2020 MLB Draft Thread

RoDaddy

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Don't love the delivery with the hop that I'm fairly certain, won't be allowed
He seems to be dragging it which might be legal. But it's still violent; he's a double TJ surgery career waiting to happen

The 94 mph fastball isn't anything special these days but I wonder if it looks 98 when you combine the closer-to-the-plate release point and funky delivery. Older posters on the board might remember Dan Osinski, who was a pretty good reliever for us with a herky jerky delivery that reminds me a bit of this guy
 
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PaSox

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In one of his early starts this year DiValerio beat at the time No. 24 Ohio State. Not sure if that means anything. But right around the time DiValerio was going to agree to a deal with the Red Sox, the organization had Chris Sale call him to talk to him about what a great organization it is to play for.
 

cannonball 1729

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Don't love the delivery with the hop that I'm fairly certain, won't be allowed
He seems to be dragging it which might be legal. But it's still violent; he's a double TJ surgery career waiting to happen

The 94 mph fastball isn't anything special these days but I wonder if it looks 98 when you combine the closer-to-the-plate release point and funky delivery. Older posters on the board might remember Dan Osinski, who was a pretty good reliever for us with a herky jerky delivery that reminds me a bit of this guy
It's basically the Carter Capps/Jordan Walden delivery. It's legal, although I know Capps ran into at least one unfavorable umpire in the minors. Arredando gets his arm upright a little earlier in the delivery than Walden or Capps; hopefully that'll help him avoid at least some of Walden's or Capps' arm issues.
 

jon abbey

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It's basically the Carter Capps/Jordan Walden delivery. It's legal, although I know Capps ran into at least one unfavorable umpire in the minors. Arredando gets his arm upright a little earlier in the delivery than Walden or Capps; hopefully that'll help him avoid at least some of Walden's or Capps' arm issues.
They did pass a rule regarding Capps in 2017, not sure how that affects this guy.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/carter-capps-returns-to-mlb-with-a-slightly-different-delivery-and-much-less-velocity/amp/
 

nvalvo

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Does anyone have a sense of how our UFA signings compare to other teams' signings? Is there a central repository for these announcements?
 

santadevil

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Baseball America has a repository. No rankings, but the Sox are currently one of the most active.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2020-mlb-undrafted-free-agent-tracker-agreements-for-all-30-teams/
Thanks for the link
I'm surprised that more teams aren't pursuing players really hard like the Sox, but I guess mixing in an uncertain minor league future and limited minor league spots, the Sox are just buying a crap ton of lottery tickets right now

Or maybe the Sox push is just a better sales pitch than most
 

jon abbey

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Thanks for the link
I'm surprised that more teams aren't pursuing players really hard like the Sox, but I guess mixing in an uncertain minor league future and limited minor league spots, the Sox are just buying a crap ton of lottery tickets right now

Or maybe the Sox push is just a better sales pitch than most
Well, we're still only about 28 hours into this, and if multiple teams are pursuing specific players, there doesn't seem to be a huge rush for them to decide given the miniscule signing bonuses. So there may be a lot of pursuit we're not seeing yet, but also as you point out most MLB teams are going to lose a minor league team or two in 2021 and there are only so many spots, and these guys would mostly be drafted in the 12th or 15th round or even lower in a normal year, we've seen very few players ranked in BA's pre-draft top 500 signing.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Pete Abraham points out that if the Sox have paid the max to every one of their signings, they've paid the equivalent of their 6th round pick so far to get 10 new players.

View: https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/1272581622773227521


If the sum total of what the Sox have spent so far is equivalent to what they paid their 6th round pick last year, either these ten players aren't anything particularly special, or the Sox (and the rest of MLB) are ripping off a lot of good young players who have nowhere else to turn in the sport. Either way, it's hard to get excited for any of this.
 

jon abbey

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If the sum total of what the Sox have spent so far is equivalent to what they paid their 6th round pick last year, either these ten players aren't anything particularly special, or the Sox (and the rest of MLB) are ripping off a lot of good young players who have nowhere else to turn in the sport. Either way, it's hard to get excited for any of this.
A is probably correct, B is absolutely true, but also I'd caution not to tie the amount MLB allows players to be paid to their actual free market value. Shohei Ohtani was only able to sign for like $5M-$10M total instead of the $200M or so he likely would have made under the previous CBA, but his potential production didn't change.
 

nvalvo

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Thanks for the link
I'm surprised that more teams aren't pursuing players really hard like the Sox, but I guess mixing in an uncertain minor league future and limited minor league spots, the Sox are just buying a crap ton of lottery tickets right now

Or maybe the Sox push is just a better sales pitch than most
...or maybe the Sox FO is texting journalists when they sign people and other teams aren't.
 

CSteinhardt

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Thanks for the link
I'm surprised that more teams aren't pursuing players really hard like the Sox, but I guess mixing in an uncertain minor league future and limited minor league spots, the Sox are just buying a crap ton of lottery tickets right now

Or maybe the Sox push is just a better sales pitch than most
I think it has a lot to do with how teams have been treating minor leaguers. Since everybody is making the same bid financially, I'd expect the Royals to do a lot better than, say, the Angels. Seems like the Sox have been at least above average as far as how they're treating their minor leaguers, but certainly not the best.
 

chrisfont9

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I think it has a lot to do with how teams have been treating minor leaguers. Since everybody is making the same bid financially, I'd expect the Royals to do a lot better than, say, the Angels. Seems like the Sox have been at least above average as far as how they're treating their minor leaguers, but certainly not the best.
I wonder if they're attractive because they, to put it charitably, haven't blocked a lot of incoming players' pathway to the majors with minor league stars?
 

sean1562

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Could shortening the draft and just unilaterally raising minor league player salaries help out? If you only have to spend large money on five rounds, could the league incentivize paying all of these guys a living wage, like 40-45k or something? Then players could sign with whatever organization they want. The real issue here is owners not paying mL guys actual wages.
 

The Gray Eagle

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As of two days ago, the Red Sox have signed 12 UDFAs, the most of any team:
https://theathletic.com/1878259/2020/06/18/loopholes-geography-philosophy-and-fit-behind-baseballs-post-draft-signings
The Reds and Cubs signed 9 guys each, next most after Boston.

Bloom's old team, Tampa, signed zero. Some other teams with deep farms didn't sign many: Dodgers and D-Backs 1 each, Atlanta 3. NYY signed 5 guys.

The Tigers and Angels also signed zero, but don't have deep systems. Rockies have the 20th-ranked system but only signed one guy. Seems like a wasted opportunity for those teams.

What were the undrafted players looking for? How did they decide which 20k offer to take?

“From our conversations, players absolutely asked about player development, team philosophies and tried to find fits with how they train and develop,” said JJ Cooper from Baseball America. “But more than anything, they looked at opportunities. The thinner farm systems had an advantage over deep systems.”
A revealing quote on this new draft system from an unnamed exec:
“This is going to chew some people up,” they said. “In a normal year, you’ll have someone coming from a junior college, and you’ll convince them to sign instead of transferring, they’ll go through one or two springs with us, get released, and go into the world with one year at a JC and a failed baseball career to show for it. We’ll sign them away by telling them how they’ll get the best training staff, the best player development, the best coaching by going the professional way. Cough cough bullshit. I’m not supposed to say that, but going to that good school is going to set them up better.”
About those educational funds teams are allowed to offer-- this is baseball, so obviously the rules and punishments are unnecessarily vague, leading to loopholes in the setup:

Consider the Continuing Education Program, which allows teams to offer potential money to reimburse a signee for college or vocational education. It’s commonplace, and in theory, it looks harmless.

Commissioner Rob Manfred sent out a memo warning teams not to use “exorbitant” CEP offers to post-draft signees in order to recruit them. The rules seem clear at first: the team will pay for school and living expenses to allow a player to finish his degree if he’s enrolled or committed.

It’s the specific type of degree promised that can be manipulated.

“Some teams were willing to offer grad school money to college seniors, that could be a potentially large number,” said one executive. Nowhere in the rules does it say ‘undergraduate degree,’ for the record.

And it’s an easy promise to make, as the funds are not often drawn down once established.

“The actual value of those continuing education allotments — which sit on balance sheets for years and years — is usually lower than what’s promised, if they’re ever used,” pointed out one front office member. “Once the player loses their eligibility to play for the college, the same degree at the same school may not be attainable for the player. What college are they actually going to go to later?”
 

chrisfont9

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As of two days ago, the Red Sox have signed 12 UDFAs, the most of any team:
https://theathletic.com/1878259/2020/06/18/loopholes-geography-philosophy-and-fit-behind-baseballs-post-draft-signings
The Reds and Cubs signed 9 guys each, next most after Boston.

Bloom's old team, Tampa, signed zero. Some other teams with deep farms didn't sign many: Dodgers and D-Backs 1 each, Atlanta 3. NYY signed 5 guys.

The Tigers and Angels also signed zero, but don't have deep systems. Rockies have the 20th-ranked system but only signed one guy. Seems like a wasted opportunity for those teams.

What were the undrafted players looking for? How did they decide which 20k offer to take?



A revealing quote on this new draft system from an unnamed exec:


About those educational funds teams are allowed to offer-- this is baseball, so obviously the rules and punishments are unnecessarily vague, leading to loopholes in the setup:
I sit at 94 and touch 99. Can I get med school paid for? Kids today are pretty smart...
 

LogansDad

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I can't help but feel like this was as good a season as any for the Sox to lose a draft pick and for the draft to be shortened to a ridiculous length. Sure, losing a high draft pick sucks a lot, but now they have their pick of the guys in the 6-whatever round range for the most part, and that's pretty helpful to a team with a pretty barren farm system as they try to restock (also, I think, a good reason the Rays, for one, haven't made any noise).

Combine that with the fact that they got 6 years or so of both Verdugo and Downs, and Mookie might not actually play a game as a Dodger, and it's almost like John Henry and company planned this whole thing.
 

Rough Carrigan

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I can't help but feel like this was as good a season as any for the Sox to lose a draft pick and for the draft to be shortened to a ridiculous length. Sure, losing a high draft pick sucks a lot, but now they have their pick of the guys in the 6-whatever round range for the most part, and that's pretty helpful to a team with a pretty barren farm system as they try to restock (also, I think, a good reason the Rays, for one, haven't made any noise).

Combine that with the fact that they got 6 years or so of both Verdugo and Downs, and Mookie might not actually play a game as a Dodger, and it's almost like John Henry and company planned this whole thing.
You would think that, with other teams not able to outbid them and with the Rays being able to point to their history of developing kids and the fact that they'll never be blocked by a high priced free agent acquisition that the Rays would have been able to do okay. Zero signings? Really?
 

Scoops Bolling

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You would think that, with other teams not able to outbid them and with the Rays being able to point to their history of developing kids and the fact that they'll never be blocked by a high priced free agent acquisition that the Rays would have been able to do okay. Zero signings? Really?
Except the Rays have a longrunning history of keeping guys in the minors when those players were ready for the MLB, and a loaded farm system that will make playing time and promotions harder to come by than a thin farm. I'm not surprised at all. Plus, the Rays have always been exceptionally cheap, so I'm not surprised they're not spending here.
 

Rough Carrigan

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Except the Rays have a longrunning history of keeping guys in the minors when those players were ready for the MLB, and a loaded farm system that will make playing time and promotions harder to come by than a thin farm. I'm not surprised at all. Plus, the Rays have always been exceptionally cheap, so I'm not surprised they're not spending here.
I didn't realize the bolded part. But as for cheap, the bonus money is limited now. It's peanuts. Even for the Rays.
 

jon abbey

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Yeah, the cheap part is irrelevant here, but the other two are I'm sure big factors. Also if your system is loaded enough currently (few are), you don't need to be signing any of these undrafted guys since you will be losing a minor league team or two in 2021 and thus you will have to release players anyway.
 

keninten

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You would think that, with other teams not able to outbid them and with the Rays being able to point to their history of developing kids and the fact that they'll never be blocked by a high priced free agent acquisition that the Rays would have been able to do okay. Zero signings? Really?
Players don`t want to sign with the Rays when they can go to an organization that will pay them more later and promote them faster, not to mention the crowds at the ML level.
 

Eddie Bressoud

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Any updates on Red Sox draft pick signings? Thought there was to be an announcement early this week, but have not seen anything.