Future Redbirds

As I write this, the Cardinals have 24 hours to get their remaining draft picks signed. It’s pretty much a given that they probably won’t sign some of the high schoolers they picked at the bottom of the draft, though they did sign 49th rounder Ronald Russell last week, so I suppose surprises can happen. Kyle Russell and Mike Stutes are the biggest names that remained unsigned, while others like RHP Dan Thomas, 2B Nick Peoples and 1B C.J. Zeigler are also players of note who remain unsigned. I’m pretty surprised that Peoples hasn’t been signed yet, he was a college senior. He also was an honor student, majoring in sociology. Maybe he’d rather be in um…whatever field soc majors get into…like life insurance sales, the FBI or whatever.

It was reported last last night that Porcello was signed for a $7 mil major league contract, and while that’s a huge gamble for any team to be making on an 18 year old pitcher, I like it. There’s a reason the Tigers have gone from losing 119 games to where they are now, and part of that success is because they are not afraid to spend money on their draft picks. Verlander, Maybin, Miller, now Porcello have all signed way above slot. Heck, they even spent over $3 Mil on Kyle Sleeth in 2003, and he hasn’t pitched in more then 60 games because of injuries.

With the MLB now sticking their noses into the whole game with their “recommendations”, I like the attitude of the Tigers, who are willing to say “screw you” to the man and do what they feel is necessary to compete. They didn’t just do it with Porcello this season, they signed 2 more picks well above slot as with Casey Crosby and Cale Iorg. Iorg is a 6th rounder, and they ponied up $1.5 mil, about 10 x’s above MLB’s endorsement for the slot, and $105,000 more then what the Cardinals paid for Kozma. Iorg was seen as a consensus 1st rounder in the ‘08 draft and they paid first round money to get him started early. More power to them.

Now it’s not that the Cardinals haven’t stepped out of bounds themselves. They signed 8th rounder Tyler Henley for late 4th, early 5th round money. ($150,000*). Also, Brett Zawacki was picked in the 12th round, and he signed for $215,000*, which is 4th round money. They saved on Mortensen, signing him for $200 K below slot for sandwich pick.

In the grand scheme of things, the team is paying Aaron Miles and Gary Bennett the same type of money it would take to sign Russell. While I understand the Cardinals want to stay as complicit as possible with the MLB and their whole way of trying to control things, this is nutty. I’m not endorsing recklessness, but the upside of Russell is too great to let him go back to Texas. If this time tomorrow Russell returns to school over money they’ll end up giving to a Ricardo Rincon type or some utility player, then that is absurdity. Sure, Russell could be another Russell Branyan. Some think he could be Adam Dunn, too. I think he’s somewhere in between in all likelihood and worth the gamble.

For a team that wants to get younger, sometimes it takes some investing in order to make that happen. Is continuing to build on a winning tradition the MO, or is cowing down to Bud Selig & Co. more important?

* $ info per Baseball America.

UPDATE 10:44 PM, 8/14/07 Goold has an update in the comments at his blog.

The Cardinals and Russell’s advisers — the Hendricks brothers — have spoken about the framework of a deal (read: worth of the a signing bonus) and remain apart on their views. Will go to tomorrow’s wire, as the Cardinals front office expected. There have been some comparisons between Russell and Adam Dunn as a three-true-outcome hitter with a better feel for the outfield. There’s also been comparisons between Russell and Drew Stubbs. The Cardinals are trying to tailor an offer to what they believe he’ll be — and that will tell us a lot about their opinion of his potential. Keep it in mind.

Er, I assume the scouts/”baseball men” mean Stubbs with a A LOT more power, right?