Wow. Look at all that money well-spent.

A 26th round pick got 575? Wow, that seems way over slot. I betcha that when Bundy's people, not to mention Espo's and Delmonico's, saw that, their collective mouths watered.

The Orioles' brass I'm sure knows that they are at a public relations crossroads. If they don't. well, someone needs to tell them. They need to sign these three guys, and then make some kind of splash on the FA market in the off-season to to have any chance to resuscitate the comatose fan base.

Wow! Look at those picks. You're talking about a Murderer's Row right there. How is it that the Orioles aren't in the playoffs every year with that talent? Do the O's pick names out of a hat or do they actually scout and research the players?

Jeff,

Even if we sign Bundy, he will probably fall into that black hole the Orioles call "Player Development", where the nitwits in our minor league system will screw with his mechanics and conditioning until his arm drops off. If I was this kid I would go to college and hope to get drafted by an organization that has clue about how to handle young pitching prospects. The Orioles have just an awful track record for ruining young pitchers for over a dozen years, and it's more than just coincidence.

Memo to Bundy's Dad: Keep your kid away from this organization. The money will still be there next year and so will his arm.

Jeff; Do you think the O's will sign all three players Bundy,Wsposito,andDelmonico?
Please give your responce.
Thanks Curt

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Jeff Z's reply: It certainly wouldn't surprise me if they signed all three. But my prediction all along is they get Bundy and Esposito done, and Delmonico goes to the U of Georgia. I have zero confidence in that prediction because anything could happen with these kids and delmonico would clearly sign at the right price. But he wants an awful lot of money and he seems pretty entrenched at Georgia.

McPhail took over June 20, 2007...Weiters was his first pick. Check out the W-L record by year for the O's below.

It's hard to fathom that the O's have been in decline from 70 wins since '06.

If you can't attract quality free agents undedr age 30, you invest minimal resources to international scouting, then Orioles must rely on the MLB draft. O's have picked in the top 5 since McPhail has been in office and the pipeline of talent that has been laid since '07 has produced very very little.

2010 66-96
2009 64-98
2008 68-93
2007 69-93
2006 70-92
2005 74-88

The O's must sign Bundy.

However this turns out, here are the facts....

Since AM's arrival.....

2008 - One of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY
2009 - One of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY
2010 - One of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY
2011 - One of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY

There's a REASON AM has LOST more games than any MLB Exec in over 21 years....

ONE DECADE + ONE DECADE + ONE YEAR = 21

2012 - WIll be one of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY
2013 - Will be one of the WORST teams in O's HISTORY

Remember...... 2009 was suppose to be the year the O's got to 500. That was TWO years ago..... Two years later, the team is the WORST in the American League.... As in last place (not in the division)......

.... IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE

Nice get for the O's to lock up Davies. They've done well the last few years to go over slot for high-upside arms.

Jeff, have you heard anything on Jason Coasts (12th rounder I believe). He was a guy a lot of scouts had much higher on their boards, and he supposedly was very strong in the Cape league as well, boosting his stock. I haven't heard anything about his status with the O's.

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Jeff Z's reply: He's going back to TCU, Ben.

please, please do not give Joe Jordan another contract. I care more about that than I do Bundy's. Fire JJ and his whole staff or the O's are still doomed. No more Keith Reed, Luis Matos, John Stephens, Hobgood, Josh Bell, Juan Bell, Rowell. The O's need some major leaguers to come from the system and Nick, Mussina and Jerry Hairston is it. Actually, I left out BOS' Darnell McDonald who the O's drafted high Look how many former Marlins or Giants or ChiSOX are around the league!!!!! Joke isn't funny anymore. We stink and can't identify or develop any talent at all. Repeat-we can't identify or develop any talent at all.

A majorleague deal would be the worst, in my opinion, for a high school pick. I personally think that might have been the single thing that really accelerated the clock for Loewen, and ruined him eventually. Maybe he would have never have developed, even with a conservative promotion schedule, but the contract didn't help him. Even though he displayed bad command, he was promoted higher and higher, taking the training wheels off before he knew how to pitch, forced to learn under the big lights, higher expectations, and pressure.

We need to put Cal Ripken Jr. in charge of all player development and the scouting organization. We need a huge change and Cal will give us HOPE.

I am laying odds that the Orioles go 0 for 3 with regards to these signings.
Who wanted these guys besides management anyway, certainly not the comatose Oriole Fans? Therefore, MacPhail will have to come up with a new catchphrase after this continued insolence and incompetence by Oriole Management. Instead of Growing the Arms and Buying the Bats, It will morph into Raising the Arms and smelling the Armpits, MacPhail you and your plan Stink!

Remember people...We don't draft players that will make us better. We draft signable players. Big difference

I think the Bundy deal gets done and the O's at the midnight hour will do whatever it takes to get it done. I would not be surprised if the deal breaks the present O's record because in the current mess the O's find themselves in I don;t think the O's can afford not to get it done.

Jason Esposito might be a little more difficult deal and it seems to me that this one could go either way with the O's playing a little more hardball on this one than they will with Bundy.

Ruin the Arms, Buy the Bums.

The new Oriole Way according to MacPhails philosophy is player disintegration....or player deterioration....or devolopmental statnation.....or organizational atrophy....

Not to say that none of these young players don't have any skills. It just amazes me how much undeveloped potential there is.

Not to parallel AM's career to another current regime, but he came here on a ticket with the promise of "hope" but lacked any solutions. Now the entire franchise is worse off then the Flanagan era. I may as well go to Bay Sox games, because that is where the player development comes to a holt.

If Bundy is lucky a deal with the Orioles will not get done and he'll get an opportunity to play for another team. Young prospects, or most players for that matter, come here and fall under the Angelos curse and never have a successful career.

Here are the O's 1st Rd picks over the last 20 years. Are we at the point where they should just not draft in the 1st round at all and save themselves the embarrasment:

2011 Dylan Bundy
2010 Manny Machado
2009 Matthew Hobgood
2008 Brian Matusz
2007 Matt Wieters
2006 Billy Rowell
2005 Brandon Snyder
2004 Wade Townsend
2003 Nick Markakis
2002 Adam Loewen
2001 Chris Smith
2001 Mike Fontenot
2000 Beau Hale RHP
1999 Mike Paradis
1999 Richard Stahl
1999 Larry Bigbie
1999 Keith Reed
1998 Rick Elder
1997 Darnell McDonald
1997 Jayson Werth
1995 Alvie Shepherd
1993 Jay Powell
1992 Jeffrey Hammonds
1991 Mark Smith

Not a good sign for D Bundy :(

Draft me in the 55th round please. I only need $50,000 to sign a contract. PLEASE?

Ruin the Arms, Buy the Bums.

The new Oriole Way according to MacPhails philosophy is player disintegration....or player deterioration....or devolopmental statnation.....or organizational atrophy....

Not to say that none of these young players don't have any skills. It just amazes me how much undeveloped potential there is.

Not to parallel AM's career to another current regime, but he came here on a ticket with the promise of "hope" but lacked any solutions. Now the entire franchise is worse off then the Flanagan era. I may as well go to Bay Sox games, because that is where the player development comes to a holt.

I can't imagine how difficult it would be to be one of these kids right now.

Your dream is coming true. You've been drafted by a Major League baseball team. Someone wants to pay you to play baseball for a living. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line. But, unfortunately, that team is the Baltimore Orioles. At this point, there can't be a team in baseball that's in a wore position than these Orioles.

The owner is consistently voted the worst in the game, and after getting burned once over a decade ago, he's gun-shy about spending money on top of the line free agents.

The General Manager is a dinosaur. A relic of an age of baseball that has been dead for 20 years. He complains about the Yankees and the Red Sox, that it's not fair to have to compete with such big spenders. Meanwhile, the Rays have won this division twice in the past four years with a fraction of the Orioles payroll. You don't hear them complaining, do you?

But you know why the Orioles can't win? Because Andy wouldn't think of spending big money on a top of the line stud. It's too risky. He wouldn't think of investing in an international market that has provided a substantial percentage of current top players. It's too risky. He's a good old boy. He does things the way they were done in 1989 because, hey, it worked then. Well, for the fans, it's too bad it's 2011.

The player development system, which these kids will enter if they sign on the dotted line, is a horrific train wreck. Pitchers rarely last more than five or six years on the Orioles farm. Recent examples of unparalleled talent that was squandered by this joke of an organization litter other teams AAA rosters. 27- and 28-year-olds who were supposed to be a part of the next winner in Baltimore had their mechanics tweaked by 10 different coaches and instructors and were promoted too early, then demoted, than promoted again, until an injury took away a season or ineffectiveness led to a DFA or a non-tender.

So what do these kids do? Do they go for the big money right now and sign their soul away to a soul-less organization? Or do they take the risk? Bundy and Delmonico could go to college for a year. Esposito could go back to Vanderbuilt for his Senior year. Sure, that's a huge financial risk for each kid. Any one of them could suffer a career-ending injury, and lose out on a multimillion dollar signing bonus. But what's the bigger risk right now? Losing out on a couple million bucks or cashing in and becoming a drone of Peter Angelos's faceless baseball corporation for the next decade?

Just a thought...

Remember people once Bundy decides to go to a 4 year college he is not eligible to be drafted until after his junior year. Of course he can go to a junior college and get drafted anytime

I can't imagine the Orioles could even consider not signing Bundy. Angelos would need extra bodyguards. However, I couldn't even imagine how totally putrid this organization has become under his mismanagement. One of the posters above pointed out Angelos is voted the worst owner in baseball. Actually, it's worse than that. He's consistently voted the worst owner in ALL of professional sports. Quite a feather in you cap, Pete. Keep up the good work. You've passed Irsay in my book of all-time anal openings, which I thought would never happen.

Bodyguards? Hardly, I don't think the typical Orioles Fan get that upset about draft choices not signing. However, I would like to hedge my bet a little and add a lil more positive tone. I have talked it over with my associates and consiliare and will restate that the Orioles are guaranteed to sign 1 of 3 players with an outside chance of all three signing. I put that chance at 5%.
When Orioles Mgmt draft a player, they need to have confidence and assurance that they want to play for the Orioles. There should be no other litmus test except for talent of course. I am not certain they really do that.

wayne, Andy MacPhail has not been the losingest GM in the past 21 years. Over the past four years, yeah. But not over the past 21. What ever MacPhail has done wrong in that time, you cannot pin that on him. I've proven it to you time and again, yet you insist on spreading the same lie.

Please stop. You are embarrassing yourself.

jeff, how are the bonuses determined?

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Jeff Z's reply: There are certain slot recomendations from the commisoner's office,b tu a lot guys off what has happened in the past at that particular draft slot.

get these guys signed but not to a major league contract. make them earn their way to the majors. dylan bundy thinks he is hot stuff everyone gets thier wings clipped somewhere along the line and comes down from the clouds to reality.

I was listening to xm radio, the mlb channel, this morning, and the analyst there was pretty rock solid that the O's will sign Bundy. There was also some discussion about instituting an nfl-like signing amount based on position in the draft: i.e. #1 pick gets 8 mil, #2 gets $6.5, #3 gets $5, etc. I would think the Players Association would go for that, especially if it meant that more money would go to established veterans. Giving a high school kid (and I don't care who that is --- ARod or Griffey, Jr. or whomever) 6-8-10 million to sign is ridiculous, and can bring a franchise like the O's to their knees, for years. Signing Albert Belle, by comparison, is practically risk free.

i'm thinking that he does not sign goes to a junior college or goes to college and when he's drafted he ends up being a Yankee and or Red Sox.. if he's smart that's what he will do!

If the Orioles dont get the deal done, they are losers again.

Thanks Jeff for your fast responce to my request. Sorry I hit the letter W instead of E on Jason Esposito name. I very much hope they sign all three. We need some help !!
Curt S.S.

The Orioles will continue to be a disaster until they stop picking high school players with their top picks. You heard it here first, Machado will be a bust. His hot start built his legend, but his mediocre play of late tells the true tale. He's just the latest, greatest can't miss prospect that will not pan out as advertised. Note to Bundy... if you want a check, sign on the dotted line. If you want a career, go to college and forget about the misfortune of having been drafted by such a lowly franchise. You won't regret it.

Hi Jeff,

I assume the Orioles are going to sign Jason Coats, who apparently is doing well in the Cape Cod League. Anyway you could get some ideas how far the Orioles were in his negotiation. Thanks!

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Jeff Z's reply: Coats isn't signing, he's headed back to TCU.

JEFF I bet you wish you could say this but I won't even read the comments left most are ignorant and not worth the time to read their crying, I wish they would just go root for boston yankees or nationals. I do believe this is a pivotal signing day. If the orioles don't sign BUNDY they might as well forget these fans ever trusting them again. WE NEED TALENT that badly. I don't know about how good esposito or delmonico are but we all know how good every expert says BUNDY is. If he flies through the organisation as some predict we might even see two brothers pitching for the orioles sometime in 2013. I even read recently Andy is supposed to have a high interest in an international player or two.. You could do an article titled all or nothing on the o's minor league teams. The dominican team, gulf coast, frederick, and bowie are all on top of their divisions. While aberdeen, delmarva, and norfolk are all in last place. Here is hoping you will be writing tommorrow about the newest orioles.