He should sign, especially because he is limited defensively. The odds of him improving his draft stock significantly above that $1.2m are remote, especially when weighed against the downside and weighed against the additional earnings he stands to get by reaching the majors earlier than if he goes to college.
If we offer him $1.2M. We don't know the team will offer that much just because they can. He was ranked 92 by MLB, 127 by ESPN, unranked by The Athletic, 65 by Baseball America. Those rankings varied, but he seemed to be dropping in ranking as the draft got closer. If he's viewed at best as a late 2nd rounder, maybe the bonus is much less. I'm guessing they will go as high as $1M, but wouldn't surprise me if they offered something less because they don't want to pay any penalty. The Astros haven't been regular draft penalty payers over the years, much to my disappointment.
If the Astros let a top 100 draft prospect get away because of a couple hundred K, that would be absurd. Ridiculously, joke tier owner absurd.
Once upon a time I was jack of all trades for a wood bat college league (Northwoods league). We had a guy who tuned down $935,000.00 because it wasn’t $1,000,000, which is what he communicated to the teams that his price was. Went to college. Power didn’t translate from aluminum to wood bat (he hit a lot of two steps in from the warning track fly balls over the summer I was with him. signed under after for $10,000 4 years later. All because he wanted to see he was a million dollar signing and bet on himself and got a degree and blah blah blah.
Everyone has a price point. And that extra $200K is actually $350K to the team. To me, and most of us here, we should spend every dime possible to get your picks signed because it is just money, and not a great amount in comparison to the overall cost to the franchise. Like if they sign him for $1M, it seems obvious they should offer that kid we drafted in the 19th round everything left over, and it basically should work that way every year, but it doesn't for some reason.
Depends on the guy and the situation. I knew a few UT players back in the day who could have signed out of HS for 100K or more, and chose to spend 3 years in Austin living like gods. Then signed for about the same amount. Once you get into the $500K range it'd be really hard to justify turning that down.
This organization needs every top talent prospect it can get. Click knows it Clifford and his people know it. They also know exactly how much money the Astros have to spend. They have been tracking just like we have. He has leverage, as he "can" still go to college and enjoy a pretty good life for a couple of years and go back into the draft. Everybody knows everything. Nobody is going to get one over on the other. Just make the offer and get the signing done.
Yep. That’s why I said if your goal is to play in the majors and get better and blah blah blah. Pro ball vs a good college program isn’t for everyone. But it should be for anyone offered, if not exactly life changing money then money that could set you up to make life pretty easy. I always said I could spend $1,000,000 in 20 minutes completely responsibly. Then I’d have to go to work the next day because you aren’t set for life. But, your life is a lot less complicated and stressful (My list- payoff House, payoff RV, 10% to church, 100k in each of my kids college funds, Diamond earrings and necklace for my wife, family trip booked to Australia, 5k in a 529 account for all my nieces and nephews, and 40k in the bank). Yeah- life gets a lot easier but you still got to work the next day. If you can make your life stress free and easy so you can focus on your professional career you should do it).
Notre Dame RHP signs as an undrafted free agent; had been in the works for some time but it's official.
Great draft. 3 OF with legit star potential and relatively high floors, a solid group of high-floor late round middle infielders with power, and some pitchers I don’t know much about. But 3 guys (Gilbert, Melton, Clifford) that will easily be in Houston’s top 10, and another who will slot in the 10-20 range (Taylor). Much needed injection of talent.
It's been a while since i've been excited about our draft class. McTaggart said there might a few more today. I would assume he means UDFAs
I saw on Fangraphs Gilbert #5 Clifford #7 Another fan posted but I have not personally seen: Melton #14 Knorr #17 Taylor #31 Price #32 Blubaugh #27 Borden #38. For what it's worth.
Feels good officially having Clifford on board, too. To all the ones that follow this, when do these publications insert the draft class into their prospect lists? Is it after the signing period? At the end of the year? I see what IdStrosFan posted about Fangraphs above, but any insight into the other lists?
There is no standard that they all follow as far as I know. After the trade deadline makes the most sense to me this season. I try to do a full update of mine in the second week of March and August each year. Mine is just for my own use but those times are usually close enough others to compare with them.
Makes sense to do it right after the deadline with the prospects changing teams, and it coordinates well with when the draft picks have to sign. Thanks for the insight!
Similar amount as Santos and Whitaker. Seems like Click likes taking a shot at upside with 2nd tier HS prospects. It kinda feels like the Astros followed their board day 1 and 2 for college players, and just picked the best player they could with the money left over on day 3.
