Teams must sign picks by 12 a.m. on Tuesday The most important day of the previous three baseball seasons happened without the Nationals even playing a game.
That was Major League Baseball’s mid-August signing deadline when a team either agrees to contract terms with its draft picks or loses their rights. So it is again this year as Washington has until 12 a.m. on Tuesday to sign its top four selections from June’s draft.
That made for a stressful weekend for general manager Mike Rizzo, who would provide a huge boost to his improving farm system by adding third baseman Anthony Rendon, right-handed pitcher Alex Meyer, outfielder Brian Goodwin and left-handed pitcher Matt Purke.
Nothing new for Rizzo, who in 2009 had to negotiate a last-minute deal with Stephen Strasburg and in 2010 did the same with Bryce Harper. He was an assistant general manager in 2008 when negotiations with first-round pick Aaron Crow turned sour. That deadline came and went without a deal, an embarrassing blow.
Rendon, Meyer and Goodwin all have Scott Boras as their advisor. It helps that Rizzo has plenty of experience negotiating complicated deals with baseball’s most notorious agent. Boras represented Strasburg, Harper and outfielder Jayson Werth, whom Rizzo signed to a massive seven-year, $126 million free-agent contract last winter. The Nats also employ Boras clients Ivan Rodriguez, Danny Espinosa, Rick Ankiel, Alex Cora and Jesus Flores.
“It’s just coincidence,” Rizzo said. “We’re taking the best players available on our board and they happen to be represented by the same company.”
This last-minute bargaining is not only an issue for Washington. As of Sunday evening, just 10 of 33 first-round picks had signed a contract. Even in the sandwich, second and third rounds 31 of 87 players remained unsigned.
Rendon’s negotiations will likely take the longest. He was considered the top college hitter available and only a pair of serious right ankle injuries, a sore shoulder and a deep contingent of pitching prospects caused him to fall to the Nats at No. 6. It would not be a surprise if he signed minutes before the midnight deadline as Harper and Strasburg did.
Meyer turned down a reported $2 million bonus out of high school from the Boston Red Sox and instead spent three years at Kentucky. He was chosen No. 23 overall. Goodwin also has leverage with a scholarship and a starting spot in center field waiting for him at South Carolina.
Purke has the most to gain by returning to school at Texas Christian. The 6-foot-4 lefty was projected to be a top-10 pick until shoulder soreness this spring scared most scouts. The Nats rolled the dice on him in the third round and were later convinced that Purke is healthy even though he didn’t pitch in any summer leagues to prove it. But Rizzo was willing to risk Purke’s expected high demands — he had a $6 million bonus from Texas in 2009 overturned by Major League Baseball and turned down a reported $4 million more — to add another top-flight talent.
