NoMaas’ Yankee Draft Blog

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the line “you can’t evaluate the success of a draft until five years from now” is used as a response to an inquisition about a recent draft’s value. You most absolutely CAN evaluate a draft right away, and it is simple logic that dictates why. Players have hype for reasons, players perform for reasons, players are available for reasons.  You can evaluate a draft five years from now if you want to see how things turn out, but that shouldn’t prevent a post-draft grade from being a legitimate evaluation so long as it is done within the current value system that surrounds the draftees.  Take two pitchers considered identical talent-wise heading into the draft - mechanics, command, breaking pitches, bodyt-type, almost all the same - yet one throws 98 MPH, and the other 90 MPH.  You take the kid who throws harder, right?  Well let’s say that in five years the hard thrower is still in AA and the 90 MPH kid is in his second season in the majors.  Does that mean taking the harder thrower was a mistake?  Absolutely not. The decision made at the time was, and still is, correct. It didn’t pan out the way it appeared likely to, but you can’t fault anyone for making the choice.

For this reason, post-draft evaluation is absolutely viable, but it requires a degree of objectivity as well as a willingness to look a bit deeper beyond the suprficial information.

Remember your grading from school, guys:

A: Exceptional selection; pedigree, performance, and projection well in excess of the round and location therein taken. 

B: Above average selection relative to round, with no reason to be upset. Not every pick can be an A.

C: An average selection relative to the round taken. Nothing spectacular, but the draftee has solid present skills or ceiling. This may also be where question marks about projectability and or future performance weigh a selection down.

D: A below average pick relative to the round taken.  Not much ceiling or present skills. 

F:  A total breakdown in the scouting department.

Keep in mind: If two picks are graded an “A” that doesn’t mean they are comparable talent. It only means that

So, without further ado, here is my take on the 2008 draft, focusing on every single signing, as well as the two big unsigned picks.

 

1st Round: GERRIT COLE - OVERALL GRADE, D+

Cole’s selection was a great move at the time and if he signed this would have been a solid “A.”  I thought for sure that the Yanks would pass on him due to his pricetag and inexperience, and look to take him in a later round when they could afford to lose the pick’s value when he didn’t sign.  When he was selected, there is no doubt in my mind that they thought he was signing.  None.  The Yankees would never have taken a kid in the first round whom they thought there was a legitimate chance at losing.  If you have a couple of bucks, check out this interview from Pinstripes Plus, which does a great job of following up with Oppenheimer about the situation.  Quite simply the Yankees were flat-out lied to by the Coles. With this being the case you can’t totally crucify the team for not signing their first round pick, and this is why the grade isn’t an F. What you can kill the team over is not having another, big-money, big-ceiling pitcher in the back half of the draft as an insurance policy in case anything happened at all.  All the hand-wringing over Tim Melville is born of stupidity as the guy was taken in the 4th round and was not available as a backup option.  Given the fact that the Yankees were lead to believe that Cole was not a big challenge, whining about not taking Melville in the 3rd round is nonsensical.  In the end, losing Cole is a huge, huge blow to the draft-haul, and while getting a pick in next years draft is encouraging, the odds of a player of his talent falling again are decreasing every year we see the small market teams wise up more and more.

 

Supplemental Round: JEREMY BLEICH - OVERALL GRADE, B

When he signed for below-slot money ($700K), it worried many that the Stanford lefty was injured.  However, according to all the facts out there this is not the case.  Bleich looked pedestrian at best in his recent PAC-10 career, but an elbow injury held him back quite a bit.  He has good, solid stuff, and has potential to be a average or better starter a the big league level.  Healthy again, his showcase in the CWS made the Yankees look good, as he shut down powerful offenses before the Cardinal bowed out.  Would it have been nice to see another high-ceilinged, big-name player here like an Anthony Gose or Kyle Lobstein? Sure. However the differences in their abilities right now became blurred with Bleich’s recent performance, so you can’t kill the Yankees too much on this one.  Look for Bleich to be a fast mover and hopefully prove the notion that player evaluation involves both statistical analysis and scouting.

 

2nd Round: SCOTT BITTLE - OVERALL GRADE, C

Look, Bittle put up video game numbers last year, yes, but the fact of the matter is the scouting on him was that he threw in the high 80s/low 90s.  He projected as a setup-man at best and the value in the pick was the fact that he was probably extremely close to the Majors. The fact that there was no indication of any shoulder problems prior to the selection, in addition to Bittle not having a huge ceiling, leaves the loss in not signing him very minimal. In fact, in stark contrast to my opinion about the Cole situation, with the compensation pick they recieve I wouldn’t be surprised if the player taken next year is a much better selection than Bittle.

 

3rd Round: DAVID ADAMS - OVERALL GRADE, B+

Like Bleich, Adams was a guy with a good pedigree coming out of high school, but who underperformed at a big baseball school (Bleich was at Stanford, Adams attended UVA). Adams actually had a great Sophomore season, but couldn’t build on it in 2008.  After his 2007 he was projected as a first/supp pick going into the 2008 season, but the down year allowed the Yankees to pick him up in the third round.  Adams is a great pickup where the Yankees got him, as his talent projects higher.  An important note here, and one that has a reoccuring theme in recent Yankee drafts, is that Adams had a very good showing in the Cape Cod League n 2007.  The Yankees have shown recently to place a lot of stock in kids with good pedigree and underwhelming season stats, who went on to perform well in summer woodbat leagues.  Playing 2nd base in Staten Island he got off to a slow start, but has really been raking as of late.  Adams is definitely a sleeper and I wouldn’t be surprised for him to find his way into a Top-10 Yankee prospects list at some point in the future.

 

4th Round: CORBAN JOSEPH - OVERALL GRADE, B+

This is the first of several high school picks that the Yankees seemed to have done research on regarding signability before the selection.  Joseph has an impressive lefty bat (another draft trend we’ve seen from the Yankees in the last 2-3 years), and was commited to Kentucky.  The Yankees signed him almost right after the draft for slot money, and he’s been showing good OBP and XBH skills in the GCL ever since.

 

5th Round: CHRIS SMITH - OVERALL GRADE, C

Straight outta Compton sweet lefty-swinger named Chris Smith
From Centenial High and taken in the 5th 
In on my hands and it’s fouled off, I got a sawed off
Center a fastball and we’re talkin sick loft
You too Cole if ya mess with me
The umps are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass that’s how I’m goin out
For the punk Cali fakers that’s showin out
Pitchers start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Line drives to they chests make ’em stumble…

Another HS kid that the Yankees seemed to really have a good idea about, Smith has a nice ceiling but is exceptionally raw.  He put up insane numbers against inferior competition, and generated a lot of excitement when his coach said he compared favorably to other Compton products like Davis and Strawberry.  He’s been overmatched in his short time in the GCL since signing, so hopefully we can see him make progress towards that exceptional ceiling next year.

 

6th Round: BRETT MARSHALL - OVERALL GRADE, A

Not much to be said about this pick that I haven’t already discussed. Just search his name on the blog and you’ll find all the info you need to see why this was a triumph due to overall talent, round, relatively low bonus, and recruiting effort.  Brett should be pitching relatively soon in the GCL, and has good potential to quickly become a force as he matches his present skills with professional coaching.

 

7th Round: KYLE HIGASHIOKA - OVERALL GRADE,  A-

Higashioka is a heady catcher who had a commitment to Cal but was bought out by the Yankees for 2nd/3rd round money after being given the Angelini Treatment prior to a game.  He is another example of the Yankees efforts to stockpile young catching talent. With Montero, Romine, Weems, Cervelli, and now Higashioka in the system, the Yankees stand a very good chance of developing a quality Major League catcher in the coming years. The grade isn’t a straight A because while Higashioka was an excellent pick, his present talent level doesn’t equate fully with the bonus he got.

 

8th Round: DAN BREWER - OVERALL GRADE, B

I love this pick and wish I could grade it higher, but I have to stick to the rules.  Brewer wasn’t an overslot signing, nor did he have any significant leverage.  However, Brewer is another CCL performer who made the league’s All-Star team in 2007.  He’s got developing power, good contact skills, excellent baserunning despite not being a burner, and most importantly has an excellent Grit Quotient.  Look for Brewer to be a solid OF prospect as he makes his way through the system. 

 

9th Round: MIKEY O’BRIEN - OVERALL GRADE, B

A small righty with a big arm, O’Brien got an overslot bonus ($200K) to pass up his commitment to Winthrop.  In speaking with several sources, this is a kid who truly wants to play baseball for a living and loves to work on becoming a better pitcher.  This was good use of a 9th round pick, and is one of 4 significant overslot signings out of the 5 picks in the second half of the Yankees first 10.

 

10th Round: DJ MITCHELL - OVERALL GRADE, B+

Mitchell was a two-way player at Clemson before focusing more on pitching and developing into a legitimate prospect.  Throwing right around 90MPH, but with exceptional movement, the smallish righty has a very athletic build.  Another Yankee draftpick who performed very well on the Cape in 2007, Mitchell didn’t have the season scouts were hoping to see from him in 2008.  It would not be at all surprising to see him really develop and show a #2/#3 ceiling as he makes his way into the professional ranks.

 

11th Round: RAY KRUML - OVERALL GRADE, C-

On draft day I told you Kruml was a Brett Gardner clone. Nothing much has changed since.  A solid pick in the 11th round without a great upside at this point, Kruml has blazing speed, little pop, utilizes his quickness on defense, and likes to bunt for basehits.  Not a great pick, not a poor pick.

 

12th Round: LUKE GREINKE - OVERALL GRADE, C

Brother Zack obviously got the velo in the family. Like Mitchell, he’s another athletic two-way player from a good baseball conference. Luke profiles as an organizational arm at this point, which is about what you’d expect from a 12th round selection. Like Mitchell again, Greinke is around 90 MPH, is relatively new to pitching, and performed well on the Cape.  Because of these things he shows a hint of a good ceiling if he develops, but at this point there’s not much to get excited about.

 

13th Round: JACK RYE - OVERALL GRADE, D+

A lefty college slugger from Florida State, Rye currently profiles as a corner bat with average ML pop.  He was a senior sign and his only truly redeeming quality from a skills standpoint is his ability to  work counts and draw walks.  Rye is organizational filler at this point with his best case, total fantasy scenario seeing him develop into a left-handed Jeff Conine.

 

14th Round: DAVID PHELPS - OVERALL GRADE, A-

I love, love, love this pick.  Phelps had an absolutely monster season in 2007 as a sophomore for Notre Dame, but found his 2008 season to be a  letdown. Unlike his brother Michael (no, not that one), David has good command of a low 90s fastball and can get above average movement.  He’s got a good pitching frame (6′3″, 190) and a grinder’s mentality on the mound.  The only way this selection could have been graded higher is if the pick was one of the elite-ceilinged high schoolers.  Phelps has already impressed since signing his contract, becoming a NY-Penn League all-star and posting the following line: 12 GS, 58 IP, 52 H, 3 HR, 13 BB, 45 K, 2.48 ERA. This pick was an absolute steal in the 14th round from my perspective.

15th Round: MATT RICHARDSON - OVERALL GRADE, A

Richardson is a high school righty who is in the process of converting to the mound permanently.  He has a wiry but athletic frame that needs to fill out a bit, but he’s already in the low 90s consistently.  The Yankees bought him out of his commitment to UCF with 5th/6th round slot money, and Richardson is already pitching in the GCL.  He hasn’t even broken double-digit IP for his tenure there yet, but there are encouraging signs.  In his last two outings he has thrown 7 IP and has 11 K.  It will be interesting to track him as he continues to transition to a full-time pitcher because he’s got all the attributes necessary to be highly succesful.

 

17th Round: ADDISON MARUSZAK - OVERALL GRADE, C+/B-

The SS and leader of the University of South Florida Bulls this past season, Maruszak was the famous target of Joba Chamberlain’s comedic trash talk the night prior to the exhibition game played between the Yankees and USF during Spring Training.  A strong arm and solid but unspectacular present hitting tools led many to believe that the Yankees could potentially convert Maruszak to catcher, but for now he’s playing SS at Staten Island. I hate giving split grades like this, but his performance in pro-ball thus far is encouraging enough to make me reconsider the C+ I initially viewed the pick as.

 

18th Round: BRANDON BRABOY - OVERALL GRADE: C+

Braboy is another small righty who throws in the low 90s and sometimes bumps higher. He throws slightly harder than you would expect from an organizational arm, but he’s shown solid results in Stgaten Island thus far. The chances are low that he harnesses all his stuff and gets his command in order, but in the 18th round his is a chance worth taking. Braboy is a pick that, at present, has a slightly higher ceiling than you would expect to see in this spot and bonus.

 

19th Round: MITCH ABEITA - OVERALL GRADE, C

Abeita is about what you’d expect here - a senior sign who is a flawed prospect that does a thing or two noticeably above average, which in Abeita’s case would be his plate discipline (.134 IsoD at Nebraska last year).  Given the catching glut in the system, Abeita has several mountains to climb as he progresses, but as Damon Oppenheimer says, stacking prospects at premium positions is certianly not a bad thing.

 

20th Round: PAT VENDITTE - OVERALL GRADE, C

Venditte is a solid pick here and maybe a slightly better one than could be expected at this point, but not by much.  The switch-pitching thing is neat, but the gimmick doesn’t make him a better draftpick. He’s performed extremely well at Staten Island since signing, being named an All-Star and giving up only 10 hits in his 25+ IP on the season.  In the end though, he’s a reliever who doesn’t throw hard and doesn’t have a plus out-pitch, which isn’t anything to get overly excited about.

 

21st Round: MITCH DELANEY - OVERALL GRADE, B

A lefty power bat from Canada, Delaney got a good enough bonus from the Yanks to not forgo signing a second year in row (he said no to the White Sox last year). He has power to all fields and solid contact ability, however he has looked an absolute mess in the GCL thus far.  He does have above average talent, and hopefully he’ll begin to progress through the winter and into next season.  Another plus here is that he is a freshman and only 19 years old.  The opposite of the Maruszak pick, I liked Delaney a little more right after the draft than I do now, primarily due to his 3:19 BB:K ratio.  Still, the pick is a very good one regardless of the SSS results.

 

22nd Round: CORY ARBISO - OVERALL GRADE, C+

Arbiso is another Ian Kennedy type, showing average stuff but excellent command (4.8 K/BB). He’s a good pickup in this spot in the draft.  The problem Arbiso has is that he doesn’t miss nearly as many bats as other guys of his ilk do, so he doesn’t have more than a 5th starter ceiling at this point.  That said, a prospect with a ceiling as any sort of starting pitcher at the Major League level, and signed for a non-ridiculous bonus in the 22nd round, is a nice pick.

 

23rd Round: RYAN WILKES - OVERALL GRADE, D+/C-

A senior sign, Wilkes is a smallish, switch-hitting second baseman from the University of Kentucky.  He has no truly above average offensive skill at present, showing limited power, average-at-best OBP skills, and a contact ability that doesn’t open any eyes.  On the flip side, Wilkes excells defensively and was named the best defensive second baseman in the NCAA this past season, winning the Rawlings Gold Glove. 

 

24th Round: MIKE LYON - OVERALL GRADE, C

About what you’d expect from a 24th round pick.  Lyon is another senior sign, but one that at least show a slight offensive ceiling.  He improved his IsoD dramatically during his senior season, and has had a fantastic showing in his debut for Staten Island.  While it’s nice to see such encouraging production right off the bat from a 24th round pick, Lyon’s ceiling is to play well enough to be considered tradebait.  Otherwise he’s just high-end filler.

 

25th Round: JEFF NUTT - OVERALL GRADE, D

Nutt is another catcher from this draft, although there isn’t anything truly redeeming about him (the most intriguing thing about him is that he’s a lefty hitting catcher).  At Arkansas he didn’t show much of anything that would make you think he had a future in professional ball.  His contact skills are troubling, but at this point in the draft it’s not a terrible loss.

 

27th Round: GARRISON LASSITER - OVERALL GRADE, A+

A late round selection that the Yankees really did their homework on, Lassiter is a top-teir talent both offensively and defensively. While he has a lot of room for growth, he already has present ability, which he has shown playing for the Junior National team.  The Yankees actually invited Garrison down to spring training this past March to spend time working out with the team.  A lefty hitting shortstop with an above average arm and good power potential, this is an exceptional pick.

 

29th Round: CHAD GROSS - OVERALL GRADE, B- 

Gross is a big kid (6′5″, 220) who profiles as a corner powerbat.  He was only a sophomore, so he’s still young (20 years old), and has plenty of time to develop.  He also comes with good bloodlines, as his dad is former Major League starter, Kevin Gross.  In the 29th round this is a nice pick to make: young, good ceiling, and ready to sign.  Gross has struggled greatly in his GCL debut so temper expectations just a little when it comes to him panning out.

30th Round: MIKE JONES - OVERALL GRADE, C

The Yankees took a chance here at catching lightning in a bottle with the athletically gifted CF, but it already appears to have not worked out.  Jones is a candidate to be taken fairly early on in this year’s NFL draft as a WR, and has already rejoined the ASU football team for practice.  Before he left the GCL he didn’t do anything to answer any questions about his bat (except to confirm that it has a long, long way to go).  I’d be surprised if we see him playing professional baseball again anytime in the near future.

 

31st Round: SPENCER LUCIAN - OVERALL GRADE, C

Good size, solid OBP skills, but not much else that would make him an intriguing pick.  He’s filler if he makes it that far.  At least he’s got his Princeton education to fall back on.

 

33rd Round: TOMMY BALDRIDGE - OVERALL GRADE, B-

A lefty bat with good pop and very nice OBP skills, Baldridge is a nice pick in the 33rd round.  He was a pre-season All-American after a monster junior year, and didn’t disappoint in 2008.  He’s probably filler at this point, but with a chance to develop into legitimate tradebait or a 4th/5th OF at the Major League level.

 

34th Round: BRAD RULON - OVERALL GRADE, B-

Another above average pick for the round he was selected.  Rulon was a senior sign who was the closer at Georgia Tech.  Undersized at just 5′11″, Rulon is reminiscent of David Robertson in that he is shorter than what is considered ideal, has average velocity, but also a plus breaking pitch.  Since signing and joining Staten Island, he has been totally dominant to date:

35.2 IP,  21 H,  1 HR,  17 BB,  52 K,  0.50 ERA

He is a nice sleeper pick in the 34th round and will be an interesting prospect to track as he moves up levels.

 

35th Round: ANDREW SHIVE - OVERALL GRADE, C+

Shive’s selection is about standard for this spot in the draft seeing as he is a senior with unspectacular results or stuff.  However, the selection does get a C+ because Shive is a big guy, clocking in at 6′6″ and 260 lbs.  If the Yankees staff can work with him to use his physical attributes to his greatest advanatage, Shive has an outside chance to develop into something more than filler.  He currently is looking very sharp in Staten Island, and it will be interesting to see how he fares in full-season ball next year.

 

39th Round: ERIK LOVETT - OVERALL GRADE, C+/B-

Lovett was named the 2007 National Division II Player of the Year after his junior season when he hit .402 and slugged .810, so he’s got some talent.  At Mount Olive College the lefty showed good power potential and OBP skills, and sought to apply those talents when he signed quickly after being drafted.  He has been platooning to this point so hasn’t really had a chance to break out, but he’s another one to watch to see if he can become a prospect.

 

42nd Round: CLINT PREISENDORFER - OVERALL GRADE, C

He’s tall and he throws left-handed, but Preisendorfer hasn’t done much of anything in his college or professional pitching career to show that he’s harnessed the natural gifts he has.  He has however shown a knack for turning down the Yankees, seeing as this is the 3rd time they’ve drafted him.  Without a major addition or mechanical change, there isn’t much of anything to this pick.  Hopefully the Yankees can develop him in the bullpen, his stuff can tick up a bit, and he can pan out as a reliever of some sort.

 

47th Round: RYAN FLANNERY - OVERALL GRADE, C+

As a 47th round pick and a senior sign, there isn’t much to expect out of a guy in Flannery’s position.  He does have some positive attributes, most notably his size (6′4″, 240), and the fact that he is from Jersey (Hudson County, stand up!).  Sitting in the high 80s, he doesn’t throw hard, but mechanical adjustments to a frame like his could result in more velocity down the road.  The Yankees have already converted him to the bullpen, and he has (expectedly) dominated the GCL hitters he has faced as the team’s closer.  Another pick where there is legitimate potential for him to stick in the system.

 

50th Round: NIK TURLEY - OVERALL GRADE, A+

The 3rd to last pick of the entire draft (#1,502 of 1,504 picks), I cited Turley as a pick to keep an eye on in the early going, even though I thought the chances of him signing were remote. Turley is a tall (6′4″), strong lefty with a lot of projectability.  He was a basketball player in high school as well, and the Yankees broke his commitment to BYU with a $125K bonus.  I couldn’t have been happier to see the team sign one of the high-upside high school lefties they drafted (Dwyer, Monar, Turley), and Turley is already off to a nice start in the GCL (9K in his first 5 IP).  This is a pick that has present ability, youth, and a big ceiling.  Great signing.

 

FINAL DRAFT GRADE: B-

 

After a lot of review, the Yankees ended up having a solid draft despite not signing their 1st and 2nd round picks. The Cole debacle is not their fault so you can’t penalize them for anything in the decision making process, but it does greatly affect the overall quality of the draft class, and thus the final grade. Losing Bittle, as I pointed out above, may actually net them a better player in the end, and a lot of the appeal of having Bittle this season was that he could come up for the stretch-run. Seeing as the Yankees are doing their best to play themselves out of contention, that doesn’t appear to be a pressing need at this point in time.

There seem to be two themes in this draft:

1) Lefthanded bats (Smith, Lassiter, Baldridge, Lovett, etc)

2) Finding the undervalued talents (Phelps, Mitchell, Brewer, Richardson, even Marshall to a degree)

What Cole cost the Yankees was not having a single “instant stud prospect,” and those are rare commodities in the prospects game. The positive in this draft is that the Yankees scouted a lot of these guys extensively and have shown to be able to develop talent in recent years via coaching and adjustments. There are many picks in this draft that could develop into top-10 organizational prospects, and that has all too quickly been forgotten when people judge all of the selections in the shadow of the Cole family’s deception.

Gerrit Cole does not sign. Cole was a dynamic pitching prospect the likes of which the Yankees haven’t drafted since Brien Taylor (this includes Hughes and Joba). Losing him is a huge blow, but if it was simply an issue of being mislead, it’s tough to kill the Yankees over this one. With that said, it’s not a great night to be a fan of the draft.

I’ll be back with more tomorrow and in the coming days to do summary and follow up, but overall the draft is not a poor one. The Yankees took some talent and went over slot several times to land kids with high upside. Just because they signed earlier doesn’t make them any less talented or desirable. The Yankees had a very solid but unspectacular draft. At first glance, having everything to do with ceilings and nothing to do with how it actually pans out, I’d say the draft is a C+/B-.

I reserve the right to ammend that as I review it in more detail, though. Back with more later, but for now sleep beckons.

I wish things would have turned out better tonight, fellow draftniks.

Baseball America has the details, and the numbers were just about exactly what I’d thought they’d be:

As reported earlier, the Yankees signed 27th-round draft pick Gordon Lassiter. Baseball America since has learned that his bonus was $600,000, the equivalent of slot money for the 68th overall choice (second round).

I’m still hoping that either Cole signs, or the Cole bounty gets spread around a little and we get a few more of the guys whose pricetags were too high.

Just under three hours left…

Hey, Gerrit Cole: The top college pitcher in this draft, the 5th overall selection, and a lefty to boot, has signed today for a $3.2 million bonus.

No one believes you that it’s not about the money - you’d be getting more than the top college pitcher this year. For whatever reason you could possibly give for not signing (besides some kind of mental condition), we all know it’s a front.

Hopefully the Yankees will sign you, but if they don’t bend to an insane money-grab, I won’t be surprised (see: Inoa, Michael). In the end though, we know this is all about the cash.

As a former Yankee legend once said: It must be the money.

We’ve all seen the picture by now, but in case you haven’t here is the now infamous phot of an 11 year old Gerrit Cole in Arizona before Game 6 of the 2001 World Series.

(Photo courtesy of Deadspin)

Do you honestly believe that the following sequence of events has taken place?

1) Cole admits to checking info about his status prior to the draft, and that without performing well, he wouldn’t have the prospect status that he does. If a kid was even close to thinking that he would never actually entertain the notion of a negotiation, do you think he would care much about his draft status?

2) Cole is from a family that traveled hours to watch their favorite team in the World Series. He’s admitted the sign was not his, that he picked it up from a couple of other Yankee fans that had left, but he’s wearing a Yankee jersey and hat in an opposing team’s stadium for the most important game of the year. So he’s basically been picked by his favorite team.

3) Cole is clearly going to be getting upwards of $4 million if he signs. This isn’t a case where the team is offering first round slot money of any kind, and that inlcudes the first overall slot. He’s getting what will end up being one of the 5-10 best bonuses in the draft.

4) Cole has no reason to go to school assuming the reason he doesn’t want to sign has to do with some kind of social anxiety disorder. The kid is a BASEBALL player. He already throws 98 MPH and is from the BASEBALL hotbed of SoCal. He’s only going to UCLA because of a BASEBALL scholarship. His stated goal in the above interview is to play BASEBALL in the Major Leagues. What is he going to do at UCLA? Become an astrophysicist? A chiropractor? A veterinarian?

5) There is no way the Yankees would take a shot in the dark on a kid in the first round. None. They had to have gotten some sort of confirmation prior to making the pick, either through the family or through Boras, that Cole was ammenable, in some way, to signing.

His goal is to play in the Majors, he’s been given the opportunity to do so by the team he grew up rooting for, at a payscale that even the best college pitchers would love to see, and he supposedly doesn’t want to negotiate.

It doesn’t add up. Something is going on behind the scenes.

Believe he’s going to Westwood only when it becomes official. And if it does become official, question the kid’s mental fortitude and/or decision making ability. Not because he chose to go to college, but the manner in which he did so. Alex Meyer and Sonny Gray both informed teams quite clearly before the draft that they had no intention of signing professional contracts, and would not be worth drafting in the first round (or at all for that matter). Gerrit Cole gave indicators prior to the draft that he was interested, and now supposedly won’t even negotiate. If it all comes true, there’s something very wrong with the kid and or his family’s ethics.

…and many times people who cover baseball for a living trip up when they try and undertake covering the Rule 4 draft. It’s understandable because the rules of the draft itself are so inherently different from any other of the major sports, but sometimes in an attempt to offer up news on a subject that they aren’t familiar with mainstream writers create confusion instead of information.

Today in his blog, Peter Abraham of The Journal News calls into question the wisdom of Gerrit Cole’s father to control negotiations with the Yankees.

Last week came word that the player’s father was running the show instead of Scott Boras. That’s certainly the family’s right. But it’s usually best to leave such things to the pros.

Actually this is totally incorrect, as Scott Boras is Cole’s advisor, not his agent. If Boras were to act in the capacity of an agent in this case, Cole would lose the ability to attend UCLA at all. When it comes to MLB draftpicks, at the very least the PERCEPTION that the negotiations are going through the family has to be in place. Reports that Cole’s dad are running negotiations are not at all curious, and are actually quite common. Another Yankees draftee in 2008, 10th rounder DJ Mitchell, had his negotiations presided over by his mother.

Many die hard draft fans will remember the case of Matt Harvey from last year. Harvey was the prep RHP from Connecticut who was comitted to UNC and fell due to signability concerns. When the last week of the signing period came, the Angels said they had not heard back at all from Boras after attempting to contact him.

“We’ve made several attempts to contact the family through Scott’s office, and they’ve had absolutely no interest in talking to us,” Bane said. “Neither Scott nor the family has negotiated one dime with us. They’ve refused to answer our calls.”

Notice how Eddie Bane, the Angels scouting director, words his quote - he was trying to contact the family.

The follow-up paragraph makes the position more clear.

Boras said his office “has not received any calls from the Angels regarding Harvey,” and even if it did, NCAA rules prohibit him from dealing with the Angels directly. He can only advise Harvey, who has signed a letter of intent with college power North Carolina.

Now, of course there are ways around it, but the bottom line here is that it is not in the least bit curious that Gerrit Cole’s father is being publicly saddled with making the decision here. It is actually the thing you should expect to hear.

Whether or not the decision is good or bad is another issue, but there are rules to the MLB draft, and the news of Gerrit’s father making the decisions falls in line perfectly with them.

In my conversations with Damon Oppenheimer both Ben McMahan and Chris Dwyer had large pricetags that the Yankees were unwilling to meet. If Gerrit Cole does in fact attend UCLA, that frees up $4 million+, and the increases that the Yankees would have to make in order to sign these two probably totals less than $500K.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, as Dwyer and McMahan were not signed because of money/injury - it had nothing to do with the Yankees finding flaw in their performance. So, if there’s suddenly several million dollars unused, do they use a small portion, maybe 10% of it, to bring in two more prospects?

As disappointing as Cole not signing would be, this has certainly made the 2008 signing period the most interesting one in recent memory.

As first reported last night by the NY Times’ Tyler Kepner, Yankees 1st-round pick and high school fireballer, Gerritt Cole, is rejecting the dollars of the Yankees for UCLA.  This is a stunning development to say the least.  With so many questions from fans about this story, we decided to go straight to the source for further clarification.  Here is what Kepner told us at NoMaas about 10 minutes ago:

From what I understand, the Yankees drafted Cole believing he would sign with them and wanted to play pro ball. Negotiations were not set to start until late, as usual with Scott Boras clients. By the time they really started to talk, Cole and his father said Cole was committed to college and they did not even want to hear offers from the Yankees. I am quite sure the Yanks would have paid over-slot for him, as is their custom, but in the end it made no difference because he didn’t even want to hear an offer. Now, there is still time before the deadline and Boras is known for (literally) last-minute deals. But the impression I got late last night was that this thing was dead, no turning back, and the Yanks will take the pick next June.

Both SI.com and our boy T-Kep over at the NYT are reporting that 1st round pick Gerrit Cole is not going to be signing, and will be attending UCLA to play baseball. Supposedly it’s not about the money, but we’re talking about a kid who grew up a Yankees fan, and has no real chance to get a significant bump in terms of his bonus by attending college.

Two things here:

1) Believe it only when midnight, 8/15 comes.

2) This is a VERY big deal. Don’t let anyone try and convince you otherwise. YES, the Yankees get a comsensatory pick next year, and YES it may be nice to have in light of the Ben Sabathex sweepstakes. However, Cole is insanely talented. He literally had the best fastball of any high schooler in the draft, and maybe any player in the draft, period. It is not a given that a talent similar to him falls next year to the back of the first round, where the compensatory pick will be. Being able to sign a player like Gerrit Cole while picking in the back end of the draft is a privelage, not a right. Gerrit Cole would have instantly been the Yankees best pitching prospect, and possibly could have challenged AJax for top prospect in the system. This will not happen every year, and losing out on having Cole in the farm system is not mitigated to any significant degree by having an additional pick next year.

Again though, refer to point 1 until tomorrow evening.  

With 9th overall pick Aaron Crow having signed with the infamous Fort Worth Cats, news comes of another first rounder contemplating playing independently for a year if he doesn’t get what he’s asking for.

7th overall pick, Yonder Alonso is seriously considering not signing a deal with the Reds. Evidently he’s considering playing for an independent league in the northeast, specifically the tri-state area. Why would a Miami boy turn down a pro contract and risk everything to play a year of minor league ball in an independent league? Turns out the stories we heard before the draft about a special friendship he had with a certain New York Yankee were true:

I talked to Yonder Alonso a little bit ago. He was sticking to his tough stance, saying he wouldn’t sign unless the Reds gave him what he wanted, which is believed to be a big league contract worth $7 million.

I thought this would get done. But what I hadn’t count on is the ARod factor. Alex Rodriguez, that Alex Rodriguez, is Alonso workout partner and friend. ARod has told Alonso if things don’t work to his liking, he welcome to live with Rodiguez next season and play for Newark or Long Island of the Atlantic League. My guess ARod doesn’t live in fifth floor walk-up.

In the entry, Alonso tells the writer that if the Reds stop talks at $3 million, he’ll take A-Rod up on his offer.  The big first baseman from The U is everything the Yankees are looking for to fill the void they will have in the future at 1B. Big power, exceptional plate discipline, and young.

This could be very interesting as the drive to the deadline plays out.