Clock Ticking On Heathcott & Murphy
Via George King -
Slade Heathcott and John Murphy have until Monday at midnight to decide what their baseball future will look like and there are signs it will be in pinstripes since progress is being made and the talk now concerns details.
Heathcott, the Yankees’ No. 1 pick and 29th player taken overall in the June draft out of Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas, has to decide between the Yankees and playing outfield for national champion LSU.
Murphy, a catcher taken in the second round (76th) out of the Pendleton School in Bradenton, Fla., has an offer to play for Miami.
MLB has preached to teams to stick to their slotting program or face possible fines. A year ago the 29th pick, Lonnie Chisenhall, a junior college shortstop taken by Cleveland, received in the area of $1.2 million. MLB has suggested teams cut 10 percent off of last year’s price for high-round picks.
However, the dynamics some times don’t apply to high school players.
According to sources progress is being made with details being discussed.
“We are working on it,” GM Brian Cashman said of getting the first two picks inked before the deadline. If the deals don’t get done the players aren’t eligible to sign with the Yankees and not eligible for the draft again until they complete three years at LSU and Miami, respectively. “We will wait and see.”
Having drafted high school pitcher Gerrit Cole in the first round (28th player picked) and Ole Miss pitcher Joseph Bittle in the second round (75th) last year and didn’t sign either has made Cashman cautious.
“We learned some hard lessons in the past,” Cashman said. “Until you cross the finish line, get them signed and passing a physical, you never know.”
Cole opted for UCLA and Bittle failed a physical.
Odds are that they will both sign with the Yanks, in time. LSU and Miami are wonderful schools for baseball. But, we’re talking about a ton of money here. The true issue is probably that the Yankees are over slot and MLB wants to make them wait until the last minute to announce the deals – so that it doesn’t impact what some other drafts picks are holding out for…
I assume it’ll get done with Heathcott by Monday. Since he was a compensation pick for not signing Cole (who had a very, very good freshman year at UCLA, by the way), the Yanks won’t get compensation again next year for not signing Heathcott. That alone should be the motivating factor in getting a deal done.