In case you weren't already aware, today brings us a new deadline - teams have until 9pm PT to negotiate contracts with their draft picks, or else said teams miss out and the players regain their draft eligibility. The Nationals are currently in a race against time with Bryce Harper, but they're not the only team up against it, and, sure enough, the Mariners have a few high-level players yet to be signed of their own.
Most notable among them are second-round selection (#67) Marcus Littlewood and third-round selection (#99) Ryne Stanek. As the team's second and third picks of the draft, the Mariners would obviously love to sign both, but here we are on deadline day, and we're yet to see any pens put to paper. For what it's worth, Jason Churchill has Littlewood as a "great bet" to sign, while Stanek's looking for a major payday. As sources go on this kind of thing, Churchill's about as good as you're going to find. Should the Mariners fail to sign either, or both, they will receive a corresponding compensation pick or two next June.
The Mariners' fourth-round selection (#132), James Paxton, is also unsigned, but because he was drafted out of the independent leagues rather than high school or college, he is not subject to the same Monday deadline.
To round things out, the M's have also made little progress with 11th-round selection (#342) Jon Keller, and just yesterday signed 16th-round selection (#492) Jordan Shipers to a pretty big contract. Given that Shipers is a high-end talent who fell due to massive signability concerns, this is a bit of a coup on the Mariners' part.
Finally, 47th-round selection (#1422) James Wood signed a while ago, and he went to Trinity College, so he's totally awesome.
0 recs | 8 comments
Related question for those who know more than I do
I happened to see Olney (yeah, I know) saying that the O’s aren’t likely to sign Manny Machado. If they don’t, and he goes to a JC this year and back into the draft next year, is there a chance he might be worth considering with our #1?
The Ancient Mariner - August 16, 2010
Based on what I've read about next year's talent compared to this year, it sounds like he might not even be a top-10 pick.
tait644 - August 16, 2010
Yeah, I know 2011's a lot deeper
but 2010 was pretty strong at the top, too; I haven’t really looked at Machado, but I’d caught a fair bit of hype (“best HS SS since A-Rod,” etc.), so I was just wondering if someone who knows more about him has a sense of where he might fit in if he does wind up in next year’s draft.
The Ancient Mariner - August 16, 2010
I still can't believe Paxton hasn't signed. He could use some work in a big-league system.
tait644 - August 16, 2010
Aww yeaaaaaah Trin.
flashbeak - August 16, 2010
We've signed our 25th rounder
And the pattern emerging is teams having to pay a lot for their picks. 1.3 million for the 110th pick. Churchill says 1.5 million looking more likely for Littlewood.
Fuckmikereilly - August 16, 2010
Churchill says we've got Littlewood for $900K and Stanek is close. Well done!
tait644 - August 16, 2010
Not enough mentions of Woodinville in this post
and how a prospect chose the minor leagues over the University of Hawaii.
yuniform - August 17, 2010
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Lookout Landing to post a comment.