I guess Virant's going to get a chance to go to college and get a little more experience pitching and refining his stuff. See you in 3 years, Hunter.
I thought the estimated amount to sign Ruiz was around 800k to 1 mil? Maybe I'm getting it confused with someone else. I need to find that spreadsheet link with the bonus amounts and our draft picks.
Not necessarily, we can go 500k over total slot without losing draft picks and the college guys have no leverage and may sign under slot.
May have enough to sign Virant OR Hinjosa is we get a few under slot... Could scrape up 600k or so....
The Astros now have $942,400 left in the pool before going over. This is going off Subber10's spreadsheet and factoring in Ruiz's bonus. Ruiz's $1.85 million bonus equals the slot recommendation of the 20th overall pick (San Francisco) in the 2012 draft. Chris Stratton, the 20th overall pick, received the full amount. I expect Tucker to get somewhere between 60-65K, Heineman getting 115K, and Fontana getting 795K. Good luck at UCLA, Hunter Virant. Let's try this again in 2015? Subber10's spreadsheet, once again
As happy as I am to hear he is getting signed, I'm disappointed by the bonus. Explains why they basically haven't even been talking to Hinojosa. Probably resigned themselves to getting one of Virant/Ruiz and not having anything left over.
Indeed, I'm also surprised by the amount of the bonus. You'd figure they could have leveraged them against each other a little better. Still happy he signed though. Correa/Mccullers/Ruiz plus the polished college players is still a great haul.
In my opinion, Virant and Hinojosa were back-up plans in case they couldn't get one of McCullers or Ruiz (or Phillips) to sign. I do not think it was realistic or expected that all would become Astros.
Is there a possibility that Virant was asking for way too much, so the Astros gave Ruiz a nice bonus to keep him? Also, does this man they won't negotiate with Hinojosa?
They shouldn't have to go over slot for college players.. May be able to squeeze out Virant or Hinjosa.
And all fairly weak positions for the Astros, not to mean hard to find. We have good pitching depth, but now with the kind of arm Mccullers has.
Hinojosa said on his twitter the other day that he is expecting to go to college, as he hasn't heard from the Astros.
We're pretty much right at our budget, perhaps a little bit over already. If we could have signed McCullers for like 2.25m and Ruiz for 1.25m, we could have made a run at Virant or CJ. Honestly I think we overpaid for Ruiz, but that's what happens when you have a commitment to a top tier baseball program. I just hope he develops his power, because he only hit 3 home runs in 2011.
I can live with only getting Ruiz. Now... The next important date for this front office is July 2, when the international signing period begins. Now, everyone's been handicapped to $2.9 million, but that doesn't mean that good talent can't be had. They just have to sign for a lot less than what they would have gotten without the restrictions. MLB.com's top 20 International Prospects
I was hoping for $1.5M for Ruiz, $1.85M is the realistic number. Glad the Astros got it done in any case. Can't totally rule out one of Virant/Hinojosa but it's looking less likely now.
