Have you heard anything about Casey Close leaving CAA to start up his own company with David Falk?

Apparently, the rumor had been floating around for a month or so, but after doing some research, I had no way to confirm it.  Thus, I never ran the story.  Now, I come to find out that Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal reported yesterday that Casey Close may, in fact, leave juggernaut Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and may be considering either starting up his own practice, or joining David Falk at FAME.

Casey Close used to be the captain of the CAA Baseball ship, but as of roughly nine months ago, five different CAA baseball agents began splitting the responsibilities of division director.  Those agents are: Nez Balelo, Brodie Van Wagenen, Jeff Berry, Joe Urbon and Greg Landry.  I find that interesting, since Casey Close is still with CAA, has not officially announced that he will be leaving, yet CAA changed the structure of the baseball division.

Here are some of the names you have heard of that are currently represented by Casey Close (some are split between Close and another agent): Ben Sheets, Jason Jennings, Aaron Hill, Derrick Lee, Josh Vitters, Connor Jackson, Buster Posey, Jeremy Sowers, Jamey Wright, Ryan Zimmerman, Justin Maxwell, John Lannan, Jeremy Guthrie, Chris Lambert, John Mayberry Jr., Jeff Clement, Jeff Niemann, Gil Meche, Alex Gordon, Josh Fields, Michael Cuddyer, and some guys named Ryan Howard and Derek Jeter.

Talk about a client list.  It will be interesting to see which players stay with CAA and which ones leave with Casey Close, and if any battle ensues between the entities prior to or after Close leaves the agency (if he leaves at the culmination of his current contract).  Time to pull out the employment contracts!

The MLB Draft occurred just last week, but already, three first-round picks have signed with the teams who picked them.  The disadvantage of signing early is that you forfeit seeing what other players are signing for.  There is a possibility that you sign for less than you could make if you hold out until the deadline.  The positive is that you show goodwill to your signing team and get started within the organization as soon as possible.  Many teams will start you on a higher level, and you will be well on your way up the system while your colleagues are holding out for more money.

Normally, the signing deadline for drafted players is August 15th.  Because August 15th falls on a Saturday this year, the MLB has pushed the deadline  back to August 17th.  Expect a lot of first rounders to sign within minutes of the deadline.  But then there are those who have already signed, two months earlier than they had to.  Tony Sanchez is currently playing with the West Virginia Power of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization (where Dynasty has 2 clients: Kyle McPherson and Ryan Kelly), Drew Storen is with the Hagerstown Suns of the Washington Nationals organization, and Eric Arnett will be sent to Brewers Rookie Ball (Helena).

To be able to start playing in Class A or Rookie Ball now, is definitely a plus.  What about the signing bonuses?

• Tony Sanchez (#4 overall) – $2.5 million. College Junior – Catcher.
• Drew Storen (#10 overall) – $1.6 million. Draft-eligible College Sophomore – RHP.
• Eric Arnett (#26 overall) – $1.2 million. College Junior – RHP.

Last year, the #4 overall pick (Brian Matusz, College Junior – LHP) signed for $3.2 million, higher than Tony Sanchez’s bonus.  Left-handed pitchers are very valuable, but so is the skilled position of Catcher.  Additionally, the #5 overall pick was a College Junior Catcher named Buster Posey.  Drafted one slot later than Sanchez, Posey received the largest bonus of the draft – $6.2 million.  The Pirates spent $6 million on their 1st round pick last year (Pedro Alvarez), so Sanchez really could have probably made more if he held out a little longer.  But again, the positives of signing early..

Last year’s #10 overall pick (Jason Castro) was a College Junior Catcher from the same university as this year’s #10 overall pick – Stanford University.  Castro also signed for more money than this year’s #10 pick.  He received a bonus of $2.07 million.  Again, a highly skilled Catcher is very valuable, but Storen was seen as someone who could help out the Nats immediately.  Storen was also probably drafted in this position because of his signability.  Presumably, the Nationals knew that he would be a quick sign, which is why he was taken at #10 overall.

The #26 overall pick last year was Daniel Schlereth, a College Junior LHP from the University of Arizona.  As previously stated, LHPs are often valued higher than RHPs.  Schlereth received only a little more of a bonus ($1.33 million) than Arnett.

All three first round players that signed, did so below slot value.  I believe that Storen and Sanchez have legitimate reasons for doing so.  But maybe Arnett should have taken a little bit more time before agreeing to the terms of his deal.  What are your thoughts?

This year, a lot of players drafted hit the jackpot.

Three of the four largest up-front bonuses ever were paid out, led by the Giants giving No. 5 overall pick Buster Posey $6.2 million. The 27 first-round picks who signed received an average bonus of $2,484,963, more than $300,000 than ever before, and an increase of 18.4 percent from 2007, the biggest jump in the era of Major League Baseball’s recommendations for bonus slots.

The house kept the money on Aaron Crow, though. But when the house keeps its money, there is no guarantee that the clientèle will come back in the future. Jim Bowden, GM of the Washington Nationals (the team that selected Crow), is not too fond of this vegas-style system.

The system doesn’t work. And, you know, I think it would be in the best interest of the players and the clubs and the fans if there was a hard slotting system, whatever the numbers end up being — let’s take the numbers out. The player has to sign into the draft. They have to say they’re going to sign, and sign into the draft. The clubs then are allowed to take the best player, and wherever you’re drafted, the slotting system will pay you whatever that value is. … It should be a system where you don’t have small markets trying to do pre-cut deals or small markets not taking the best player because they can’t afford him. It should be a system where everybody gets to take the best player when it’s their turn to draft, and the player should sign and go. We shouldn’t sit all summer. Aaron Crow shouldn’t have to go home right now and play for the Fort Worth Cats and sit out and wait ’til next year’s June draft and then maybe until August 14 before he signs again. I don’t think that’s fair to him, I don’t think it’s good for baseball, it’s not good for the club, it’s not good for anybody.

I just think a hard slotting system would be the long-term solution for our sport. To sit there and have the negotiations that took place with several clubs between 11:30 and 12 where you’re talking about huge movements with lots of players where some teams didn’t even have conversations with the agent until quarter to 12 last night, and deals got done at 11:59 with literally, I understand, no conversations for long periods of time. I’m not sure that’s the best way to do business for a sport.

Is it not fair to Crow or is it actually more fair to him to be able to negotiate his value instead of fall into a hard slotting system? If the MLB were to use a hard slotting system, would we then not allow high school seniors to enter the draft? What about Junior College players? To stretch the question even further, should we then allow college juniors to declare for the draft? What if they get selected in the 40th round. They should have to sign also? Obviously, there are issues with the current system. Players are hurt by holding out until the last second and even having to play a year with an Independent Ball team. Teams are hurt because they cannot sign some of their best picks and lose valuable time training them if they sign right before the deadline. Buster Posey is happy right now, but many on both sides of the fence are not. Is there a solution to this mess?

On to my notes:

• As I mentioned in the comments of the Thursday post, Gerrit Cole will go to UCLA instead of the Yankees.
• I errored in the Thursday post.  Aaron Crow was actually being advised by Randy Hendricks.  Besides Crow, the other two first round players that did not sign are Boras clients (the aforementioned Cole and Josh Fields).
• Every pick in the Supplemental 1st round, 6th round, and 8th round signed with the teams that chose them.
• Watch out for UGA.  Georgia will receive two highly touted players who did not sign: Chase Davidson (3rd round) and Zach Cone (Supplemental 3rd round).
• Robbie Ross ended up being the highest paid player in the second round – $1.575 million.  The Texas Rangers will be happy to pay the left-handed pitcher.
• The highest paid fourth round player is no longer a tie.  Tim Melville, who would have been picked much higher minus his demand for big money, ended up receiving $1.250 million from the Royals.
• Adrian Nieto’s $376k in the fifth round was impressive until the Red Sox pushed over a cool $2 million to Ryan Westmoreland.
• The Pirates spent big money in the sixth round on Robbie Grossman – $1 million.
• A bunch of unsigned tenth rounders will be going to California schools.

If you want to get an early start on tracking the guys that we will be discussing around this time next year, tune in to ESPNU tomorrow (Sunday) at 2 p.m. EST to watch the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game.

Number-one overall pick, Tim Beckham, received a $6.15 million signing bonus.  Word is that Beckham’s bonus will be trumped by Buster Posey, who may get a whopping $7.5 million.  Posey was the fifth player taken in the draft (by the San Francisco Giants).  The aforementioned Pedro Alvarez (Boras), Eric Hosmer (Boras), and Brian Matusz were all taken earlier than Posey and remain unsigned at the moment.  After Posey, there are six players who will probably not be signed until the final minutes before the deadline (if signed at all).  They are Yonder Alonso, Aaron Crow, Justin Smoak, Josh Fields (Boras), Allan Dykstra (Boras), and Gerrit Cole (Boras).  I do not know what is more remarkable: the fact that Boras has five players in the first round or that five of the ten players still holding out in the first-round are Boras clients.

Out of all of the first-round players yet to sign, only one seems to be for a reason other than the belief that he feels he deserves higher than slot figures.  Allan Dykstra has medical issues, which has delayed progress between the Padres and Boras Corp in signing the former Wake Forest first baseman.

As of writing this post, here are the bonus babies (highest signing bonuses) in the first ten rounds:

• 1st round (pick 1) – Tim Beckham – $6.15 million (Rays)
• Supplemental 1st (pick 1) – Shooter Hunt – $1.08 million (Twins)
• 2nd round (pick 9) – Destin Hood – $1.1 million (Nationals)
• 3rd round TIE (pick 5) – Roger Kieschnick – $525k (Giants) and (pick 10) – Danny Espinosa (Nationals)
• Supplemental 3rd (pick 1) – Ross Seaton – $700k (Astros)
• 4th round TIE (pick 1) – Ty Morrison – $500k (Rays) and (pick 19) – Matt Cerda (Cubs)
• 5th round (pick 9) – Adrian Nieto – $376k (Nationals)
• 6th round (pick 28) – Brett Marshall – $800k (Yankees)
• 7th round (pick 29) – Tim Fedroff – $725k (Indians)
• 8th round (pick 4) – Bobby Bundy – $600k (Orioles)
• 9th round (pick 15) – Steven Caseres – $250k (Dodgers)
• 10th round (pick 12) – Rashun Dixon – $600k (Athletics)

For a team with a small payroll, the Nationals seem to be spending quite a bit of money on their early draft picks.  Other notes:

• Out of 16 Supplemental 1st round picks, only one remains unsigned: Jeremy Bleich (Yankees)
• Only one player in the entire 3rd round has yet to sign: Chase Davidson (Astros)
• Every single player selected in the 8th round has signed a deal with the club that drafted him.
• The 10th round sticks out, containing ten players that have not yet signed.

For a great breakdown of the reasoning behind why certain players remain unsigned, check out this article published by BaseballAmerica.  Friday shall be an interesting day, indeed.