deals to be had.

 

 

[jay87shot]

I am over the moon with these signings. There might/should be enough to get Pratt, Bitonti, Letson, and a couple of the other HS picks later.

[Jake McKibbin]

Knoth said he got the extra velocity this season because it was his first with a pitching coach... this sounds like there's a lot of room to grow, can really see why the Brewers went for him over Charlee Soto

[Playing Catch]

Now, more than ever, if someone retrospectively looks at top 100 picks in former drafts, they need to consider the entire draft, not just individual selections.

Case in point: if in a year or two, some poster decides that our front office never should have drafted Eric Brown Jr., or a number of others because they flame out and picks for other teams succeed, said poster should remember that Misiorowski had the biggest bonus of the draft.

The same very well could be said about this draft. I don't want to come back here in a few years and have to defend the Wilken pick because he ends up not making it to MLB, when Chase Davis is raking in the Cards system, if at the same time, Bitoni and Pratt are having success.

Individual picks cannot be criticized in a vacuum.

[Spencer Michaelis]

2 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Now, more than ever, if someone retrospectively looks at top 100 picks in former drafts, they need to consider the entire draft, not just individual selections.

Case in point: if in a year or two, some poster decides that our front office never should have drafted Eric Brown Jr., or a number of others because they flame out and picks for other teams succeed, said poster should remember that Misiorowski had the biggest bonus of the draft.

The same very well could be said about this draft. I don't want to come back here in a few years and have to defend the Wilken pick because he ends up not making it to MLB, when Chase Davis is raking in the Cards system, if at the same time, Bitoni and Pratt are having success.

Individual picks cannot be criticized in a vacuum.

This, 100%. It's obviously a lot easier to look back and say "they should have taken ________" when, in reality, the selection they made was what allowed them to put the rest of their plan into motion. Now, if Davis is a monster and Wilken doesn't do well and none of the high schoolers do well, then it would obviously look bad. Personally, I still think it was a good process overall, whether it works out 5-10 years down the line or not. But it's still a results based business in the end.

[Jake McKibbin]

I'm actually really excited to see Wilken, certainly a bit under slot but also has the power tool that if he can (per scouting reports) develop an opposite field approach for those pitches on the outer part of the plate, and with his arm, he could be a big difference maker down the line too.

Definitely a different feel to EBJ who let's be honest, never really had a standout tool that screamed first rounder

[igor67]

From a finance side a player should also be evaluating how signing affects their entire career. A-ball players of course aren't making any noteworthy money, but at least you don't have to try and secure a 6 figure signing bonus anymore to live off for a few years. That starts to change some of the calculus. Getting started in pro-ball earlier for sure gets you to minor league free agency sooner, which is now worth some good money, and it increases the chances you hit MLB free agency sooner all of which add up to significant potential benefit. If I am a pitcher at this stage and offered a chance with the Brewers I would also have to look at that as a significant plus...