Tribe Flashback: Sandy Alomar Jr.
August 10, 2009Camp Mangini – It’s No Picnic
August 10, 2009With the signing deadline (August 17th) quickly approaching, only 12 of the 32 first-round draft selections have been signed by their respective teams. Much of the discussion leading up to the deadline will be about the Washington Nationals and first overall selection Stephen Strasburg. However, those of us that write/read this here blog will also need to pay some attention to pitcher Alex White.
Selected 15th overall by the Tribe, Baseball America is now reporting that White is looking for a larger pay day than “slotting” would suggest as he was once projected to be a top five pick. Similar to Michael Crabtree (of the San Francisco 49ers) wanting to be paid as the top wide receiver solely based on mock drafts, White – along with two others in the same draft range – do not appear ready to settle for the slotting framework.
The Indians ownership is already well-documented in terms of their financial issues. They have also claimed to have been watching White for more than a year now and were thrilled in drafting him. We’ve touched on the possibility of low-balling White in the past. For now, it appears that one side will have to give before too long if these two parties plan on being together for the foreseeable future.
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(image via CarolinaRob7)
15 Comments
Good luck getting the Dolans to fork out the cash.
these agents are starting to kill me, man. The whole “slotting” concept is starting to die out. I think its time for the MLB and the NFL to run things NBA style when it comes to signing draft picks.
Its like drafted pitchers and their agents don’t even look at the recent history. Even in better times, pitchers who tried to stick it to their drafting team by making demands got screwed themselves in the end. Almost no money for at least a year, a nice big black mark on their scouting report, and now they have to pitch in one of those fringe leagues just to keep themselves in shape.
They are long term investments, not “save the team” short term injections like free agents. What is their real leverage? If the Indians don’t sign this guy, we can just draft higher next year and get a different pitcher than will have just about the same odds of being major league ready as fast as White was, if ever.
Honestly, given how we completely cannot pay people really big money when they develope well organically, I say we don’t even sign him since we now know that he chases the dollar so hard.
I can’t even blame the Indians if this doesn’t get done, based on what this kids agent is saying he is making it impossible for the Indians to sign him. And apparently its not just the Indians, its every small market team
He will sign – he has limited leverage.
If he was a high school phenom, he could say he was going to play competitive college ball. But he’s older and right now he will be offered first round money, and re-entering the draft next year puts him at injury risk and a potential free fall from the money on the table now. Of course, he might be a stubborn moron …
Isis is going to blow his top
I hate agents……always trying to increase their payout while simultaneously dragging the player’s rep through the mud. They are selfish greedy SOBs
I already hate this kid.
I’d hate to be the kind of person who would wish an accident upon his pitching arm, a sort of cosmic poetic justice to teach him some humility and perspective, but… um… I forget where I was going with this.
Imagine walking into a job interview “I was projected to make VP by the age of 28. So, I’d like to get paid like one despite my current job level.”
That takes some serious juevos.
And why would I blow my top Creative? White has Dolan by the proverbial balls, and he and his agent know it.
Just get rid of Wedge.
Baseball is perfect between the lines and completely broken outside the lines. The next labor agreement discussions are going to be ugly. I know that everyone rips Dolan but if the franchise itself can not make money independent of the worth of the owner the business sucks. It’s why Mark Cuban bailed on the Pirates. Hell the only reason he took a run at the Cubs is it is one of the few teams that can make money regardless of what you put out there.
A draft pick holding out for more money. Give me a break. This is almost as insane as allowing Asian players to go to the highest bidder…
If Mangini had better communication skills, White would be signed by now.
“Good luck getting the Dolans to fork out the cash.”
They may have screwed the pooch with the ML team this year, but this is absolutely unfair.
I’m no Dolan apologist… but the fact remains that they have *never* shied away from spending in the minor leagues. They have invested considerably more than other teams in signing bonuses, scouting, and coaching in the minors. They viewed this as an area they might achieve competitive advantage, knowing the economic realities at the major league level.
And the strategy may have worked, if they only knew how to draft–Shapiro’s biggest failure, IMO. But attacking them for not spending on draft picks? That’s way, way off base, patently unfair, and not remotely consistent with reality.
[…] have recently mentioned the “top five” demands of White and his agent. We continually hear that other teams are having trouble signing their […]