Written by Greg Fertel
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15 August 2008
Baseball America
reports that the deal with Bleich, a sandwich pick out of Stanford, is done. According to BA, the lefty received a $700,000 bonus, which is below the slot recommendation for the 44th pick. I'm shocked that a Scott Boras client would accept a below-slot deal, and even more surprised that the Yankees would go after a below-slot guy in the sandwich round. This news, combined with the Cole non-signing, represents a bad day for the Yankees and also for Scott Boras. Boras looks bad with the Yankees by having their first-round pick pass up a huge overslot offer, and with potential clients for having one of his players sign for a below slot deal.
I hope that the Yankees really saw something in Bleich, and they weren't just going cheap. As things currently stand, they are going to spend a lot less money in the 2008 draft than they have in recent years. They have no player with a bonus of a million or more, the closest is Brett Marshall with $850,000. In the 2007 draft alone, 3 guys got a million or higher, including Brackman, who got much more than that. I feel like I'm in bizarro world, with the Yankees not signing 2 of their top 3 picks and going below slot in the sandwich round. Who are they, the Astros?
