Talking Chop

From Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein, we get this note that could explain why a lot of first round picks have yet to sign this year, including the Braves first round pick, Mike Minor:

What they might be waiting for is simply a deal that matches last year's slot, as opposed to the ten percent reductions, which in the cases of Minor and Leake are differences approaching $250,000, not exactly a trivial sum of money. Still it's enough to create either a situation [where] there is a stalemate between the team and the player, or in many cases, there may already be a deal in place, but Major League Baseball will not recognize it until late in the signing period, for fear of a domino effect of over-slot bonuses, which of course will happen anyway.

Some have called this the "Jason Heyward effect," referring to the Braves' first-round pick in 2007, also a year in which the slots were reduced by ten percent. The Braves and Heyward agreed early to a deal for the previous year's slot, but could not announce the signing until the deadline approached. "It's monumentally stupid," said one front-office official. "Everybody talks to each other, everybody knows who is going to sign for what, all this does is hinder a kid's development."

I guess every team wants to "pretend" to play by the rules, until they can claim an 11th hour necessity to spend more money. At least that's the illusion that MLB wants to create. With as close as Minor is supposed to be to the majors, missing half a season is a big deal, so yeah -- this is monumentally stupid.

Speaking of Jason Heyward, Goldstein also passes along this note in another column about how hot Heyward is in double-A:

In his first 10 Double-A games, the 19-year-old outfielder is batting .417/.476/.639. He's suddenly developing at a tremendous pace, and one has to wonder if he's suddenly in line for a September look, as one of the reasons he stayed with the big league team so long this spring is that manager Bobby Cox just liked watching him play so much.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense for the Braves to see if Heyward can (a) hit major league pitching and (b) help them in any potential playoff run. If he keeps hitting .400, then, yeah, he'll be up.

Meanwhile, our 2nd pick in this year's draft (3rd round), David Hale, signed for exact 2009 slot money -- $405,000.

The Braves have now signed 18 of their first 22 picks. Along with Minor, 6th round pick Ryan Wooley, 15th round pick Bennett Pickar, and 22nd round pick Ryan Weber remain unsigned.