Friday, June 7, 2013

On Mark Appel....

Last July 13, after it became official that first round draft pick Mark Appel would not sign with the Pirates, I wrote the following in this blog about the possible ramifications of Appel's non-signing...

It forces Appel back into next year's draft, and any number of things could go wrong for the kid at this point: he could get hurt, he could fall lower in the draft because of the abilities of the other players available in the 2013 draft, he could be exposed in his senior year at Stanford as just another Bryan Bullington, and any one of those factors could and probably would end up costing him millions of dollars.  

So, in conclusion, the new spending restrictions on the entry draft have ended up screwing the kid and screwing the Pirates, but the Yanks and Sawx are no doubt happy about it, which means everything is OK.

It was reported that the Pirates offer to Appel was in the neighborhood of $3.8 million.  It will be interesting to track both what Appel signs for next season and how his career progresses over the next ten or so years.  Time will tell how much this non-deal really hurts the Pirates.  

Well, goes to show you what I know.  Appel excelled in his senior year at Stanford, and last night he became the #1 overall draft choice in MLB, taken by the Houston Astros.  He will no doubt get more than the $3.8 million the Bucs were offering last year.  The kid rolled the dice, and came up a winner.  Of course, how he actually pitches in the majors is still TBD.

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