Report: Nationals land Soriano; Yanks another draft pick
ByPer Yahoo! Sports’ very own Jeff Passan, the Nationals have signed Rafael Soriano to a two-year deal worth $28 million, and the Yankees will get a supplemental first round draft pick. Although a slow market had many thinking Soriano had erred in exercising his opt-out, Scott Boras exacting two years at $14 million with a vesting option for the third from a team that saw its closer utterly collapse in the 9th inning of Game 5 of the NLDS this year.
With this signing and because Soriano declined a qualifying offer, the Nationals lose their first round draft pick, and the Yanks gain another compensation pick. According to Jim Callis, that would be the 32nd pick of the draft. The draft order could move a bit when Kyle Lohse and Michael Bourn finally ink deals, but for now, it seems as though the Bombers will have around $5 million to spend based on the slotting system. Three late-first round picks will allow the Yanks a nice talent grab at the end.
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I thought under the new CBA, the Yankees did not get that pick. Only a comp pick.
Yes — as Callis says, Nats forfeit #29, and Yanks get comp pick, currently projected to be #32.
Okay, which is as close to a 1st round pick as one can get.
Yeah, the compensation pick is right after the first round, so it’s practically a late first round pick, in case you were confused.
especially since in order to gain them you are deleting earlier picks most times.
Last year’s disappointing squad continues to weaken.
B-.
Its a sandwich round pick, not the 1st round pick of the nationals. the nationals pick is eliminated from the 1st round.
Crisis averted.
So as of now it looks like the Yankees have picks 27, 31, 32. 27 was originally 29 but bumped up by the Angels and Braves losing their picks, and 31/32 are from Swisher/Soriano. This draft is a big opportunity…is it considered to be deep this year?
BTW, here was the original order: http://www.minorleagueball.com.....raft-order
It’s hard to read into how strong the draft class will be this year at this time of the year. We will probably have a better idea in a few months.
Either way, draft class perceptions change all the time, especially 3-5 years after the draft has passed, since the most talented players from that class will have succeeded/failed to become good players by that point.
Wrong reply. Sorry.
Oh…wait no it wasn’t the wrong reply. What the hell is wrong with me!…
Yea, I mean of course we’ll be able to look back at it down the road. This is going to be a really important draft considering some of first round flops Oppenheimer has had (Culver, Brackman).
Fangraphs had a pretty good article a week or two ago about how the value of draft picks in the first round exceedingly decrease after pick #10 or so…so even with three late picks around #30, the Yanks still may be lucky to even have one pan out.
Yeah, I read that article. Hopefully the Yankees will get lucky. If even one of those picks become an above average MLB player, it was a successful draft.
If only they could duplicate their success of (I think) 2006 when they had somewhat similar draft position: one late first round and one sandwich (actually lower than what they have this year– maybe #41). Wound up with Ian Kennedy and Joba.
This ups the possibility of them taking a guy that fell because of signability.
Never liked the Cuvler pick but Brackman was solid. Obviously it didn’t pan out by the sky was the limit.
Regardless the first stage of success of a draft pick is cracking prospect lists. Even if they are eventual busts they’re still going to have trade value.
I loved the logic I projected onto the Culver pick.
As pointed out above, there could be a bit more benefit under this new system because it increases your draft pool. Gives you flexibility to either go really big on one or two guys, sign one or more guys you wouldn’t have been able to (especially thinking outside the top 10, where you can still use your pool money above $100,000), or spread it around to take slightly more expensive picks at several spots.
It’s a bit odd to, in the same comment, both chastise someone for late 1st round draft flops and point out that the vast majority of late 1st rounders flop…
The upcoming draft is regarded by some as weaker than last year’s, which was also considered medium, yet that can change in the coming months.
How strong it is is usually the top end talent it seems. Even still, 30th overall there are still many good prospects on the board.
There will be quality out there for the taking. It’s just that some drafts are regarded as stronger than others. Yet we’ve also seen drafts regarded as weaker turn out to be among the strongest when it’s all said and done. So having lots of higher end picks as the Yankees will have this year is a good thing.
So far the Yankees have:
the 27th overall pick
and 2 comp picks for Swisher and Soriano.
*DISCLAIMER*
Micheal Bourn is a nice player. HE will, considering how long he’s gone without getting signed, very well likely be a nice signing for the right team at a super nice price. But I want NOTHING to do with him in NY…
But with the Yankees getting the 31st pick in the draft, in theory they would lose the 28th pick by signing Bourn, he would be the deal of a century if he signed now for 3/27 or something stupid like that… too bad we already have at least one too many left handed outfielders…
If they could get Bourn real cheap or for one year and then trade Granderson for good value then that’d probably be a net gain for the team…..and the OF defense woukd be unreal
The offense would also be unreal…but not in the way that you speak of.
Why? You’d be trading some homers for better BA and more steals….plus whatever you traded Granderson for. Bourn had led the majors in CF WAR since 2009
I guess if you view defense and offense that way. The Yankees would have basically no one other than Cano and Teixeira with 20 home run power, which is pretty scary. I’m not even sure how many guys would have a SLG of .420 in that line up. It gets pretty questionable after Cano and Tex.
I like Bourn, but with an outfield filled with Ichiro and Brett Gardner, their plus range will help make up for Granderson’s deficiencies.
Yea….i think it would depend on you could get for Granderson….I wouldn’t swap Granderson for Bourn just to do that….but my point was that Bourn+ whatever you get for Granderson might be > than Granderson alone……again this is only if we are talking about a one year deal or cheap contract for Bourn
That would make some sense, but I doubt the Yankees would get Bourn on those terms. I don’t see him getting a one year deal or a cheap 2-3 year contract.
The Yankees have been reluctant to give out multi-year contracts as well (but they gave one to Ichiro, which is insane.)
Yea….Boras might still find a big contract for Bourn but historically when a guys market falls apart he has done pillow contracts for some guys and tried again the following season…..he did it with Beltre and he did it with EJax…..he could decide to do the same with Bourn…..just sayin….hypothetically
The Beltre contract was designed to build Beltre’s value. He had a horrible season his last year in Seattle. He had offers for up to three years, but Boras went for the one-year contract at Fenway knowing it would lead to more money.
Yes….which is what a pillow deal is. The deal Beltre wanted wasn’t there so Boras put him in Fenway for a year to re establish his value…..worked like a charm too
It’s a huge assumption that there’s no market for him (that his market has “fallen apart”). All we know for sure is that there is no market at Boras’ asking price. I’m quite sure Boras is aware of the stats you pointed out: top WAR in CF. I would imagine he’s asking for a huge, huge amount. There might be a list of teams willing to pay 90% or 80% of that amount for all we know.
Yes it’s an assumption and I said “if” his market has fallen apart….Boras could always pull a multi year deal from somewhere
Memory problems? This is the third time in three days you’ve lied about what you wrote: “when a guys market falls apart.”
Again… it’s very possible he doesn’t have to pull it from “somewhere.” That he has teams ready to sign Bourn if the price comes down (MLBTradeRumors reported Texas is one of those teams just today). Bourn is an attractive FA. You said so yourself. Another common Boras move is waiting out the market to get what he wants, not taking the first good offer to come along. It is as likely that Boras’ asking price is the problem as the demand for Bourn.
Basically, in my opinion, Boras understands that talented players are scarce and MLB revenues are abundant (especially for teams that win), so there is usually at least one team that will overpay for one.
If Ted….if….this whole discussion was based on a comment I didn’t even make about “if” Bourns market fell apart and he took a lesser deal or one year contract…..but nice straw man you’re building there….seems to be what you’re best at.
And I never lie….you just have some reading comprehension issues and an uncanny ability to turn everything into an argument
My mistake, I didn’t start at the top of the comments.
It’s pretty unlikely that Bourn’s market falls to that level. He’s coming off a career year.
No, the other two times were just you denying something that you had said.
if you were going to sign bourne you could then trade granderson for prospects and then trade Gardner + those prospects + our own prospects for Stanton. Stanton in RF, Bourne in CF and Ichiro in LF.
never going to happen but give me moar stanton
You’d have to get quite a bit for Granderson to then turn around and sign Bourn for one year. For starters, you would lose the first round pick when Granderson leaves and you would lose this year’s pick for signing Bourn. That’s two lost picks for replacing Grandy with Bourn.
How many power hitters did SF have?
there is no scenario in which bourne replacing granderson makes us better…that is crazy talk dude.
What If you could sign Bourn to a one year deal and trade Granderson for Montero?
I’m not sure if you’re serious. I don’t think the Mariners would trade 5 years of Montero for 1 year of Granderson. That team isn’t exactly a “win now” team. Plus, I’m sure Bourn will get more than a 1 year contract.
People were baffled when they tried to acquire Upton, and his contract is for 3 years. That barely made much sense in terms of where the rest of their team is/will be.
And remember our trade proposals suck.
Probably not….but they were gonna trade a lot more than that for Upton….they are pretty desperate for a bat
Yeah, but Montero is a potential answer because of his offensive potential. And Granderson for one year just makes absolutely no sense for that team. My point was, Upton for 3 years was a stretch. Granderson for one year is just giving Montero up for no reason at all.
The Mariners will likely be the second worst team in that division, and they would be the worst if the Astros weren’t being moved to the West.
Maybe not….but Zunino is coming fast and he’s gonna be their catcher so I do wonder what there plans for Montero are going forward…..probably DH and 1B with some catching mixed in…..and you’re right they probably wouldn’t trade him….basically just saying that they might could get enough value from Granderson to make it worthwhile…..admit there are a lot of ifs in all of it
The Mariners are not trading Montero. They have difficulty in getting hitters to come to Seattle. The potential of his bat means he’s a keeper.
You’re sorta throwing darts at the board later in the first round…..but having 3 chances instead of one certainly gives you a better shot at hitting the bullseye
More than the picks, it’s about the the money that comes with the draft picks. One strategy is they can go for an overdraft and one of them, sign under slot, and then use the money saved to direct toward another, higher-end pick.
Yup good point
So with those three high picks, they could take say low 2nd round talent with two of the picks, pre-arrange to give them low 2nd round money at those slots and use the savings to grab a player who is falling (like Mark Appel did in 2012)?
in 2012…
pick 27 had slot money of $1,675,000
pick 31 had slot money of $1,575,000
pick 32 had slot money of $1,550,000
So maybe you could juggle this to have like $3M available for the special player. That $3M was slot for the #7 pick in the draft.
Am I understanding this right?
Yes, but it’s highly doubtful that a $3M player would fall as far as #27. This helps them sign overslots later in the draft, as they’ll likely take a Hensley-type at 27 and then some older guys they can sign for way underslot with their supplemental picks.
Yup, although that exact scenario is unlikely. As AndrewYF notes, an Appel-level prospect will not slip that far down. Yet we saw last year that some higher rated prospects (those expected to go in the bottom third of the first round) slipped down into the supplemental round. If that happens again, the Yankees could potentially bundle the money from their two supplemental rounders to go for one higher ender player, getting the equivalent of two first rounders. (Their #27 plus whomever they land by bundling money from the supplemental picks.)
Or they can simply use the money to get some better players who slip down later in the draft. Either way, it’s the money they want, which provides the ability to react to the available talent.
How does this impact our draft pool spending?
Presumably these picks will demand relatively high contacts, is there any increase in the pool? Or are we going to have to make cuts else where such as not taking expensive late rounders, etc.
I’m curious about that as well. Does the spending pool for the draft increase with additional high comp picks?
Those picks don’t look good but not as juicy if the Yanks fail to sign a handful of later selections because of spending restrictions.
You’re draft pool is determined by the slot amount for each pick. The more/higher picks you have the more your spending pool is.
Thanks for the clarity. Sounds reasonable to me.
It would be really nice if the comp picks increased the pool, the yanks could do some interesting things with an increased pool and the picks. Given the way the new CBA operates in general, I would be surprised if this was actually the case, however.
they get extra money for the draft pool, those picks have a value and it will be added to their pool
Well then, this is pretty good news overall then, no?
Especially given the way the Yanks did the draft last year, the extra money could prove extremely useful.
Awesome.
at least an extra 3 million to the draft pool
The Nats have a pretty stacked late inning Bullpen: Soriano, Storen, Clippard. No MoSoRo, but not bad.
The Nats have a pretty stacked late inning Bullpen: Soriano, Storen, Clippard. No MoSoRoJoLo, but not bad.
Its Rizzo’s plan of getting Strasburg to 200 innings and then playoffs.
/maybe
Ironically RoSoMo never really panned out.
LoCoSoRoMo was pretty good in 2011 though
2 ex-Yankees and one former Yankee draft pick. Plus they also have former pick Christian Garcia in the pen as well.
Sweet. You gotta like having 3 of the first 32 picks in the draft. On top of that, he went to the NL.
I can’t believe Boras got that much out of Washington with Clippard, and Storen on the team, but he surely played on that collapse.
Good luck to Soriano, but glad to add another early top pick for July’s draft. Yankes have a chance to get some elite talent that they usually miss out on, plus the extra drqaft budget might help lure in some signability guys later in the draft.
The 31st & 32nd picks were worth 1.55M+ last year. The total draft pool will also increase. The Yankees should have over 7.5M to work with.
Does that amount include the round eleven-plus slot money or the five percent overage?
All the complaining about the Soriano deal looks pretty stupid now. The Yankees collected on their MO insurance last year in a big way and recouped the draft pick after the opt out. Never understood all the griping to begin with.
I think the complaining was valid at the time. It just happened to work out in the best possible way for the Yankees. No complaints now. Haha
This, just because something worked out doesn’t mean the original complaints weren’t valid and justified.
30 million dollars for 80 or 90 quality innings was not a good deal.
Yeah because Joba was going to close for us last year and help get us to ALCS.
That’s all hindsight. Yes it worked out very well but that doesn’t mean it was a smart deal.
lolwat.
Soriano signing was actually one of the smarter things they’ve done in the last couple of years. Worked like a charm when Mo went down. Now it pays off again. Amazing that Levine is so unpopular. Where is he this winter when we really need him?
didn’t the soriano contract prevent the yanks from signing an FA last winter? who knows if that could have been the piece that makes this team look better now or pushed them further this past year.
Even if you want to consider it the best deal of all time, it’s one of several deals that Levine is reported to have had a strong hand in.
Well the Nationals don’t really need bullpen help in return for Morse anymore.
They still need a lefty.
You don’t need OOGY’s if you have a bullpen full of guys who can face both handed hitters. I’m sure they still want Logan, they just might be willing to hold out for more now.
I just don’t think a team would go into the playoffs without a lefty bullpen guy. JMO
Agreed.
I’m also pretty sure they could get better than Logan in a LOOGY. He’s not really death on lefties so much as good against lefties and ok sometimes about righties, and he has one year of control. I would probably look on the free agent scrap heap and make a move mid-season if necessary before giving up value for Logan, personally.
Remember, this is a Nats team that went into the playoffs with three lefties in the bullpen last year and don’t have one on the 25 man roster right now.
Not saying they need Boone or that they don’t have time to get one or two. Just saying they still have the need. Not necessarily that they have the need for Boone.
They wanted a LH reliever as a piece….I doubt they have to have that though
Ya I doubt Boone Logan would put us over the top.
Was there ever anything from their FO on a LHRP for Morse?
They were looking at Howell, but the only quote from Rizzo I saw on trading Morse was that is would have to be an impact piece coming back to move him. There are LHRP who are impact pieces, certainly, but LOOGY and “impact piece” don’t usually go together.
FWIW, Bowden is the one that stoked the flame that they want a LHRP.
https://twitter.com/JimBowdenESPNxm/status/288703528426430464
BTW, this is not a hostile comment.
I wonder if the Nats might try to move Clippard or Storen in a package with Morse.
Also, I don’t there is anyone better at their job than Scott Boras is at his.
This just in…
Yankees draft pool money has been estimated at $11 million. However, Hal has just released a statement saying the Yankees will only spend $2 million of the draft money. He feels $2 million is more than enough money to draft a championship-caliber farm system.
Because a $2 million draft pool is comparable to a $220 million payroll and all…
Not to mention draft better way spend money than FA.
Adam Kilgore is reporting that Ted Lerner was very involved in the negotiations.
Hmmm….
That bullpen is RHP heavy, no? Boone Logan would sure look good in there. What do you say Rizzo?
Wow with all these picks I may spend more time watching the Staten Island Yankees than the NY Yankees. Lets hope the Scouts due there jobs and select some blue chippers!!!
This means I can go back to being annoyed by the untuck now.
The Nats are Boras’ new ATM. You’d think they’d still be sore after Werth, but Boras always bring the KY…
Isnt this the first year that you can trade comp picks? Any bets on whether thw Yanks use one or both to land a top talent??
Only the competitive balance lottery picks can be traded. These picks can’t be traded.
Oh. My bad. Misunderstood the rule.
No worries. Maybe next CBA.
I hate those things with a passion. Detroit has no problem winning and running a big payroll.
The Tigers payroll was $133M last year.
meh
The real story here is that Ben posted a story. Feels like I haven’t seen Kabak post here in a while.
I second this.
Welcome back Ben !!
Ben and Joe are probably on call for anything big while Mike’s in Florida. This, of course, means in addition to the Soriano signing, the Yankees will make three large deals within hours of each other at some point this week!
Ben is alive, nice to see
yeah I was really surprised that Ben was still alive. Today is a good day.
Haha, that is the truth.
Wow I didn’t even notice that!
Same, just assume everything is by Mike.
Am i the only dying for a likely far too early analyses of the 2013 draft?
I want to have an idea who the top 10-15 players are and then scratch those names off the board. Looks like the Yankees will pick thrice before the 40th pick.
Soriano gets my respect for performing most ably in Mo’s absence. Thanks for the ’12 effort So!
It’ll either be the best class ever or the worst class ever to some people. It’ll probably be somewhere in between.
One of the writers at Sickel’s blog posted a way to early 1st round mock: http://www.minorleagueball.com.....-version-1
kabak is alive! kabak is alive! how’s this year’s draft pool though, strong?
Scott Boras comes through yet again for his clients. I’m surprised it wasn’t the Tigers but he seems to have the same voodoo control over the Nats that he does with Detroit.
I hope the yankees take advantage of these picks.The Yankees have a bad history of first round picks.
I think that’s actually incorrect.
By the late first round about 1 in 5 picks makes any meaningful MLB contribution (like above 1 or 2 bWAR or something). Not many teams have much success after the top 20 picks or so.
If you look back at the Yankees 10 first rounders before 2009 (2009 1st Slade is still in AA, so premature to start judging), 3 of them have already topped 6 bWAR. 3/10 is a 50% increase over the expected 2/10. It’s a tiny sample, so I wouldn’t take that to mean they’re great at drafting. I don’t think it’s easy to argue that they are bad, though.
Opp also only took over, I believe, in 2005. Of the 5 or 6 firsts that can really be judged at this point he’s got 2 successes: 33 or 50% depending on if you could Cole… they got a comp pick, so I don’t know if I would. One guy used as an asset in a salary dump (Henry for Abreu). Brackman at least had some trade value. Bleich got hurt.
http://www.baseball-reference......g&
33 or 40%… was thinking 50% because Bleich’s injury isn’t really on the drafter, though it does happen to every team.
Wow, Opp did really well with Joba and IPK. They were both overslot picks too. I wonder if they went away from that approach for any reason.
BTW, this is not a hostile comment. It doesn’t even need a response.
Hey Mike how dies Garret Williams, Kevin Ziomek, and Philip Ervin sound to you?
found this on ESPN, Soriano talking with one of the reporters
Also his favorite song is “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond
And he even sings a few lines!!!
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/n.....id=7630570
Better Sweet Caroline than Cotton-Eyed Joe.
Seriously, Cotton-Eyed Joe is an abomination of a “song”.
why arent the Yankees getting a pick for losing Martin ?
They didn’t make him a qualifying offer.
wow,pretty absurd they didnt make an offer to Martin
They didn’t even want to pay him $8.5 million per year for 2 years so they sure weren’t gonna offer him $13.5 million for 1 year. He would have almost certainly accepted that offer I would think.
Actually I think they underestimated his market and didn’t think that they’d have to go that high with him.
I think that they could be fine having him back at 13.5M/yr, since IIRC that was before the thing with A-Rod.
errm that should be
they could be fine with having him back
I disagree.
I think 2/$17 million was pretty inexpensive for a starting catcher who is average-slightly above average. I can’t believe they thought they’d get him cheaper than that considering they offered him 3/$24 million the year before.
I mean, catcher’s market this year is certainly stranger than usual, with Gerald Laird signing a multi-year deal and guys like Eli Whiteside getting claimed multiple times.
That and I’m not a strong believer in Martin but I see where you’re coming from.
If what i think is available is available then we should definitely draft a starting pitcher with 27 th pick . Preferrably Kyle Richter from USC then position players with the next two picks!
Draft is such a crap shoot, you just have to draft the best available player regardless of position.
Where is Richter projected to go. It will be worth keeeping an eye on!
HoF and the MSG rafters. Where else can he go from here?
The hell with Mark appel! He is an injury waiting to happen!
Say what you want, but Boras pretty much always gets his clients the best offer out there.
I’m also excited about both compensation picks being one higher thanks to the Nats forfeiting their pick.
Telling you guys like kyle Richter come around once everything thirty years!!!!
If that’s the case, how do you expect him to last until pick 27???
I’m gonna guess that you’re Kyle Richter’s brother?
here’s the plan: (i) hope Hughes is good and sign him to 5/75, (ii) hope that Cano will sign for $23M per, (iii) waive goodbye to Andy, Mo, Kuroda and Grandy, and (iv) hope that someone of Austin, Heathcott or Williams is ready to start in 2014.