I posted this in an old Minor League Roundup, but actually it goes better as an article, even if it's a jumbled bunch of notes and scribblings.
The Angels have not seriously begun negotiations with Jered Weaver. I honestly think Bill Stoneman is playing hardball somewhat; hoping that he can get Weaver at something closer to his draft slot (about a $2 million bonus) rather than the $10 million he is supposedly asking for.
It would, frankly, be shocking if Weaver went back to college for a senior year, but it cannot be discounted. Still, I suspect that Weaver will hold back from his first couple of weeks of classes if that's what it takes to get a deal done.
Weaver is a Scott Boras client; Boras is one of the hardest bargain-drivers around, a tantrum thrower rather than a dealmaker. Negotiations on Weaver could go very much down to the wire.
Of the top ten collegians selected in the draft, incidentally, only three have signed... Thomas Diamond with Texas, Bill Bray with Montreal, and David Purcey with Toronto. None of the other seven have signed, including Weaver, the Rice trio, Sowers, Stephen Drew, and #2 pick Justin Verlander.
The Mets were supposed to have Philip Humber on the dotted line by now; but nothing reported since August 1.
If Wade Townsend has even talked to the Orioles yet, it's flown under the media's radar.
Verlander, who normally would be one of the last to sign (as the highest pick) is no longer playing the waiting game, foolishly trying to get others to set the market. He's now opened talks with the Tigers as of late last week.
Tampa Bay have decided to present an offer to Jeff Niemann, presumably to get the ball rolling. Again, that was late last week.
Sowers and the Indians have already reached some sort of impasse.
The quiet story in all this is that Stephen Drew is looking more and moer like a no-go with Arizona. The word from Boras is $10 million, and Boras is all the more likely to screw with his charge's career in order to get back at Jeff Moorad, his rival who is now the D-Backs' CEO. It was Drew's situation (i.e. that he was picked knowing the kind of bonus it would take to sign him) that led to Jerry Colangelo getting fired, according to some stories I have read in the press.
Just to underline all this, Stephen Drew is not, in my opinion having looked at the numbers and the scouting reports, any more attractive as a shortstop prospect out of college than either Aaron Hill or Russ Adams were. Yet he wants five times as much money. You gotta love Scott Boras.
Finally, let me make clear that other than Drew and possibly Sowers, and also possibly Weaver, nobody in this list is likely to pass up a chance to sign. Verlander and the Rice pitchers are all looking at each other to set the market... someone will trip the others, and the dominoes will all fall. Whether that will affect Drew or Weaver (who are making their own markets thanks to Boras) or Sowers, who apparently is trying to do the same, is doubtful, though if Verlander in particular can't secure big dollars, it's more likely Sowers would see the writing on the wall and capitulate.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040812065346999