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August 18, 2009Examining the Columbus Crew
August 18, 2009Following up from yesterday’s post, the Indians have officially signed first-round selection Alex White.
Per team media relations:
The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has signed RHP Alex White, the 15th overall pick of the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft.
White, 20, completed the 2009 season, his junior year at the University of North Carolina, going 8-4 with a 3.87 ERA (107.0IP, 93H, 49R/46ER, 44BB, 121K, .233 avg) in 16 starts for the Tarheels who advanced to the College World Series. The 6-3, 200-pound Greenville, NC native limited opponents to a .233 average against and in the Tarheels first game of the College World Series allowed just 1 run/earned on 7 hits in 9.0 innings while walking 3 and striking out 12. Following the season he was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference first team for the second consecutive season. Prior to the draft, White was ranked as the 6th best prospect (4th best pitcher) in the entire 2009 draft by Baseball America.
White was the 14th round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2006 draft out of D.H. Conley high School (Greenville, NC) before opting to attend the University of North Carolina. In 2008, he went 13-3 with a 2.83 ERA (101.2IP, 78H, 43R/32ER, 42BB, 113K, .215 avg against) in 20 games/15 starts for the Tarheels as he was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and a third team All-America by Baseball America.
“By reaching an agreement with Alex White, we feel that we have added a very talented, young pitcher into our organization,” said Cleveland Indians Director of Scouting Brad Grant. “Alex’s combination of power stuff, competitiveness, intelligence and overall athleticism made him an attractive draft pick for us, and we look forward to him beginning his career with us.”
The Indians signed each of their first 20 picks from the June First-Year Player Draft and 28 of their overall 50 selections.
Of the $160 million that was spent on the top 10 rounds through all of the MLB, Jim Callis tweets that $2.5 million of that will be going to Alex White.
The press release came out at 12:23am; I’m sure it was quite the day of negotiations for Shapiro and company. The last minute nature of this deal had a lot of fans understandably nervous. But given that White actually netted more of a bonus that the fifth overall selection Matt Hobgood (Balitmore, $2.42 million), it appears that the Indians front office gave in a little more than White’s camp in the negotiations.
Now that he has his “top five” money, let’s see what the kid can do.
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(photo via Associated Press)
13 Comments
I’ll put the over/under at 3 years 9 months for him to be traded to the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, or Mets.
In other news, Strasburg signed for $15.1 million. Absurd holdout for an extra 5 mill. Scott Boras is the epitome of everything wrong in baseball.
Denny, the rules that allow Boras to do this is the epitome of everything wrong in baseball. Boras is just doing a good job for his clients.
Don’t hate the playa….
“I’ll put the over/under at 3 years 9 months for him to be traded to the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, or Mets.”
I’ll take the over. He’s got to win a Cy Young before that. It’ll take him at least another year for that.
[…] overall pick of the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. Indians Ink Alex White for $2.5 Million | WaitingForNextYear __________________ If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you […]
@ Kevin – I’m not saying that the rules are fair at all. He’s just the Drew Rosenhaus of the MLB. Yes, he’s insanely good at what he does, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t part of the problem.
Just as I said yesterday, White had Dolan by the XXXX and would get whatever he was asking for. That was too easy.
Dolan did not have to do anything….the average fan doesn’t pay attention to the Indian draft pick signees.
and he signed their first 20 picks….Dolan is at least putting his $$$ into the farm system. this is how the Rangers, Rays, Twins, Rockies and other mid-market teams are built. they are doing it the right way given the way MLB is setup.
Either way this is probably a good signing for the Tribe. I mean it’s all up to him now, the kid (whose actually a year older than me lol) has put up all the numbers to say that he should translate nicely. It’s up to him to get better and the Indians to give him the tools to develop…just in time to trade him.
Minor correction … the bonus reportedly was 2.25, not 2.5.
JK writes: “I’ll put the over/under at 3 years 9 months for him to be traded to the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, or Mets.”
Robbie writes: “I’ll take the over. He’s got to win a Cy Young before that. It’ll take him at least another year for that.”
Funny thing, neither Sabathia nor Lee was traded any of those five teams.
I suspect neither of you is terribly interested in facts, but here are a few anyway.
Cliff Lee was traded nine years after he was drafted, after seven years in the Indians organization and six full seasons on the Indians’ big-league roster.
Sabathia was traded ten years after he was drafted, having spent all ten years in the Indians organization and 7.5 seasons on the Indians’ big-league roster.
Both players were great acquisitions, effectively developed, trained and coached to an elite level of success, and both were “cashed in” for more talent at the peak of their value. It’s sad that for many fans, the Indians will always wear these two trades as a mark of shame. The plain truth, which anyone in the industry would tell you, is that both players represent a string of successful moves and handling that any organization should be proud of.
Another thing many fans don’t get: Most first-round draft picks don’t even make it to the majors, let alone win a Cy Young. White is a good prospect, but that’s all he is and all that he should be at this point.
White didn’t even make ESPN’s OTHER NOTABLE SIGNINGS graphic on Sportscenter this morning. So much for tracking upward.
You got the bonus wrong.
According to the Indians’ website, White’s bonus was $2,250,000, which is $172,000 LESS than Hobgood’s $2,422,000.
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090818&content_id=6477946&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle
You also misquoted Jim Callis’ tweet. http://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/3376241425
[…] the ink drying on his new $2.25 million deal, White’s invite is reportedly a part of his signing bonus. There were many talks leading […]