UPDATE 2:24 PM, FRIDAY: The Pirates announced they have officially signed Austin Meadows, who will play for the Gulf Coast League Pirates in Bradenton.
Austin Meadows had the following tweet Thursday:
In the Burgh!
— Austin Meadows (@austin_meadows) June 27, 2013
Pretty straight forward: he’s in Pittsburgh. I think a lot of people hope that means he’s about to sign. That’s not necessarily the case. Seventh round pick Buddy Borden went to Pittsburgh after the draft, but it was more for negotiation purposes, and Borden still hasn’t signed. Of course, there’s also this tweet by Jon Heyman:
#pirates are close to a deal with prep OF austin meadows, the No. 9 overall pick.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 27, 2013
So it looks like the two sides are close to a deal. I never expected the signing of Meadows to be an issue, even if it didn’t happen instantly like Reese McGuire’s signing. I did talk with McGuire this afternoon, who is friends with Meadows. McGuire will be on the Pirates Prospects Podcast on Monday, but to release part of the show early, here is what he had to say on whether he’s talked with Meadows recently.
“I’ve been in touch with him a little bit,” McGuire said. “He said he was still working out negotiations and whatnot. But I think he should be getting down here pretty soon. I’m not exactly sure when. He hasn’t really given me a full answer either.”
So even McGuire expects Meadows to sign, and to be down here in Bradenton soon. At any rate, there hasn’t been much to report on Meadows to this point, but now it looks like we’re close to getting the most important news on Meadows in this whole process.
UPDATE 9:11 PM: Travis Sawchik says Meadows is signed and that the deal is expected to be close to slot.
Confirmed: #Pirates have reached a deal with first-round pick Austin Meadows
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) June 28, 2013
Slot for the ninth overall pick was $3.03M. We're told that's approximately what Meadows' bonus will be
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) June 28, 2013
UPDATE 9:35 PM: Jim Callis says Meadows got the full slot amount.
Pending physical, #Pirates & No. 9 overall pick Austin Meadows agree on $3,029,600. Only 2nd among top 11 picks to get full value. #mlbdraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 28, 2013
Looking at the Draft Pick Signing Tracker, that puts the Pirates at $8,230,600 spent in the top ten rounds. They still have $232,800 to spend on over-slot deals, or $668,145 if they want to go up to 4.9% over their bonus pool. If they did that they would be taxed 75% on the overage, although they wouldn’t lose any future draft picks. The only top ten picks left to sign are sixth round pick Adam Frazier and seventh round pick Buddy Borden. Frazier and Mississippi State just ended their run in the College World Series, while Borden has been looking for an over-slot deal.
