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Amateur Signing Bonuses

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Marlins

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Next up, a look at the Marlins' spending on amateur players…

  1. Josh Beckett, $3.625MM (1999)
  2. Adrian Gonzalez, $3MM (2000)
  3. Livan Hernandez, $2.5MM (1996)
  4. Kyle Skipworth, $2.3MM (2008)
  5. Jason Stokes, $2.027MM (2000)

Touted as the best high school pitching prospect ever, Beckett received the largest contract ever given to a prep pitcher when he agreed to a big league contract guaranteeing him at least $7MM as the second overall pick. He made quick work of the minors, debuting for Florida in 2001. Two years later he was the World Series MVP, and two years after that he was traded to the Red Sox in the blockbuster that brought Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins. Beckett's career with the Marlins consisted of a 3.46 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 609 innings.

Gonzalez was the first overall pick in what is considered one of the worst draft classes in recent memory. He performed well as he steadily climbed the minor league ladder, at least until the Fish traded him and another minor leaguer to the Rangers for Ugueth Urbina to help bolster their bullpen during their 2003 title run. Gonzalez never played a game for the Marlins, and of course has since gone on to star with the Padres. 

The Marlins signed Hernandez shortly after he defected from Cuba as a 21-year-old, and less than a year later he was named the 1997 World Series MVP. He remained with the Marlins until the 1999 trade deadline, when he was shipped to the Giants for two players. Livan finished his Marlins' career with a 4.39 ERA in 469.2 innings. 

Stokes was selected with the 41st overall pick in 2000 after setting the Texas single-season high school record with 25 homers, but injuries (most notably to his hand and groin) derailed his career. He was pretty much through with baseball by 2007, after a minor league career that saw him hit .275/.349/.507 in 1,904 plate appearances. The Marlins dealt him to Oakland before the 2007 season for John Baker. 

Florida took Skipworth with the sixth overall pick in 2008, and he is slowly making his way through the farm system. A career .226/.285/.381 hitter, the 20-year-old had the best season of his career in 2010, hitting .245/.309/.418. It's also worth noting that Miguel Cabrera's $1.9MM bonus (1999) was the largest ever given to a Venezuelan-born player, and stood as the record for close to a decade. 

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Tigers

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Time to take our amateur signing bonus series to Motown…

  1. Jacob Turner, $4.7MM (2009)
  2. Rick Porcello, $3.58MM (2007)
  3. Andrew Miller, $3.55MM (2006)
  4. Eric Munson, $3.5MM (1999)
  5. Nick Castellanos, $3.45MM (2010)

Turner, a Scott Boras client and the ninth overall pick in the 2009 draft, received what was then the largest bonus ever given to a high school pitcher. The total value of his big league contract is $5.5MM with the potential to be worth $7MM. He spent his first pro season in Single-A, and is the team's best prospect thanks to a 3.28 ERA, 8.0 K/9, and 1.8 BB/9 in 115.1 innings. 

Before there was Turner there was Porcello, who matched Josh Beckett for the most guaranteed money ever given to a high school arm ($7MM). He reached the majors after just one season in the minors, and has a 4.43 ERA with 2.1 BB/9 and 4.7 K/9 in 333.1 innings for the Tigers. Castellanos was the 44th overall pick this year, and his bonus is the largest ever given to a player outside of the first round. He started his career with a .333/.414/.417 performance in 29 rookie ball plate appearances.

Miller was the consensus top talent in the 2006 draft, but lasted until the sixth pick because of bonus demands. The Tigers were happy to pay him, but they rushed him to the big leagues later that year. Miller posted a 5.69 ERA in 74.1 innings for the Tigers before being traded to Marlins in December 2007 as part of the package for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. 

Munson was the third overall pick in the 1999 draft after a monster collegiate career at USC. His bonus was the franchise record for close to a decade before Porcello came along. Munson received 885 plate appearances for the Tigers from 2000-2004, hitting just .215/.287/.414 along the way. He was granted his release after the 2004 season, and has bounced from team to team ever since. 

Amazingly, this list doesn't including Kyle Sleeth (third overall in 2003) and Justin Verlander (second overall in 2004), who received $3.35MM and $3.12MM bonuses, respectively. The Tigers aren't shy about spending on young players, that's for sure.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Rockies

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The Rockies are up next in our amateur signing bonus series…

  1. Tyler Matzek, $3.9MM (2009)
  2. Greg Reynolds, $3.25MM (2006)
  3. Jason Young, $2.75MM (2000)
  4. Troy Tulowitzki, $2.3MM (2005)
  5. Chin-Hui Tsao. $2.2MM (1999)

Matzek was one of the best prospects available in the 2009 draft, but he fell into the Rockies' lap with the 11th overall pick because of perceived bonus demands. Colorado met those demands, giving him the fourth largest bonus of the entire draft class. Matzek spent 2010 in Single-A, pitching to a 2.92 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 6.2 BB/9 in 89.1 innings as a 19-year-old.

Tulowitzki, the seventh overall pick in 2005, is quite simply the Rockies' franchise cornerstone and one of the five or ten best players in baseball. In four-plus years as Colorado's shortstop, Tulo has hit .290/.362/.495 with top-of-the-line defense. The team has gotten every dollar's worth and then some with this pick and bonus.

Young, the 47th overall pick in 2000, pitched well in the minors before getting his first taste of the big leagues in 2003, and he ultimately put up a 9.71 ERA in 29.2 innings for Colorado before being claimed off waivers by the Indians in August 2005. He was out of baseball by the end of that season. Reynolds was the second overall pick in 2006, and made 13 ugly starts (8.13 ERA, 3.2 K/9, 3.8 BB/9) for Colorado in 2008. He missed basically the entire 2009 season with shoulder surgery and is working his way back.

Tsao's career featured a lot of firsts. He was the first significant international signing in team history, the first player they ever signed out of Asia, and the first Taiwanese-born pitcher in MLB history. His career was riddled with injury, most notably Tommy John surgery in 2001, but he reached the big leagues in 2003. In 63.2 innings for the Rockies from 2003-2005, Tsao pitched to a 5.80 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 before being released in 2006. He pitched in the Chinese Professional Baseball League after his time in MLB was through, but his career came to end earlier this year when he was banned from the league for his role in a game-fixing scandal. 

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Indians

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Next up in our series looking at each team's top amateur signing bonuses, the Indians…

  1. Danys Baez, $4.5MM (1999)
  2. Jeremy Guthrie, $3MM (2002)
  3. Drew Pomeranz, $2.65MM (2010)
  4. Jeremy Sowers, $2.475MM (2004)
  5. Alex White, $2.25MM (2009)

Baez's bonus was part of the four-year, $14.5MM contract Cleveland gave him after he defected from Cuba as a 22-year-old. After a year in Triple-A, the Indians gave him a rotation spot in 2002 and watched Baez post a respectable 4.41 ERA, 7.1 K/9, and 4.5 BB/9. Overall, Baez had a 3.92 ERA in 291.1 innings with Cleveland in a variety of roles (starter, setup man, closer) before they cut ties with him after the 2003 season. 

Guthrie, the 22nd overall pick in 2002, never hit his stride in Cleveland, appearing in just 16 games (37 IP, 6.08 ERA) for the Tribe before being designated for assignment and subsequently claimed off waivers by the Orioles in January 2007. Sowers' tenure with the Indians was just as forgettable, though he got a much longer look. The sixth overall pick in the 2004 draft started 71 games for Cleveland from 2006-2009, though he pitched to just a 5.18 ERA with a measly 3.9 K/9 in exactly 400 IP. He spent 2010 in their minor league system.

White and Pomeranz are the team's two most recent first round picks. White (15th overall in 2009) split the 2010 season between the Single-A and Double-A levels, posting a 2.45 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 150.2 IP. Pomeranz (5th overall in 2010) signed right at the August 16th deadline and will start his professional career next season.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Reds

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Next up in our series looking at how much each club spends on amateurs, the Reds…

  1. Aroldis Chapman, $16.25MM (2010)
  2. Chris Gruler, $2.5MM (2002)
  3. Yorman Rodriguez, $2.5MM (2008)
  4. Homer Bailey, $2.3MM (2004)
  5. Mike Leake, $2.27MM (2009)

I don't want to ruin the surprise, but Chapman's bonus is by far the largest you'll see in this series. It wasn't all paid out at once though; the 22-year-old Cuban defector received $1.5MM up front and the rest will be paid in annual installments through 2020, the first of which is due in less than two weeks.  I'm sure the Reds will happily hand that money over after Chapman's late season showing, when he struck out 19 with a 2.03 ERA in 13.1 relief innings.  He also threw the fastest recorded pitch in baseball history on September 24th, a fastball that MLBAM's PitchFX system clocked at 105.1 mph.

Gruler made 11 starts in 2002 after being the third overall pick that year, but unfortunately the 44 innings he tossed that season would be a career high.  He battled shoulder injury after shoulder injury, and was out of baseball by 2006 after just 92.2 minor league innings, none of them above the Single-A level. Rodriguez is still just 18 years old despite signing two summers ago.  The outfielder is a .276/.316/.384 career hitter in 472 plate appearances in the lowest levels of minor league baseball.

The eighth overall pick in 2009, Leake became the first pitcher since Ariel Prieto in 1995 to skip the minor leagues and make his professional debut in the show.  He threw 138.1 innings for the Reds this season, putting up a 4.23 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 before being placed on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue in an effort to control his workload.  Bailey took a more conventional route after being selected with the seventh overall pick in 2004.  He made his big league debut in 2007, and in 39 starts (222.1 innings) for the Reds over the last two seasons he's pitched to a 4.49 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.  Both Leake and Bailey figure to have a spot in Cincinnati's rotation next season.

It's worth noting that the Reds have also given four players bonuses of exactly $2MM: Drew Stubbs, Juan Duran, Yonder Alonso, and Yasmani Grandal.  Stubbs is the team's regular center fielder; the other three are currently working their way through the farm system.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: White Sox

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Time to hit Chicago's south side with our amateur signing bonus series…

  1. Joe Borchard, $5.3MM (2000)
  2. Dayan Viciedo, $4MM (2008)
  3. Gordon Beckham, $2.6MM (2008)
  4. Jason Stumm, $1.75MM (1999)
  5. Chris Sale, $1.656MM (2010)

Borchard's bonus was the largest ever given out as part of a minor league contract at the time, and was the record until Justin Upton showed up in 2005. The White Sox had to buy him away from a potential NFL career after Borchard starred at Stanford as both an outfielder and quarterback, though the team was able to spread the bonus out over five years according to MLB's provisions for two sport athletes. He never lived up to the hype, hitting .191/.254/.342 in 328 plate appearances across four seasons for Chicago before being dealt to the Mariners in March 2006 for a fellow former first round pick by the name of Matt Thornton. It clicked for Thornton after the trade but never did for Borchard, and the vast majority of his career has been spent in Triple-A.

Both Beckham and Sale have paid immediate dividends. Beckham, the eighth overall pick in 2008, reached the big leagues the very next year and is a career .260/.331/.416 career hitter in 928 plate appearances. Sale didn't even have to wait that long; he found himself in Chicago's bullpen less than two months after being the 13th overall pick in this year's draft. Hard to blame them for being so aggressive, Sale posted a 1.93 ERA with 12.3 K/9 in 21 appearances (23.1 innings) while hitting the upper-90's from the left side. As you probably suspect, he's the first player from the 2010 draft to reach the show.

After the success of Alexei Ramirez, the White Sox went hard after another Cuban defector in Viciedo. The 21-year-old has been just okay in the minors (.277/.313/.432), though his 106 plate appearance cameo in the big leagues this season was much more promising (.308/.321/.519). Listed at 5-foot-11 and 240 lbs. on the team's official site, he might not be long for the hot corner. Stumm was a colossal bust as the 15th overall pick in 1999. Injuries sabotaged the righthander's career (four surgeries total), and just eight of his 224.1 career innings came above A-ball. Stumm has been out of the game since 2005.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Cubs

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Time for another post in our series looking at the five largest signing bonuses each team has given to amateur players. The Cubs are up…

  1. Mark Prior, $4MM (2001)
  2. Corey Patterson, $3.7MM (1998)
  3. Josh Vitters, $3.2MM (2007)
  4. Luis Montanez, $2.75MM (2000)
  5. Bobby Brownlie, $2.5MM (2002)

You'd be hard pressed to find a team that pumped more money into high draft picks and received so little in return. Prior was undeniably special, going from USC to a third-place finish in the NL Cy Young voting within two years. His first 56 big league starts (377 innings) featured a 2.60 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 (removing intentional walks), but arm injuries wrecked the rest of his career. Prior last pitched for the Cubs (and in the big leagues) on August 10th of 2006. If his latest comeback attempt is unsuccessful, his career is likely to end with a 3.51 ERA, 10.4 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 in 106 starts (657 innings).

Patterson and Montanez were the third overall picks in their respective drafts. Neither delivered on their promise, though Patterson at least managed to reach the big leagues for Chicago. He hit just .252/.293/.414 with 70 homers and 86 steals in 589 games for the Cubbies before being traded to the Orioles for a pair of minor leaguers before the 2006 season. Montanez spent six years in the Cubs' farm system before signing with Baltimore as a minor league free agent in 2007. He didn't make it out of A-ball until five years after he was drafted. Vitters, yet another third overall pick, reached Double-A at age 20 this season, but he's just a .275/.317/.435 hitter in the minors, walking only 46 times unintentionally in 1,178 plate appearances. 

Brownlie, a Scott Boras client and the 21st overall pick in 2002, pitched very well in Cubs farm system for two years before his elbow started to act up in 2005. He was shifted to the bullpen and pitched terribly in 2006 (6.33 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 4.2 BB/9), leading to his release. Brownlie bounced around a bit after that, including a stint in an independent league, but he now coaches at his alma mater Rutgers. He never reached the big leagues, but did throw 199 innings at the Triple-A level.  

Kosuke Fukudome matched Prior's signing bonus at $4MM, but he's not considered an amateur given all of his time in Japan despite having zero MLB experience when he signed.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Red Sox

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Next up in our series looking at the largest signing bonuses given to amateur players: the Red Sox…

  1. Jose Iglesias, $6.25MM (2009)
  2. Casey Kelly, $3MM (2008)
  3. Anthony Ranaudo, $2.55MM (2010)
  4. Ryan Westmoreland, $2MM (2008)
  5. Jose Vinicio, $1.95MM (2009)

Given their revenue streams, it should be no surprise that the Red Sox spend big. Iglesias signed after defecting from Cuban and is widely considered to be the best defensive shortstop in minor league baseball. His bat was better than expected this season, as he hit .295/.339/.379 in 284 plate appearances. A broken finger robbed him of more than two months of the season, however.

Kelly is the team's best prospect at the moment, now that he's no longer dabbling at shortstop and is focused exclusively on pitching. He reached Double-A at age-20 this year, and owns a 3.69 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 190 minor league innings. Ranaudo was arguably the best pitching prospect available in the 2010 draft but he fell to the 39th overall pick because of injury concerns. The Red Sox spent the money and took the risk as they tend to do, and they'll eagerly await his professional debut next season.

Westmoreland was an elite level talent that fell to the fifth round of the 2008 draft due to contract demands, and he was the team's top prospect before a "cavernous malformation of the brain" got in the way. He missed the entire 2010 season after having brain surgery and is recovering well, even starting to perform baseball activities within the last month or so. Vinicio was a high profile signing out of the Dominican Republic last summer. The 17-year-old shortstop hit .253/.290/.373 in 170 plate appearances for Boston's rookie level affiliate this year.

It's worth noting that Daisuke Matsuzaka received a $2MM bonus as part of his six-year, $52MM contract. He had zero MLB experience at the time of the contract, but he was certainly no amateur given all of the time he spent pitching in Japan.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Orioles

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Let's continue our look at the five largest bonuses each team has given to amateur players with the Orioles…

  1. Matt Wieters, $6MM (2007)
  2. Manny Machado, $5.25MM (2010)
  3. Adam Loewen, $3.2MM (2002)
  4. Brian Matusz, $3.2MM (2008)
  5. Matt Hobgood, $2.422MM (2009)

Wieters was the fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft but was arguably the top talent available along with David Price. He destroyed the minors (.343/.438/.576) before making his big league debut last May. Wieters hasn't had the immediate impact the O's hoped for, but perspective is important here. There's nothing wrong with a 24-year-old catcher hitting .266/.328/.393 in his first 887 plate appearances while throwing out 27.6% of attempted basestealers in the AL East.

Another one of the talented young players on Baltimore's big league roster right now is Matusz. He was the fourth overall pick in 2008 and like Wieters he crushed the minors (1.91 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 2.5 BB/9) before debuting in the show. After an eight start cameo in 2009, Matusz's coming out party in 2010 was rock solid for a 23-year-old lefty in that division. His overall numbers won't wow you – 4.30 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 in 175.2 innings – but he was superb down the stretch, posting a 1.57 ERA with a .178/.237/.282 batting line against in his final eight starts. Matusz and Wieters are two biggest pieces in the Orioles' rebuilding effort.

Machado was the third overall pick this past June and didn't sign until the August 16th deadline. He hit .306/.359/.472 in just 39 plate appearances this year, his pro debut. Hobgood was the fifth overall pick last year and has been good but not great so far: 4.48 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 120.2 innings. He just turned 20 in August.

Loewen was the product of the now defunct draft-and-follow process. The O's took him fourth overall in 2002 but didn't sign until a year later, after he spent a season with Chipola College, a two-year school. Loewen cruised through the minors and debuted with Baltimore in 2006. He threw 164 innings with the O's over the next two seasons (5.38 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 5.8 BB/9) but his pitching career was derailed by chronic elbow issues. Loewen went the Rick Ankiel route and transitioned to an outfielder, and he's now working his way back to the big leagues in the Blue Jays system.

The Orioles have never been a big time player on the Latin American free agent market, but they opened a state-of-the-art academy in the Dominican within the last few years. Expect their presence in the international market to jump significantly in the coming years.

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Braves

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Let's continue our look at each team's amateur spending with the Atlanta Braves. Here are the five largest signing bonuses they've paid out…

  1. Mike Minor, $2.42MM (2009)
  2. Jeff Francoeur, $2.2MM (2002)
  3. Matt Belisle, $1.75MM (1998)
  4. Jason Heyward, $1.7MM (2007)
  5. Edward Salcedo, $1.6MM (2010)

The seventh overall pick in 2009, Minor shot through the minors this season and made eight starts (and one relief appearance) for the Braves. His 5.98 ERA in 40.2 innings was ugly but the peripherals were excellent: 9.5 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. He figures to get a much longer look next season.

Francoeur, the 23rd overall pick in 2002, burst onto the scene with a .300/.336/.549 effort in his 2005 rookie campaign, but struggled thereafter. He hit just .266/.308/.424 with the Braves before being traded to the Mets for Ryan Church a few weeks before the 2009 trade deadline. Belisle was the 52nd overall pick in 1998, but he never appeared in a game for Atlanta. He pitched well in the minor leagues before missing the entire 2001 season due to injury, and the Braves eventually shipped him to the Reds as a player to be named later in a 2003 deal for Kent Mercker.

Heyward somehow lasted until the 14th overall pick of the 2007, and he just wrapped up a tremendously successful rookie campaign: .277/.393/.456 in 623 plate appearances. He should receive plenty of Rookie of the Year votes, if not in the award outright. Salcedo turned pro just this summer, and hit .225/.307/.333 in 304 A-ball plate appearances. He is arguably the team's best position player prospect due to his talent level and physical gifts. 

Kenshin Kawakami was a long-time veteran of the Japanese leagues, but if we relax our criteria a bit to include players with zero MLB experience, his $2MM signing bonus would slot in at number three.

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