All five of the White Sox's 2020 draft picks have agreed to contracts. Their second-round pick, right-handed pitcher Jared Kelley, signed for $3 million, which as expected was overslot. Fifth-round pick Bailey Horn, a left-handed pitcher, agreed to sign for $150,000, which as expected was underslot.
Kelley basically got late first-round money. By way of comparison, his bonus matches the money received by another high school pitcher, Nick Bitsko, who was selected 24th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays. Kelley was the No. 47 overall selection.
Here's the final rundown on Sox draft picks and the money they signed for:
First round: Garrett Crochet, LHP, $4,547,500 ($4,547,500 slot)
Second round: Jared Kelley, RHP, $3,000,000 ($1,582,000 slot)
Third round: Adisyn Coffey, RHP, $50,000 ($733,100 slot)
Fourth round: Kade Mechals, RHP, $10,000 ($517,400 slot)
Fifth round: Bailey Horn, LHP, $150,000 ($386,600)
All total, the Sox spent $7,757,500 of their bonus pool. That is $7,300 less than their maximum allowed total of $7,764,800.
Five players released
Major League Baseball ended its roster freeze Friday, and the Sox released these five players: Caleb Frare, Zach Putnam, Matt Skole, Matt Tomshaw and Ramon Torres.
Remember spring 2019? We used to think Frare could be a viable left-handed reliever out of the bullpen, but he forgot how to throw strikes and hasn't seen the bigs since posting a 10.13 ERA in five April appearances last year.
Putnam was a pretty good reliever for the Sox from 2014-17. He appeared in 130 games with the South Siders and posted a 9-6 record with a 2.71 ERA and six saves over that time span. But, he had Tommy John surgery in 2017 and has never made it back to the majors. It's possible he's thrown his last professional pitch.
Skole, a left-handed hitting first baseman, somehow managed to get added to the 25-man roster in both 2018 and 2019. He batted .217/.290/.277 with one home run in 31 games and 93 plate appearances over those two seasons with the Sox.
Tomshaw and Torres? Well, I don't have much to say about them. Tomshaw is a 30-year-old lefty pitcher who was decent at Double-A, but he got hit around every time he was promoted to Triple-A. Torres, a utility infielder, was last seen playing for the Kansas City Royals in 2018. There's no reason to believe he would have had any role in the Sox organization.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
ICYMI: White Sox sign top draft pick Garrett Crochet
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| Garrett Crochet |
Crochet, a left-handed pitcher out of Tennessee, received a $4,547,500 signing bonus, which is equal to the recommended slot value for the No. 11 overall pick in the draft.
Among the five Sox draft picks, second-rounder Jared Kelley and fifth-rounder Bailey Horn remain unsigned.
Kelley's slot value is $1,580,200, but as we stated in a previous blog, he's getting more than that. No doubt he's getting first-round money.
After signing Crochet for slot, the Sox have $3,157,300 remaining in their draft pool. The guess here is they can get Kelley in the fold if they offer him about $3 million.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Opening Day is July 24; let's hope this all works out
Must admit, I'm surprised the league-imposed 2020 Major League Baseball schedule is going to be 60 games. I figured the owners would want a 48- or 52-game schedule, but I suppose by playing 60, they increase their chances of winning in court when the MLBPA inevitably files a grievance arguing that owners didn't bargain in good faith.
Anyway ... the latest news ... the union informed the league Tuesday that it will comply with the imposed outline for the 2020 season. Players will report to spring, err.., summer training on July 1, and the season is expected to begin July 24.
The two sides still are working to finalize health and safety protocols. The league is expected to conclude its regular season Sept. 27 -- for those scoring at home, that means 60 games in 66 days. The usual 10-team playoff format applies, and that should be over by the end of October.
If the league and the players can avoid having this whole thing shut down by stupid COVID-19. Let's hope the infections are kept to a minimum, and that we can have baseball. Well, hopefully, there are no infections, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.
Anyway ... the latest news ... the union informed the league Tuesday that it will comply with the imposed outline for the 2020 season. Players will report to spring, err.., summer training on July 1, and the season is expected to begin July 24.
The two sides still are working to finalize health and safety protocols. The league is expected to conclude its regular season Sept. 27 -- for those scoring at home, that means 60 games in 66 days. The usual 10-team playoff format applies, and that should be over by the end of October.
If the league and the players can avoid having this whole thing shut down by stupid COVID-19. Let's hope the infections are kept to a minimum, and that we can have baseball. Well, hopefully, there are no infections, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.
Monday, June 22, 2020
MLBPA votes down 60-game proposal
The MLB Players Association voted, 33-5, on Monday to reject Major League Baseball's proposal to start the 2020 season, sources say.
The vote was conducted by the union's eight-member executive committee, plus one player representative per team.
The proposal called for:
Where do we go from here? Well, we wait for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to tell the players "when and where" the 2020 season will begin, if it begins at all.
I think there are three ways this could go. MLB could cancel the season, fearing that COVID-19 could torpedo the playoffs in October, thus cutting off a large source of revenue that owners are counting on.
Or, Manfred could call for a season of 48 games, get the regular season over as quickly as possible, and hope for the best with the usual 10-team playoff.
Or, owners could be altruistic, have Manfred mandate a 60-game season and hope the playoffs get completed.
As a baseball fan, I hope the last option will happen, but rationally, I know better. We are looking squarely at one of the first two options I mentioned.
A 75% yes vote would be required to pass any plan Manfred chooses to implement. If eight owners vote to cancel the season, there will be no season.
The vote was conducted by the union's eight-member executive committee, plus one player representative per team.
The proposal called for:
- a 60-game season
- a 16-team expanded playoff
- prorated pay for players
- no additional salary guarantees should the season be canceled because of COVID-19
- the union to waive its right to file a grievance claiming the owners did not negotiate in good faith
Where do we go from here? Well, we wait for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to tell the players "when and where" the 2020 season will begin, if it begins at all.
I think there are three ways this could go. MLB could cancel the season, fearing that COVID-19 could torpedo the playoffs in October, thus cutting off a large source of revenue that owners are counting on.
Or, Manfred could call for a season of 48 games, get the regular season over as quickly as possible, and hope for the best with the usual 10-team playoff.
Or, owners could be altruistic, have Manfred mandate a 60-game season and hope the playoffs get completed.
As a baseball fan, I hope the last option will happen, but rationally, I know better. We are looking squarely at one of the first two options I mentioned.
A 75% yes vote would be required to pass any plan Manfred chooses to implement. If eight owners vote to cancel the season, there will be no season.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
White Sox have signed 2 of their 5 draft picks (but not the top 2)
Jim Callis, senior writer for MLB Pipeline, has been using his Twitter feed to keep the world updated on draft signings.
I'll spare you a lot of scrolling and just tell you that the White Sox have agreed on contracts with both third-round pick Adisyn Coffey and fourth-round pick Kade Mechals.
The Sox's top two picks, left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet and right-handed pitcher Jared Kelley remain unsigned, although a tweet from MLB.com's Scott Merkin said Crochet would be in Chicago for a physical this week, and that contract could be wrapped up soon. Fifth-round pick Bailey Horn also remains unsigned.
Coffey, a right-handed pitcher and sometimes shortstop out of Wabash Valley Community College, signed with the Sox for $50,000, well below the slot value of $733,100.
Mechals, a right-handed pitcher out of Grand Canyon University, underwent Tommy John surgery in May, so he had no leverage in contract negotiations. He got the standard rate that you would normally assign to a college senior who was selected on the second day of the draft: $10,000. In case you were wondering, slot rate is $517,400.
So, if you combine the savings on these two underslot deals for Coffey and Mechals, you get $1,190,500 that the Sox can put toward signing Kelley for first-round money.
The slot value for Crochet is $4,547,000. The slot value for Kelley is $1,582,000. I'm expecting Crochet to get right at that figure, or somewhere in the neighborhood.
Assuming Crochet signs at slot, the Sox would have $3,157,300 remaining in their draft pool with which to sign Kelley and Horn. With the 5 percent overage, the Sox can spend as much as $3,545,540 before they would have to surrender future draft picks.
The slot value on Horn is $386,600. He doesn't have a lot of leverage here as a fifth-round pick, so expect most of that $3 million-plus to go to Kelley, who most people believe was a first-round talent who slid to the second round because of signability issues.
I'll spare you a lot of scrolling and just tell you that the White Sox have agreed on contracts with both third-round pick Adisyn Coffey and fourth-round pick Kade Mechals.
The Sox's top two picks, left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet and right-handed pitcher Jared Kelley remain unsigned, although a tweet from MLB.com's Scott Merkin said Crochet would be in Chicago for a physical this week, and that contract could be wrapped up soon. Fifth-round pick Bailey Horn also remains unsigned.
Coffey, a right-handed pitcher and sometimes shortstop out of Wabash Valley Community College, signed with the Sox for $50,000, well below the slot value of $733,100.
Mechals, a right-handed pitcher out of Grand Canyon University, underwent Tommy John surgery in May, so he had no leverage in contract negotiations. He got the standard rate that you would normally assign to a college senior who was selected on the second day of the draft: $10,000. In case you were wondering, slot rate is $517,400.
So, if you combine the savings on these two underslot deals for Coffey and Mechals, you get $1,190,500 that the Sox can put toward signing Kelley for first-round money.
The slot value for Crochet is $4,547,000. The slot value for Kelley is $1,582,000. I'm expecting Crochet to get right at that figure, or somewhere in the neighborhood.
Assuming Crochet signs at slot, the Sox would have $3,157,300 remaining in their draft pool with which to sign Kelley and Horn. With the 5 percent overage, the Sox can spend as much as $3,545,540 before they would have to surrender future draft picks.
The slot value on Horn is $386,600. He doesn't have a lot of leverage here as a fifth-round pick, so expect most of that $3 million-plus to go to Kelley, who most people believe was a first-round talent who slid to the second round because of signability issues.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Finally, a glimmer of hope in the MLB negotiations
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred issued a statement Wednesday, and here it is:
“At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours yesterday in Phoenix. We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents. I summarized that framework numerous times in the meeting and sent Tony a written summary today. Consistent with our conversations yesterday, I am encouraging the Clubs to move forward and I trust Tony is doing the same.”
Nothing has been agreed upon yet, but The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich posted a good article Wednesday night outlining the progress toward a deal that could start the 2020 season.
During the face-to-face meeting between Manfred and Clark, the owners offered a major concession: Players will get their full prorated salaries if the season is played. The league proposed a 60-game season that would start about July 19 or 20 and take place over 70 days.
The number of games remains a sticking point, according to The Athletic report. Players would like 70 games, of course, to maximize their earnings. The owners want 60 games, but with the season being played over a period of 70 days, perhaps there is room for compromise in there. Maybe 65 or 66 games in those 70 days?
If the season is 60 games, players would receive about 37% of their salaries, which is more than in any of the previous offers made by the owners. If 65 games are played, players would get 40% of their salaries, and I think that might be enough to broker a deal.
The league also has asked the union to consent to expanded playoffs in 2020 and 2021, and waive its right to file a grievance over scheduling. The latter would be a big concession from the union, but I don't think it's too big of an ask given that the owners have moved to allow full prorated salaries to be paid.
Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of this whole sad episode, and that we can have baseball back in about a month.
“At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours yesterday in Phoenix. We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents. I summarized that framework numerous times in the meeting and sent Tony a written summary today. Consistent with our conversations yesterday, I am encouraging the Clubs to move forward and I trust Tony is doing the same.”
Nothing has been agreed upon yet, but The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich posted a good article Wednesday night outlining the progress toward a deal that could start the 2020 season.
During the face-to-face meeting between Manfred and Clark, the owners offered a major concession: Players will get their full prorated salaries if the season is played. The league proposed a 60-game season that would start about July 19 or 20 and take place over 70 days.
The number of games remains a sticking point, according to The Athletic report. Players would like 70 games, of course, to maximize their earnings. The owners want 60 games, but with the season being played over a period of 70 days, perhaps there is room for compromise in there. Maybe 65 or 66 games in those 70 days?
If the season is 60 games, players would receive about 37% of their salaries, which is more than in any of the previous offers made by the owners. If 65 games are played, players would get 40% of their salaries, and I think that might be enough to broker a deal.
The league also has asked the union to consent to expanded playoffs in 2020 and 2021, and waive its right to file a grievance over scheduling. The latter would be a big concession from the union, but I don't think it's too big of an ask given that the owners have moved to allow full prorated salaries to be paid.
Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of this whole sad episode, and that we can have baseball back in about a month.
Monday, June 15, 2020
Rob Manfred takes his shot at title of worst commissioner ever
Rob Manfred on June 10: "We're going to play baseball in 2020, 100 percent."
MLB Players Association: "Tell us when and where."
Rob Manfred on June 15: "I'm not confident [there will be a season]. I think there's real risk, and as long as there's no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue."
You can't help but hate the commissioner of Major League Baseball. After all, he hates baseball, a game many of us love. He's threatening to pull the plug on the 2020 season on the same day he's appearing on an ESPN special called, "The Return of Sports."
Oh, the irony.
Add his gross mismanagement of the restart negotiations to a list of transgressions that includes his push to destroy minor league baseball, his asinine handling of the electronic cheating scandal and his plans to implement a laundry list of ridiculous rule changes, and you have the worst commissioner in the history of baseball.
These talks on the potential restart of the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic have been a farce, with the owners repackaging the same offer over and over again. Every thing they've offered ends in the same place, with the players being offered between 33% and 35% of their prorated pay. They're not going to take that; get a clue, Manfred!
And it's asinine for the owners to say the players are acting in "bad faith." The owners have done nothing but act in bad faith for years, screwing players over with service time manipulation, refusing to sign middle-tier free agents, stocking rosters with Quad-A players to "tank" seasons in the name of better draft positions, and downplaying players' abilities in arbitration hearings.
Granted, none of these things are against the rules. Some say it's "smart business," but one man's "smart business" is another man's bad faith. Over the past few years, we've routinely seen players get outleveraged on the business side of the game, and what's the response? "Welp, the players need to negotiate a better deal."
OK, fine, and now the players are, in fact, taking a hard line to try to get a better deal. Can you blame them? I can't.
I'm left with the conclusion that the owners simply don't want to play this year, because they will lose money, and they are sending Manfred out there to do their bidding.
Newsflash: In the middle of a pandemic, nobody is making money this year. It's about mitigating losses and living to fight another day right now. MLB is going to have even more trouble when another day comes because of all the bad will it is building up with fans and players right now.
I mean, let's be honest about this. If attendance suddenly shot up, would owners tack on some of those extra revenues to player contracts? Of course not. The contracts were signed, and a deal is a deal.
The same is true when the opposite happens. There will be no attendance, so revenues are going down. But you know what? The contracts were signed, and a deal is a deal. Both sides have to abide by the agreed upon terms regardless of what the overall revenues are.
The players are entitled to earn the salaries they negotiated, prorated to the number of games they play -- if any -- this season.
If Manfred was any kind of leader at all, he'd explain this to the owners. The owners are stewards of the game, and they are responsible for its long-term well-being. Right now, they are hurting the game's long-term well-being in the name of trying to avoid losses in 2020.
It's a failing strategy.
MLB Players Association: "Tell us when and where."
Rob Manfred on June 15: "I'm not confident [there will be a season]. I think there's real risk, and as long as there's no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue."
You can't help but hate the commissioner of Major League Baseball. After all, he hates baseball, a game many of us love. He's threatening to pull the plug on the 2020 season on the same day he's appearing on an ESPN special called, "The Return of Sports."
Oh, the irony.
Add his gross mismanagement of the restart negotiations to a list of transgressions that includes his push to destroy minor league baseball, his asinine handling of the electronic cheating scandal and his plans to implement a laundry list of ridiculous rule changes, and you have the worst commissioner in the history of baseball.
These talks on the potential restart of the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic have been a farce, with the owners repackaging the same offer over and over again. Every thing they've offered ends in the same place, with the players being offered between 33% and 35% of their prorated pay. They're not going to take that; get a clue, Manfred!
And it's asinine for the owners to say the players are acting in "bad faith." The owners have done nothing but act in bad faith for years, screwing players over with service time manipulation, refusing to sign middle-tier free agents, stocking rosters with Quad-A players to "tank" seasons in the name of better draft positions, and downplaying players' abilities in arbitration hearings.
Granted, none of these things are against the rules. Some say it's "smart business," but one man's "smart business" is another man's bad faith. Over the past few years, we've routinely seen players get outleveraged on the business side of the game, and what's the response? "Welp, the players need to negotiate a better deal."
OK, fine, and now the players are, in fact, taking a hard line to try to get a better deal. Can you blame them? I can't.
I'm left with the conclusion that the owners simply don't want to play this year, because they will lose money, and they are sending Manfred out there to do their bidding.
Newsflash: In the middle of a pandemic, nobody is making money this year. It's about mitigating losses and living to fight another day right now. MLB is going to have even more trouble when another day comes because of all the bad will it is building up with fans and players right now.
I mean, let's be honest about this. If attendance suddenly shot up, would owners tack on some of those extra revenues to player contracts? Of course not. The contracts were signed, and a deal is a deal.
The same is true when the opposite happens. There will be no attendance, so revenues are going down. But you know what? The contracts were signed, and a deal is a deal. Both sides have to abide by the agreed upon terms regardless of what the overall revenues are.
The players are entitled to earn the salaries they negotiated, prorated to the number of games they play -- if any -- this season.
If Manfred was any kind of leader at all, he'd explain this to the owners. The owners are stewards of the game, and they are responsible for its long-term well-being. Right now, they are hurting the game's long-term well-being in the name of trying to avoid losses in 2020.
It's a failing strategy.
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