THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The 2009 draft marked a substantial shift in philosophy for the Toronto Blue Jays, who went above Major League Baseball’s slot recommendations to sign some of their picks for the first time under general manager J.P. Ricciardi.
Yet the failure to sign three of their first five selections stands out as much as any of the 34 players they did manage to ink, leaving some wondering Tuesday what exactly is the club’s new modus operandi.
Supplemental first-rounder James Paxton of Ladner, B.C. (37th overall), second-rounder Jake Eliopoulos of Newmarket, Ont. (68th), both left-handed pitchers, and third-round pick Jake Barrett (99th), a right-hander, all failed to reach deals ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline and will go back into the draft for 2010.
The Blue Jays will receive compensatory picks next year (38th for Paxton, 69th for Eliopoulos and TBD for Barrett) in return, so their selections were not a total waste. But the inability to get deals done with them begs the question of why go over slot with some players and not others, particularly ones selected so early in the draft?
The answer in part lies with the signing of outfielders Jacob Marisnick (third round, US$1 million bonus) and Kristopher Hobson (sixth round, $500,000), and right-hander Daniel Webb (18th round, $450,000) to above slot deals, and the team’s belief they got early-rounds talent late by doing that.
Then there’s the divergent sense of value between the team and the player, and the fact that sometimes middle ground can not be found.
"I don’t think so," Ricciardi said when asked if the team was surprised by what Paxton, Eliopoulos and Barrett were seeking to sign. "It’s just a different world today, kids say no to a lot of money.
"We thought we were very generous but it wasn’t enough."
The Blue Jays are believed to have gone beyond slot in offers for all three players but drew a firm line in the sand with them there.
Paxton was always going to be a tough sign, as he’s represented by Scott Boras, one of the toughest negotiators around. He’ll go back for a final year at Kentucky. But Eliopoulos, who will enrol in either a junior college or a four-year program, wanted to sign as did Barrett, who is likely headed to play at Arizona.
The Blue Jays knew that beforehand and took them anyway. Why? Because they feel the additions of Marisnick, Hobson and Webb compensate them from a talent perspective, with the compensation picks next year to boot.
"We took a tough sign in Paxton, we knew that. Any time you take a high-school kid with options (Eliopoulos, Barrett), you don’t know if you’re going to get that guy," said Ricciardi. "So they took some kids who slid (Marisnick, Hobson, Webb) and they took them a little later with the understanding that if the top guys didn’t sign, they were going to have a little bit more money to sign some of the guys down below, and they were able to get those guys. …
"Marisnick could have been a first- or second-round pick, he just slid. Hopefully being able to sign him, we put that type of talent in the system. What we lost in the second or third round, we may have recouped with the Hobsons and guys like that."
Letting the players walk also signals to agents that the Blue Jays won’t be bullied off their price by a deadline, a stand that may not be as easily repeated next year as there is no compensation if a compensatory pick does not sign.
There is also risk of changes in talent between various draft classes and compensation picks reduce a team’s leverage in those talks unless a pre-draft deal is negotiated. Top players rarely make such arrangements, in a sense reducing the pick’s value, although Ricciardi shrugged that notion off.
"You could take a player you know you’re going to sign, flat-out there’s not going to be any problems with signing him," he said. "Look at (Mark) Rzepczynski and (Brett) Cecil. They signed and in two years they’re in the big-leagues, drawing major-league service and major-league pay, there’s something to be said for taking guys who sign and go play."
Off course it’s all speculation and projection right now, and no one will know for sure whether or not the Blue Jays made the right choices until a couple of years down the line. But either way, the draft game has clearly changed for them.
"I think because everyone else was doing it," Ricciardi said when asked why the team decided to go above slot. "We held the line for so long we were probably handcuffing ourselves a little bit. And if you want to get involved with some of these high school kids, you don’t have to take them in the first round, you might be able to take them in the third and fourth round."
