or lack thereof, here's a video of Jaff Decker hitting a nice two-strike homer off a lefty in the AFL. Best part is getting a side-by-side comparisson of both Decker & Gyorko when he crosses home plate.
Are these guys our un-sexy 3-4 hitters in a couple of years? Don't bet on it working out so perfecty, but it very well could work out that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGv3YDgqzAgMy personal stance on the the draft and luring those high quality athletes - expect the guys that might fall out of the top 10 rounds due to signability issues will instead see themselves picked in the 9th or 10th round, if not sooner. The teams in the upper half of spending will obviously be in a much better position to take and sign those guys then the big market teams that are constantly picking in the last 5 or 10 spots with their shrunken spending allowances. With the new system in place it seems rather difficult for the Sox & Yanks to spend 1.3-1.4m on a 4th rounder like they've each done recently in signing Mason Williams & Garin Cecchini.
The money allocated to the top 10 rounds in 2012 is almost exactly what clubs spent on those picks last year. I'm not so sure it's going to be a matter of athletes not signing to where and by whom those players are being selected. In that regad I could see a shift to the high picking "losers" with their much more sizeable bonus allowances. Doesn't that scenario seem to dish out the talent where it's most deserved, ignoring McBain's valid idiot tax?
One or two of the teams in our divison have bigger bonus allowance's then they spent last year, in a heavy draft with no spending limits. The Padres, according to Center were prepared to spend 12m last year, with Brett Austin spurning their 1.6m effort, which was close to 1m over slot.
It seems that some college juniors normally selected in the 6-10 rounds will find themselves out of the top-10, and because of it see their price tags drop. I'm guessing thats where a lot of low picking teams get some value back.