Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers are making progress on signing their selections from last week’s draft. They’ve officially inked 21 players with two more coming soon, but they haven’t yet signed their 1st-round pick.
The draft signing deadline is July 7 at 2 p.m., which is about six weeks earlier than in seasons’ past. Expect another flurry of signings, as that’s just 16 days away.
The picks within the first 10 rounds get a slot amount allotted to them, and they must be signed in order for their slot amount to go towards the overall bonus pool. Additionally, any picks from rounds 11-40 or undrafted free agents signed for more than $125,000 (up from $100,000 from the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement) will count against the bonus pool.
| Overage (percentage) | Penalty (taxed amount) |
|---|---|
| 0-4.99 | 75 percent tax on overage |
| 5-9.99 | 75 percent tax on overage Loss of 2018 1st-round pick |
| 10-14.99 | 100 percent tax on overage Loss of 2018 1st- & 2nd-round picks |
| 15-plus | 100 percent tax Loss of 1st-round picks in 2018 & 2019 |
The Dodgers can go up to $289,709 (5 percent, less $1) over their allotted slot amount of $5,794,200 without losing a draft pick. No team has ever exceeded this bonus pool since this system was implemented in 2012, and it isn’t going to happen now.
Also, this was implemented last year by the Dodgers.
Noticing more clubs following lead of @RaysBaseball, @Dodgers and using $2,500 accounting deduction on @MLBDraft bonuses.
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 20, 2017
I couldn’t tell you exactly what the accounting deduction is, but it basically gives the Dodgers an extra $25,000 to sign draft picks. The extra $2,500 is incorporated in the “slot” column below to make sure the math evens out.
| Round | Player | Slot | Bonus | Savings |
| 1 | Jeren Kendall | $2,705,200 | unsigned | ? |
| 2 | Morgan Cooper | $1,020,700 | signed | ? |
| 3 | Connor Wong | $539,600 | unsigned | ? |
| 4 | James Marinan | $403,500 | $825,000 | ($421,500) |
| 5 | Riley Ottesen | $301,800 | signed | ? |
| 6 | Wills Montgomerie | $234,400 | $197,500 | $36,900 |
| 7 | Zachery Pop | $184,700 | signed | ? |
| 8 | Rylan Bannon | $153,900 | signed | ? |
| 9 | Connor Strain | $141,300 | $1,500 | $139,800 |
| 10 | Zach Reks | $134,100 | $1,500 | $132,600 |
As of today, the Dodgers are $112,200 over their allotted amount. This is more of an exercise to follow the process rather than fret about the Dodgers potentially losing a 1st-round pick. The Dodgers are going to have to pay more than slot to get Kendall signed, so the savings they have already received from their 6th-, 9th- and 10th-rounders will help go to that.
Since they didn’t take a lot of signability guys in the post-10th round, most of the savings will go toward getting Kendall signed. Some potential post-10th guys who could require more than the $125,000 to sign include:
- 11th round: Jacob Amaya
- 20th round: Donovan Casey
- 21st round: Joshua Rivera
- 27th round: Jeremy Arocho
- 39th round: Logan White, Jr. (don’t hold your breath)
Here is a list of the post-10th-rounders the Dodgers have inked since the draft concluded:
- 13th round: Marshall Kasowski
- 15th round: Marcus Chiu
- 19th round: Zach Willeman
- 22nd round: Justin Hoyt
- 23rd round: Connor Heady
- 24th round: Preston Grand Pre
- 26th round: Devin Hemmerich
- 28th round: Justin Lewis
- 30th round: Chris Roller
- 32nd round: Tyler Adkison
- 33rd round: Brett De Geus
- 34th round: Dan Jagiello
- 35th round: Colby Nealy
- 36th round: Riley Richert
- 37th round: Corey Merrill
Write-ups of all these guys can be found here:
The Dodgers have officially signed 21 of their 40 selections, with Cooper set to sign any day and Marinan’s deal not yet officially announced. That’ll be 23 of 40. For comparison’s sake, the Dodgers signed 33 of 42 players last year.
Keep it locked here for more signings as they become available.
