Last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed their third round draft pick, Fresno State outfielder Jordan Luplow. According to Chris Cotillo, Luplow got a $500,000 bonus, which is $24,300 under the slot amount. Not a huge savings for over-slot picks, but a savings none the less.
Our draft signing tracker has been updated with the new information and we now know the bonuses for all but three of the Pirates 12 picks in the first ten rounds. Seventh round pick Nelson Jorge signed a few days ago, though his bonus hasn’t been reported yet. Ninth round pick Kevin Krause hasn’t signed yet and Connor Joe, the 39th overall pick, signed last night, but his bonus information hasn’t been released yet.
With what we know so far, the Pirates have spent over-slot already, with a total of $2,000,000 being spent on pitchers Mitch Keller and Trey Supak(64th and 73rd overall picks), who had a combined slot value of $1,658,800. The Pirates saved $125,500 on first round pick Cole Tucker and saw some minor savings with four other picks, including Luplow. That leaves them $116,000 over-slot at this moment.
Most expect Connor Joe to sign for under slot, netting the Pirates some savings there. They also can spend up to an extra 5.0% on top of their bonus pool without losing a draft pick in next year’s draft. They would have to pay a 75% tax on the extra spending, but that won’t keep them from signing more draft picks. Last year, they went over their bonus pool when they signed Erich Weiss to a $305,000 in the 11th round.
