The Appel Doesn't Fall From the Tree

In about 45 minutes the Pirates will kick of the figurative - not literal - second half of what has thus far been an amazing season as they take on the Hated Brewers in that nemesis ball yard, Miller Park.  Let's Go Bucs.


However, the expected non-signing of number one draft pick Mark Appel became official at 5:00 this afternoon.  The fact that the Pirates have played so well in 2012 - need I remind everyone that they are in first place?- coupled with the fact that Garrett Cole and Jameson Taillon are progressing well in the minors, takes a bit of the heat off of the team for this non-signing.  We can all remember the furor that took place a few years back when the Pedro Alvarez signing almost fell through, right?


One of the big reasons that this signing did not happen was because MLB and the Players Association sought to limit the run amok free-spending of the Pirates in the amateur draft, the one area where teams like the Pirates could compete with teams like the Yankees, Angels, and Red Sox.  Let us see what the ramifications of this new spending cap accomplished.

• It caused as many as seven teams to pass on Appel, thought by many to be the #1 player in the draft, to fall to the Pirates in the number eight spot in the draft.  This no doubt cost Appel  several potential millions of dollars in possible signing bonuses.  So, MLB and the MLBPA did the kid a big favor there, right?
• The Pirates could only spend "X" amount of dollars on all of their first ten selections, which limited what they could offer Appel, which caused Appel to decide not to sign, and the Pirates have lost a potential - emphasize potential -  future Cy Young winner.
• 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.  I don't know the numbers, but I want to know the final count on how many draft picks the Pirates did sign this year.  As I have said many times, this is a most inexact science and you never know where the true gems are.  I believe that Dave Parker was selected after the 30th round when he was drafted, and in the year that Kris Benson was the number one overall selection, the Astros selected Roy Oswalt in the 28th round.