please sign the shortstop....give him the money.

When will Joe Jordan be fired? I'm sick to death of his excuses and double-talk. Just get someone in here who can get the job done. The Orioles have no excuses not to spend what it takes to get their picks signed. We don't have time to wait for high school players to develop 6 years from now.

Jordan is a bumbling fool and this story plays out every year. The fact that we are (once again) down to the wire with our top pick is inexcusable.

I agree with Groundskeeper. It is a well-known fact that most agents do not want their clients to sign with Angelos. They do not like the personal "conduct" clause Angelos has in their contracts that monitors their off-field conduct and can be fired if they do not behave to the clubs expectations.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100812&content_id=13387738&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

this doesnt seem that uncommon at all.

the kids just want the summer off.

the 6-7 guys want to get drafted lower next year.

calm down people

i would love to compile all the 'facts' floating around about angelos.

so well known everyone knows about it!

thats why no one signs with the O's ever, right?

If we ALL had "personal conduct clauses", The world, and this forum, would be a better place.

No one signs with the O's because we have built a losing tradition with a notoriously bad owner. Think Cleveland Browns/Randy Lerner.

An admission of overpaying high school kids?

Hey Joe, when you overpay their has got to be an expectation the development time table is expected to be SHORTER.

Translation: if you are betting on job security while these kids work their way up from the GCL you are in for a rude awakening.

Lol. Groundskeeper, I don't really know what to say to you except that you need to learn a lot more about how baseball works before you sound off like an idiot. High first round picks who sign overslot deals never sign until the deadline. You can find an article on that topic from every single major news outlet that covers the MLB draft. Notice how the Pirates and Nats picks haven't signed either? The fact that it goes down to the deadline is a good thing...it's a sign we've actually taken good players. Notice how Hobgood didn't go down to the deadline? Because he took a slot (I think it was underslot actually) deal in exchange for being picked higher than he was projected to go.

Jordan's actually been a very good drafter. The O's system has skyrocketed in value according to every single publication since the time he took over. He's built a very respectable minor league system, and after they sign Machado this year they'll have a very nice haul.

As far as 'we don't have time to wait six years,' I don't even know how to address that. First of all, if any team has time to wait, it's the Orioles. Secondly, high school guys typically offer more upside. That's the trade off. You sacrifice upside for a known product when you go with the college guy. Ideally you obviously want a balance, and the Orioles have done that this year. Finally, every team brings in high school players. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester all came from high school...and that's just off the top of my head of guys in our division.

Jordan had a very good draft. He got one of the elite talents, a potential future superstar in Machado. He got an advanced college arm in Klein. He signed two of the tougher sign, higher upside guys in Narron and Schrader. Now he's taking the right approach with the holdouts. You can't just give into their demands and hand them whatever they want. That would give you absolutely no leverage or bargaining power with future draft picks. If they don't want to take reasonable deals, he'll just invest that money in other places.

Please learn a little more about the MLB draft process before trying to confuse actual fans with uninformed drivel.

Bottom line, the #4 pick, w/college experience signed for $2.75M. Machado has no business asking for more than $4M. And a major league contract means that the O's would have to cut a player after signing him. So if Machado won't take a minor league deal for $4M, I have no problem with the O's taking the #1 and #4 picks next year.

Agreed, theses kids have done nothing to be so demanding. There's alot of bust out there.(RICH BUST)

if anyone needs to be fired it is scott boras. the players sure are not going to do that. baseball would be much better without scott boars. i believe a lot of these first rounders would be under contract by now if scott boars was not agent for the majority of them. all of the draft picks that are holding out are only hurting themelves. look at the time missed whee they could have been gettting the training to become major leagures. they just can't or don't see the forest for the trees.

Josh we aren't getting the #1 next year.. BEN very very good a literate poster how refreshing.. I hope Brywater reconsiders because we can never have too many lefties.. I feel very confident about Machado, first we have dealt with Boras several times these last years and the history shows when his top picks sign..Also there is small choice to go when you are harper or machado with rendon there can only be one #1 next year.. ADD a top pitcher or two and they could actually go down not to mention getting hurt or a bad year.. I will welcome Machado whatever he sicns for..

the heck with them if I was a high school kid drafted by a major league team regardless of who I would sign. What a dream come true and no high school kid is worth anything until he has proven himself give me a break......you don't even know how he will turn out as a major leaguer, so I say screw them...they don't want to sign and play games move on Orioles.

The last guy who pointed a gun to our heads and made us sign him at his inflated price was Adam Loewen. Look where he is now. Screw 'em. Move on.