Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams are given a set bonus pool they are allowed to spend on the top ten rounds of the draft each year. Also, any money given to a player drafted after the tenth round in excess of $125,000 counts against the draft pool. So if a team signs their 11th rounder for $150,000, the extra $25,000 counts against their draft pool. The same applies to undrafted free agents. Here are the penalties for exceeding the draft pool:
- Exceed by 0-5% — 75% tax on overage
- Exceed by 5-10% — 75% tax on overage and forfeit next year’s first round pick
- Exceed by 10-15% — 100% tax on overage and forfeit next year’s first and second round picks
- Exceed by 15% or more — 100% tax on overage and forfeit first round pick in next two drafts
The Yankees were given a draft pool of $6,912,800 for the 2017 draft. If they do not sign one of their picks in the top ten rounds, they lose the slot money associated with the pick. On the other side of the coin, if they sign one of those players to a below-slot bonus, they can use the savings on other players. All of the Yankees’ picks can be found at MLB.com.
The signing deadline is 5pm ET on Friday, July 7th this year. We’ll keep track of the Yankees’ draft pool spending right here between now and the deadline as best we can. Signing bonus information isn’t always the easiest thing to find for non-premium picks. If you have any tips, comments, or questions, please email me at mike (at) riveraveblues (dot) com.