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Can they afford it?
Pedro Alvarez is considered one of the most advanced hitters out there, a Vanderbilt infielder who set the school home-run record as a freshman and has continued to mash ever since. Reported price tag: $9 million.
OK, moving on, Eric Hosmer is a left-handed hitting-first baseman who projects as an All-Star-level hitter with superstar power. Reported price tag: $7 million.
Ouch. Both guys are being advised by Scott Boras, and those numbers are more than twice baseball’s recommended bonus payment for the No. 3 overall pick and well more than each Royals player is making this season with the exceptions of José Guillen and Gil Meche.
The Royals have tried to stay close to the slot recommendations — about $3.3 million for their No. 3 overall pick this year — but went nearly a million over for Mike Moustakas a year ago.
This time around, the general feeling is that teams will feel less obligated to follow baseball’s suggestions, which carry no concrete consequences. That means it’s closer to the wild west of amateur players asking for the world, and, perhaps, closer to baseball being collectively motivated to fix a draft system that four baseball executives who spoke for this story called “broken.”
Commissioner Bud Selig has formed a committee of 10 former and current general managers chaired by John Schuerholz to address problems with the draft — issues that will next be addressed after the current collective-bargaining agreement expires in 2011.
“Yes, it’s broken,” says Mike Radcliff, an executive with the Twins and the team’s scouting director for 14 years. “That used to be an issue on the back burner, but not anymore. Because the amount of money spent in the draft has exponentially gone up, teams now see it as a more important part of the equation.”
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Rick Porcello is called “a problem” by Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s vice president for labor relations. Porcello is the top high school pitcher from last year’s draft who slid all the way to the Tigers at No. 27 because he demanded a $7 million signing bonus.
“The original purpose of the draft has been undermined by economics,” Manfred said. “The price of a certain player has resulted in a situation in which the No. 1 team isn’t taking the best player, and I think that’s a concern to people.”
The tide may be changing, but not the way baseball wants. One American League executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity indicated that perhaps the high bonus demands have won out, because he expected fewer teams this year to pass up expensive but talented prospects.
The issue is getting the attention of big-league players, too, who have mixed feelings.
“It’s hard sometimes as a big-leaguer to see a guy from high school get drafted and get more money right up front than some guys make playing three years in the big leagues,” says Royals outfielder Mark Teahen. “That’s a little strange. … They’re trying for such astronomical numbers, I don’t blame small-market teams for not going after some of these guys.”
Teahen is also a union man and says he’d be hesitant to agree to something that would limit the earning potential of a fellow ballplayer. Luke Hochevar, who received a $5.3 million guarantee as the top overall pick in 2006, calls it the free-market system and ability for players “to be treated fairly.”
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