2014 Blue Jays Draft | Signings, Bonuses and Rumors Thread

[Angrioter]

Wells said Toronto is paying slot for the position he was selected. Wells declined to say the bonus amount he will receive, but MLB said the slot value for the No. 83 overall pick is $661,800.

[KingKat]

I'm really surprised that Reid-Foley signed so early given that he's believed to want significantly more than slot. Things must be going really well. Either everyone's just about locked up or the signability concerns were over-estimated by other teams. He really did seem on-board from the get-go. The relationship with Johnson may have given the Jays a signing edge. Can you imagine? When was the last time you heard about the Jays having a signing advantage for anyone.

[Angrioter]

Todd "Rajai Davis" Isaacs

http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/uploads/15/Blue-Jays.jpg

[imsorry4beatinU]

Where will the jays save money for latz, houck and papiernski?

[imsorry4beatinU]

[TwistedLogic]

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Blue Jays draft pick Max Pentecost ‘can’t wait to get up there and go play’

The Jays have failed to sign their first-round pick in two of the past three years, but they have nothing to worry about with the talented catcher from Kennesaw State University.

By: Brendan Kennedy Sports reporter, Published on Sun Jun 08 2014

 

Max Pentecost has never been to Canada, but the 21-year-old Georgia native — and first-round draft pick of the Blue Jays — has heard it on radio and seen it on TV. “I've been to Massachusetts and Maine, that kind of area, and I've heard the radio stations talking in French,” Pentecost said this weekend on a conference call with reporters. “Besides that, I really don’t know much about it. I'm a huge outdoorsman, so I've always watched hunting videos, and I know Canada’s got good hunting and fishing, and that it’s a beautiful country. So I don’t think I’ll have one problem with it.”

 

The Jays, who had two first-round picks this year after failing to sign their first-rounder last year, took Pentecost — considered by some to be the best “true” catcher in the draft — with the 11th overall pick. Toronto also had the ninth overall pick and with it they took East Carolina right-hander Jeff Hoffman, who was once in the mix to go first overall until he blew out his elbow in April and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.

 

With Major League Baseball’s amateur draft wrapping up on Sunday, the Jays were already being hailed by some experts as the early winners. Jim Callis, who has covered the draft for 25 years and writes for MLBPipeline.com, ranked the Jays’ draft as the best, not only for the Pentecost and Hoffman picks, but for how they “stole” Florida high-school right-hander Sean Reid-Foley in the second round. Callis ranked Reid-Foley as the 18th-best player in the draft — while Hoffman was ranked 13th and Pentecost 19th — making the Jays the only club to draft three players from the top 20. Callis also praised Toronto’s third- and fourth-round picks, including high-school catcher Matt Morgan, who, the Jays announced Sunday, has already signed with the team.

 

Pentecost, who grew up idolizing Jason Kendall and now tries to model his game after Buster Posey, is regarded as a highly athletic backstop who hits for a high average and has good speed for a catcher. His stock began to rise last summer when he was named the MVP of the Cape Cod League. “I think that was the whole reason I am where I am today,” he said.

 

He was first drafted out of high school three years ago by the Texas Rangers in the seventh round, but elected instead to go to Kennesaw State University, the alma mater of Jays right-hander Chad Jenkins.

The Jays have failed to sign their first-round pick in two of the last three years, but Pentecost said he’s eager to get the paperwork out of the way. “I can’t wait to get up there and go play,” he said.

Toronto selected 41 players in all, and once again they loaded up on pitching, selecting 16 right-handers and six left-handers. Among position players, they drafted seven outfielders, five catchers, three second basemen, two shortstops and two first basemen. Twenty-seven of the players the Jays selected were college juniors or seniors, with 14 of their picks coming out of high school.

 

The Jays drafted two Canadians — both right-handed pitchers from the Greater Toronto Area. Jordan Romano, a Markham native, was selected in the 10th round from Oral Roberts University, while Zachary Pop, a 17-year-old righty from Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, was selected in the 23rd round, 684th overall. Both Romano and Pop pitched for the Ontario Blue Jays summer team. The Jays have until July 15 to sign their remaining draftees.

 

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Should come as no surprise, but it looks like Pentecost is signing.

 

Edited June 9, 2014 by TwistedLogic

[TwistedLogic]

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Mainieri ‘confident’ recruiting class coming to LSU

MATTHEW HARRIS

June 09, 2014

 

At some point Friday night, Jake Latz reportedly turned down $1 million.

 

The left-hander passed on the temptation thrown his way by a Major League Baseball franchise, and let LSU coach Paul Mainieri exhale. If anything, the past three days of the pro player draft haven’t left the Tigers’ elite recruiting class picked over clean.

 

“I’m pretty confident about it,” Mainieri said Saturday of his recruiting class coming to Tigertown. “It’s relatively safe.”

 

On Saturday, highly touted lefty Mac Marshall pulled into Baton Rouge to move into a dorm ahead of summer school, and the fact the Houston Astros tabbed him in the 21st round with the No. 616 pick may keep him there.

 

“I’ll be down moving in this afternoon,” Marshall said during the final leg of Saturday’s drive.

 

Projected as a top-70 pick, it appears suitors couldn’t match Marshall’s asking price, or those for 10 other incoming freshmen.

 

Take Latz, the ace at Lemont (Ill.) High, who was projected as a mid-round pick. Toronto plucked him with the 324th pick, but Mainieri said the money that comes with being an 11th-round pick won’t sway him.

 

“Latz turned down an awful lot of money,” Mainieri said. “We’ve just got to hope he sticks to his guns.”

 

Right-hander Jake Godfrey, projected as third-to-fifth-round pick, went in the 21st round to Atlanta, while shortstop Grayson Byrd went to the Braves in the 39th round.

 

None of them have given Mainieri much reason to wring his hands.

 

“I know what these kids are asking for, and I just find it hard to believe with the way the draft rules are now that they would be able to meet the price of these players,” he said.

 

The fact that six are already on campus for the start of summer classes Monday only girds that faith. If Latz and Papierski don’t arrive, it will be the result of Lemont’s state playoff run dragging into next weekend, Mainieri said.

 

An interesting case may be current LSU closer Joe Broussard, a redshirt junior Mainieri considered likely to bolt once the season ended. But Broussard, a 10th-round projection, went later than expected when the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him in the 15th round with the 459th overall pick.

 

“I think Joe is rethinking it a little bit,” Mainieri said.

 

He just might be right.

 

The Dodgers haven’t told him what compensation package they’re willing to extend his way. The two sides plan to meet early this week to discuss it, and Broussard said he isn’t leaning in one direction or the other.

 

“It’s really up in the air, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” Broussard said. “I don’t really know what their offer is, so I don’t have a clue either way.”

 

LSU”s Sean McMullen and Nate Fury don’t face such a dilemma.

 

Their careers at LSU ended with the bruising of a 12-2 loss to Houston on Monday in the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

 

Yet McMullen was plucked in the 30th round by the Astros. The Brother Martin alum is set to report to their rookie affiliate in Greenville, Tennessee, on June 14. Fury went to Detroit in the 36th round.

 

There’s no quibbling over contract figures, either.

 

“It doesn’t at all have any disappointment,” McMullen said. “I’ve kind of been the underdog in baseball my whole life. I’m just excited to get this going.”

 

 

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Not looking good on the Jake Latz / Mike Papierski front. Still gotta see what happens, as it doesn't seem he's completely made his mind yet.

 

[flafson]

If he turned down 1 million, he's dumb.

[z3r0s]

If he turned down 1 million, he's dumb.

 

If true, at least we know we have some cash around for some of our later picks.

[Caper]

That's pretty big news, signing Foley.... AA presided over a very good draft it seems..... I wanted to bump the official fire AA thread.... but I think it died.

[Angrioter]

If he turned down 1 million, he's dumb.

 

******** fallacy

[TwistedLogic]

 

If he turned down 1 million, he's dumb.

If true, at least we know we have some cash around for some of our later picks.

 

Yeah I don't know how much we can trust that source, but if it's true, it's nice to know we have that much lying around to offer to guys outside of the first ten rounds. Surprises me, though, that he'd turn that much down. Tellez and Brentz both took significantly less.

 

[TwistedLogic]

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Charleston falls to Texas Tech in Super Regional, ending successful postseason run

9 June 2014 | Posted by Jason Lutz | BaseballsportsSpring

 

For the second straight game, the College of Charleston bats were silent when they needed a big hit.

 

The Cougars were eliminated from the NCAA Baseball Tournament with a 1-0 loss to Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon, failing to score a run in either game against the Red Raiders in the Super Regional round.

 

....

 

The Cougars will lose five seniors, including outfielder Brandon Murray and his career 28 home runs and 123 RBIs. They will also graduate pitcher Michael Hanzlik, who broke the Cougars’ single season record for saves, team captain Ryan Welke, Ben Boykin, and Blake Ross.

 

Charleston will also be losing their leading hitter, junior Gunnar Heidt, who was selected by the Blue Jays in the 13th round of the MLB Draft. Heidt batted .329 on the season and was selected to the All-CAA first team.

He concludes his career with 105 RBIs in 160 games.

 

Charleston’s 44 wins were tied for the most in a single season under Lee. Their CAA Tournament championship was the program’s first conference postseason title since 2006. This season marked the Cougars’ sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the past ten years and first Super Regional appearance since 2006. They were just the fourth No. 4 seed to win a NCAA Tournament Regional, defeating No. 2 overall seed Florida before downing Long Beach State twice.

 

Charleston was nationally ranked twice during the course of the season. They were ranked 29th in the March 3 edition of the national writers’ poll and 16th in the June 3 edition of both the USA Today coaches’ poll and the national writers’ poll.

 

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Looks like the Charleston Cougars season ended last night, which means that Heidt's signing should be made official in the near future. This also confirms the earlier speculation that Heidt is in fact signing; good news for the Jays, as he was one of the best players taken after the first 10 rounds.

[Angrioter]

 

 

 

 

Yeah I don't know how much we can trust that source, but if it's true, it's nice to know we have that much lying around to offer to guys outside of the first ten rounds. Surprises me, though, that he'd turn that much down. Tellez and Brentz both took significantly less.

 

 

Brentz 700K

Tellez 850K

[Angrioter]

[admin]

What is Beede gonna get this year and what did we reportedly offer him again?

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BA chat in half hour http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/baseball-america-draft-chat-3/

[Angrioter]

[NorthOf49]

Wow so we signed SRF? Nice!!

 

Any idea on the $?

[Atothe]

Wow so we signed SRF? Nice!!

 

Any idea on the $?

 

I hope Its slot

[GD]

I don't think there's anything definitive out on Latz yet

[Angrioter]

SonofPezcore (Toronto): A lot of Jays fans are debating how much leverage Hoffman has in negotiations. What do you think would be a fair number given the circumstances.

 

Nick J. Faleris: Because I'm confident my voiced opinion will have no bearing on the actual leverage, I can say I had him valued at $3.5 MM. His leverage relies on his elite pre-injury profile (which is legitimate leverage) but his BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) isn't pretty -- rehab on his own, likely with help from his advising agency, and throw a handful of times before next year's draft. My own approach would be to reach an agreed upon minimum with a promise to give any and all savings up to the 15% allotment overage once the other selections have been negotiated.

 

 

Sammy30 (Hamilton, On): What is a good comp for Max Pentecost at his high end and what is your realistic grade? Great work this spring Nick

 

Nick J. Faleris: Thanks! I don't see a clean comp, but he can be an average defender with a 50-55 hit and 40-45 pop to my eye. A good solid high-floor everyday catcher that could be ready by 2015/2016 depending on when he signs and how quickly the bat adjusts to the pro game.

 

Live chat

[Angrioter]

MKPJ (chicago): Did the Cubs make a huge mistake passing on Reid-foley in favor of Stinnett? Is Stinnett a good prospect? Thanks

 

Nick J. Faleris: I think Reid-Foley would have meant only one, MAYBE two, of the later HS arms. So the question is Reid-Foley and one or two of Sands/Cease/Steel vs Stinnett/Sands/Cease/Steele. Comes down to whether you think Stinnett is a legit mid-rotation guy (as opposed to future reliever/back-ender) and what your takes are on the health of Reid-Foley and Cease.

 

For me personally, I probably prefer Reid-Foley and Sands to Stinnett and the extra HS arm I get. Again, evaluative preference as opposed to questionable process.

[Angrioter]

[43211234]

I'm going to start calling SRF "Surf" if that's alright with people.

[TwistedLogic]

I don't think this has been posted yet, but based on Kiley McDaniel's draft rankings, Jays had a monster haul.

 

Based on his Top 291 Draft Prospects:

 

http://i.gyazo.com/818489c7a7146a2bacde2444010bd96b.png

 

And he had a list of guys that didn't crack his Top 291 list, but he still considered Top 10 round talents, among which were:

 

http://i.gyazo.com/e5bc11e9929d44c783ca880783ffb09e.png

[z3r0s]

Nicknames suck these days. I'm all for anyone coming up with more original nicknames than just letters of their names. (A-Rod, K-Rod, EE, etc... not interesting).

 

I'm a +1 for Surf over SRF.

[TwistedLogic]

From the same site, McDaniel's writeups from his "Live Draft Reaction" blog:

 

http://i.gyazo.com/7b94817bed21af33429b2b3d01f0ab7a.png

 

http://i.gyazo.com/e46236773eb8192dccc619eaa3906dda.png

[Angrioter]

I'm going to start calling SRF "Surf" if that's alright with people.

 

SRF is fine.

 

Pimp-Foley for me.

 

[z3r0s]

Thats quite the glowing review for Hoffman. Let's hope its correct and the surgery goes well.

[imsorry4beatinU]

I'm going to start calling SRF "Surf" if that's alright with people.

I'll rather call him pimp