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Trade deadline moves aren’t the only ones we have to obsess over in the coming weeks. The Giants still need to sign their 2018 draft class and get that part of their development cycle started. As you may know, MLB instituted a rigid bonus pool system back in 2012 to limit how much prospects could make.
The Giants, by virtue of being really bad last year and so bad that they didn’t have any free agents other teams would want, have only the 4th-highest bonus pool in this year’s draft at $11,747,500. This pool is the total amount they can spend on their picks in the first 10 rounds and each slot has an assigned value (which you’ll see in the table below). They can go under slot value to save money to go over in other slots.
They can also exceed their bonus pool, but with a penalty of a 75% on the overage if that overage is between 0-5% of the pool value. So, the Giants could go over by $587,375 and pay MLB $440,531.25 for the right to do so.
If the Giants don’t sign one of their draftees from the first 10 rounds, that player’s slot value is subtracted from the pool and any overages on the remaining pool are subjected to the tax penalties (they get steeper after that 5% overage). So, if the Giants don’t sign Joey Bart for some reason, their bonus budget for the first 10 rounds would be $4,252,900. Most likely, that won’t happen.
In the meantime, let this be a plug for the Twitter account @giantsprospects, which really does a great job of passing along real-time news nuggets about the farm system (such as recent draft signings) as well as “where are they now?” updates on old Giants farmhands.
Also check out OnlyDefense’s FanPost which goes more in depth with the picks and the likelihood that they’ll sign.
Here’s the tracker:
Draft 2018 Signing Tracker
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School | Status | Slot Value | Actual Bonus | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School | Status | Slot Value | Actual Bonus | Difference |
| 1 | 2 | Joey Bart | C | Georgia Tech | Signed | $7,494,600 | $7,025,000 | -$469,600 |
| 2 | 45 | Sean Hjelle | RHP | Kentucky | Signed | $1,587,600 | $1,500,000 | -$87,600 |
| 3 | 41 | Jake Wong | RHP | Grand Canyon University | Signed | $738,700 | $850,000 | $111,300 |
| 4 | 67 | Blake Rivera | RHP | Wallace State CC | Signed | $528,200 | $800,000 | $271,800 |
| 5 | 103 | Keaton Winn | RHP | Iowa Western CC | Signed / No Details | $394,600 | ||
| 6 | 133 | Patrick Hilson | OF | Nettleton Senior HS | Signed | $295,200 | $520,000 | $224,800 |
| 7 | 163 | Edison Mora | SS | Puerto Rico Baseball Academy | Signed / No Details | $229,900 | ||
| 8 | 193 | Solomon Bates | RHP | USC | Signed / No Details | $181,700 | ||
| 9 | 223 | Ben Madison | RHP | Central Baptist College | Signed | $154,200 | $140,000 | -$14,200 |
| 10 | 253 | Alex DuBord | RHP | Faulkner University | Signed / No Details | $142,800 | ||
| Total | Spent | Remaining | ||||||
| $11,747,500 | $10,835,000 | $912,500 |