Guess who represents #1, #2, and #3 overall.  Scott Boras.  John McGrath of the News Tribune thinks that at least Ackley might be hurting himself by holding out until the deadline.  He wrote,

Either way, Ackley’s fast track to the bigs is in peril of losing momentum. This is too bad, because if ever there were a team in position to give a college player the keys to the car – and the freedom to put his pedal foot to the floor, without adhering to a speed limit – it’s the Seattle Mariners.

For elite talents with college experience, good things can happen in a hurry. Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), Ryan Braun (Brewers) and Evan Longoria (Rays) needed between 10 months and a year to reach the big leagues after signing. None of these guys, it might be noted, held out. It also might be noted that none was represented by Boras.

But will a month and change really affect Ackley that much?  I believe good things may still come his way even if he delays his appearance in Rookie Ball for another month or so.  What if Ackley doesn’t end up making it to the big leagues in a year?  The signing bonus is what he will be surviving on.  For all we know, Ackley could step on a crack in a sidewalk on August 18th and break his leg (G-d forbid).  The signing bonus is the only thing guaranteed for these guys.

But while the draft takes place, the MLB and MiLB continues to roll.  Games are played and the results affect the standings.  Additionally, teams continue to move players up and down their organizations.  And I have some great news to report.  Pete Parise will be leaving AA Springfield to join the AAA Memphis Redbirds today.  Pete becomes Dynasty’s first client to make a Triple A affiliate, and is only one step away from the Major League St. Louis Cardinals.

Parise had an excellent run with the AA Springfield Cardinals in his first year with the team.  Pete leaves the team as the leader in innings pitched amongst relievers (40.2), the leader in ERA (2.88) and WHIP (1.06) amongst all pitchers, and second on the team in holds (8).  He has held the opposition to a .221 batting average, and his groundout/flyout ratio is stellar.  He developed a dirty sinker in the offseason, and it appears to be working in his favor.

All of us at Dynasty congratulate Pete for making the jump to Triple A!  If you do not get selected in the MLB Draft, it does not mean that your career is over.  Parise is a perfect example.

It is easy to laugh about the fact that there are 50 rounds in baseball when there are only 2 rounds in basketball, but believe it or not, many players taken past the 40th round have made it to the stage.  In fact, a few of Dynasty’s clients were taken after the 40th round, or not even selected at all, and are currently making their way up their respective organizations (Pete Parise, Dan Leatherman, Kyle Gunderson…).  That being said, it is preferable to be a top pick of the organization you play for.  You get instant gratification with a large signing bonus (those players are commonly refered to as “bonus babies”) and your club feels “pot committed” to you (meaning they already have an investment in you and want to see you make it up the ranks).  If they spent poorly on signing you, it’s their jobs at risk as well.

Today’s picks will get the instant gratification.  They have been well covered by the Keith Law’s and Jonathan Mayo’s for a long time now.  But just because they are a first or second round pick does not mean they are necessarily destined for greatness.

Dynasty’s main focus will be on Wednesday.  We have some underclassmen that we are advising and hope to see get selected early in the day.  The draft will resume on Wednesday at 12 p.m. EST.  Dynasty is also helping out some college seniors who had remarkable seasons, but lack that underclassmen/high school leverage.  We still love these kids because we see them having deep careers full of future success.

Today, all of us at Dynasty will take it easy.  On Wednesday and Thursday, we will be tracking the draft from start to finish.  It could possibly be the most draining days of the year for all of Dynasty’s Baseball Operations staff and interns.  And many of the players waiting to see their names flash on the computer screen will also be sweating with anticipation (G-d forbid your internet goes out).  Others will be on the diamond playing with a Summer League team, and some will be out on a boat fishing with friends.

We are always excited with new technologies and will be following not only the live picks, but also the Twitter feeds of MLB analysts and some players who will be drafted today or tomorrow.  Can you guess which player on the list is being advised by Dynasty?  All MLB Draft related tweets will have an #mlbdraft hashtag attached.

Garrett is the founder of iFungo.com, which boasts “We Sell Pro Equipment”, prominently on its home page.  If you play the game of baseball or represent a baseball player, this site has it all.  Bags, gloves, bats, sunglasses, and more.  And almost every brand you can think of is listed on the site.  It is easy to use and the prices seem to be very competitive.

There are a couple of things to take away from Garrett’s story.

1. As an agent, you must prepare your client, even if he is drafted as high as the 2nd round, for life after his/her sport.  All it takes is one injury to end your client’s career.  What then?  Will he/she be ready to enter the world that the rest of us have to survive in?
2. There are opportunities out there for the well-known athletes and those who never make it to the peak of their sport.  Garrett is a perfect example.

The Cincinnati Reds got the international signing period started when the club signed Juan Duran, born in September of 1991, for $2 million.  Yes, a 16-year-old received $2 million.  The guy is two years younger than any player selected in the first round of the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft.  $2 million is nothing, though.  The Oakland A’s paid $4.25 million for a 6?7 205 lbs 16-year old pitcher named Michael Inoa earlier this year.  No team has ever spent anywhere near that type of money for a non Cuban international amateur player.  However, plenty have paid bonuses greater than $2 million.  The Giants, Reds, and Padres shelled out 2+ million for international players this year and then Reds did so twice (the aforementioned Duran and Yorman Rodriguez).  Is there a method behind this madness?

Let’s look at how international amateur players who have received a $2 million+ bonus in the past have fared thus far…

• Willy Mo Pena (1999) – $2.44 million – Currently injured on the Washington Nationals.  Has not lived up to expectations.  Low batting average, sub-par walk/strikeout ratio, and not much pop for someone who was pegged to be a power hitter.
• Joel Guzman (2001) – $2.255 million – The guy is a 6′6 250lb 3B from the Dominican Republic.  At almost every level leading up to the majors, he was selected as an All-Star.  However, seven years after receiving the large signing bonus, he is still in Triple A with the Durham Bulls after a short stint in the majors.
• Byung-Hyun Kim (1999) – $2.25 million – Kim should be considered in a somewhat different light.  When he received his large bonus, he was already 20-years-old, and thus more developed.  The Diamondbacks gave him a bonus that had much less risk attached to it.  He made is professional debut in 1999 and had what most would consider to be a very successful career up until 2007.
• Chin-Hui Tsao (1999) – $2.2 million – Tsao’s last action in 2008 was with the Triple A Royals club.  In 2003, he made his professional debut with the Rockies and had a few years with little involvement.  In 2007, he found some action with the Dodgers.  Again, a lot paid to a guy who may have not lived up to his expectations.
• Angel Villalona (2006) – $2.1 million – Still a young guy who is showing a lot of potential in the minors.  He had 17 home runs last year and may turn out to be one of the strongest guys on this list.

Overall, have the bonuses been justified?  Are these players worth more than a mid-to-top 1st round pick in the MLB Amateur Draft?  Will Duran and Inoa buck the trend?  Why do teams continue to pay so much for unproven, high-risk international players?

Yesterday, the situation took a turn when reports noted that Pedro Alvarez and camp Boras agreed to a 4-year, major league contract with a $6.355 million bonus (ESPN prefers to round up to $6.4 million).  Surprised that this bonus is for more than Posey’s?  Does it all boil down to an ego issue?  Maybe, but at least Alvarez and Hosmer may be able to take the field again soon.  A source cited in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that this new deal will put an end to the pending MLBPA grievance against the MLB.

I think John Manuel of BaseballAmerica.com says in the first line of his piece what we are all thinking right now: So the Aug. 15 signing deadline really isn’t a deadline after all.

Joshua had a very impressive 2008 season with the University of Georgia Bulldogs.  He was named the 2008 Stopper of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and 1st Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger.  He received those awards in his Senior season, which is somewhat of an oddity in a world where the best players almost always leave by their Junior year.  The fact that Joshua has completed his Senior year is significant, because it means that the Mariners, unlike the Nationals and Yankees, still have the ability to sign their first round pick after the August 15th deadline.  Fields does not have a school to go back to.

An interesting question was posed on BaseballAmerica’s Ask BA segment.  It basically asked what kind of the Mariners would have to pay over slot value for Fields.  This was Jim Callis’ answer:

The Fields negotiations are currently at a stalemate. The Mariners are holding firm on a slot offer of $1.5 million, while the Scott Boras Corporation maintains that teams were told all along that it would take $2 million to sign the reliever.

What’s interesting is that both sides have leverage. From Seattle’s standpoint, as Phil suggests, it can get a player of similar value with a compensation choice next year. While Fields is close to big league ready, he’s not an elite talent who plummeted to No. 20 overall because of signability.

Fields, however, could help his case by pitching well in an independent league next spring and then playing the Mariners against the possibility of losing him when he re-enters the draft. Scherzer did that, and the Diamondbacks gave him $4.3 million in guaranteed money and another $1.5 million in easily reachable incentives when Boras took the club right up to the deadline to sign him before the 2007 draft.

The $500,000 difference between the two sides is paltry in the grand scheme of things, but neither seems willing to compromise.

I am not surprised.

For Immediate Release

ROBERT LARA STAYS TRUE TO HIS COLORS
Becomes the First Drafted Player in the 2008 MLB Class to Sign with Dynasty

HOLLYWOOD, FL – July 1, 2008, Robert Lara, a 6′2 205 lbs pitcher out of University of Central Florida has signed with Dynasty Athlete Representation, LLC.  Lara was selected in the 19th round by the San Diego Padres in the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft and is currently playing for the Arizona League affiliate.  Through five games with the club, Lara is batting .500 with a home-run and six RBIs.  In his very first at bat with the Padres, he smacked a home-run.

Robert Lara was destined to be a Dynasty client.  He graduated from Nova High School, which is the same school that Dynasty CEO, Darren Heitner, attended.  At Nova, Lara led the school to a state title in 2005, a team that was ranked No. 1 nationally in the final USA Today poll.  He shed the green and gold jersey of Nova High only to come back to his roots and don the proud colors of Dynasty.

Lara was drafted in the 17th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins.  He opted to decline signing and spent a couple of years playing at LSU before transferring to UCF for his junior year.  Robert was selected to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List due to his strong catch and throw skills along with his consistency in putting up good at-bats.  He now joins the San Diego Padres organization and is excited about what the future has in store.

More information about Dynasty Athlete Representation or Robert Lara: www.dynastyreps.com

Darren Heitner 954.558.6999 dheitner@dynastyreps.com

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Any thoughts on the size of the bonus?

I was correct, but the Danks’ allegiance to Boras soon faded into the California sunset. Shortly after the conclusion of the draft, Jordan and his brother John dropped Boras and formed a relationship with Jeff Berry of CAA Sports, who will advise Jordan and serve as John’s agent. No word as to why the brothers Danks decided to exchange Boras for Berry, but it may have something to do with Jordan being picked in the 7th round after being projected as a top 3 round pick prior to the draft.

Jordan Danks is an outfielder who can also perform as a pitcher. The lefty stands 6′5 and weighs in at 200lbs. He is originally from Round Rock, Texas and attended the University of Texas for three years after declining the signing bonus offered by the White Sox after the club selected him in the 19th round in 2005. We shall see if the White Sox present Jordan an offer that he and Berry find to be acceptable…or else he is back to UT for his senior year.