Yesterday was a bad day, so instead of wallowing in it, let’s catch up on draft pick signings.
The Pirates officially signed both supplemental first rounder Barrett Barnes and third rounder Jonathan Sandfort. Sandfort signed for full slot, which was expected given his status as a high schooler. Barnes signed ~$136,000 less than his slot, which is money that can be applied to Mark Appel.
The real money to give to Appel is coming from where we figured it would come from, though; the college seniors drafted from 6-10. Jacob Stallings and Pat Ludwig both signed for tiny bonuses and according to Tim’s best guess from that post, the Pirates will end up with savings in the ballpark of $600,000 to spend on Appel, which would push his potential signing bonus between $3.5 and $4 million, assuming they offer him a bit more money and eat the 75% bonus tax. That’s almost exactly how I figured things would play out after Day 2 of the draft, so it’s nice to see that things are going pretty much according to plan for the Pirates.
