Cosart gets $550K

2008 Draft

According to Baseball America, Cosart’s bonus was $550K, or essentially the recommended slot for the 73rd overall pick. I was going to just make a note of this in the bottom of today’s musings post, but this warrants its own mention. I can’t even begin to express how important this is. Add this to the Shreve, Pettibone and May signings, and the Phillies have made a clear statement.

47 thoughts on “Cosart gets $550K”

  1. Can’t believe they went that high for this kid. I think he is a big time talent.But this is really out of character for this team. The scout in texas as someone said must have really went to bat to sign this kid. I remember reading about how the san diego padres scout, went to the owner and got them to pay Jake Peavy a million dollars as a thirteen round choice.Maybe we will get lucky and have this kid be a big time player.

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  2. as i said on BSG. its extremely important for him to succeed. they need to understand that its not a waste and that they can get really good talent if they’re willing to spend.

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  6. Way to step forward. Hopefully this draft represents a turning point. A team can do a lot of damage in a draft without a top 10 pick. I think, in part, the Phillies bad draft habits developed when we stank and had such good draft position that a big, big chunk of a healthy draft budget was exhausted after first round picks of guys like Burrell, Floyd, Myers.

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  7. “its extremely important for him to succeed. ”

    If they are smart enough to realize that dollars can be better spent breaking slot than in overpaying replacement level ML talent, hopefully they will be smart enough to not evaluate this tactical switch on the performance of one player.

    From phuture’s last post, you have to evaluate this thing as a process, and not based on a sample size of one player. Getting 2nd round talent in the 36th (or whatever) round is a good idea, no matter what Cosart does.

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  8. padraid: its the phillies FO. have we ever gotten the impression that they are smart?

    i have a strong feeling that middleton is starting to put his foot down.

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  9. It’s refreshing to see this organization actually make a concerted effort to go out and get the top talent regardless of slot to give our minor league depth a shot in the arm. With guys like Carrasco, Marson, Taylor, Donald, and Happ making the big league squad take notice it was absolutely vital to make these signings. Going over slot to do it just really proves that there’s not only a concern, but a genuine commitment to rectifying the errors of regimes past.

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  10. “If they are smart enough”

    That’s a big “if” – we are talking about the Phillies here. If he fails, then they’ll probably say, “see, we busted slot big time on this guy and it backfired.” And then they will go back to their old drafting philosophy.

    Kudos to the Phillies for modernizing their way of thinking – I agree with PP – the Phils approach to this draft is a huge statement, and hopefully it continues.

    – Jeff

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  12. I’m also glad to see them spending more in the draft this year than usual but appears that they just reallocated the money they didn’t spend on foreign FA’s this year into signing 1 or 2 more players than usual in the draft instead.

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  13. Just echoing what everyone else is saying, but this is huge. As long as the Phils stick with this draft philosophy going forward — as padraic and Jeff O touched on — then they should eventually reap the benefits. It’s just like James said: it’s more about process than results. For my money, Paul DePodesta is one of the smartest guys in baseball right now, and he devoted a blog post (“Draft Review – About Process”) to this topic. It’s a great read.

    For all the flak this front office catches, they really stepped up on this one. Keep up the good work, guys.

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  14. 3up – I was about to say the same thing essentially. I think the type of player taken was different, as PP has noted, and the showed commitment to signing those guys but I would be more excited about it if they were doing this AND making some quality foreign player signings at the same time.

    I should take a moment to say, considering the tone of the above, it’s good to see what they did with the draft. It gives me hope they are catching up with the rest of the league in building a quality team bottom up.

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  15. “the Phillies have made a clear statement.”

    An 11th hour signing requiring a large bonus (well over slot) for the 1156th pick is a good omen. The fact that it was for a pitcher, however, makes it even better IMO.

    I agree this was a strong draft. My one criticism is that they didn’t take a pitcher first but the pitchers they did sign look very encouraging and signing Cosart late is a major bonus.

    People who fall back constantly on the “Phillies are cheap” mantra can’t say a thing about this one. I don’t think Cosart’s future success or failure is nearly as important as the change in the Phillies draft philosophy and approach. If they stick to it, sooner or later it will pay off.

    Overall, great job!

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  16. Like everyone said, this is great news. I’m trying not to be cynical and look for reasons why they might do this for one year.

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  17. are there a category of unsigned draft picks that still can be signed , for instance college seniors or junior college kids?

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  18. Maybe the F.O has finally realized hey maybe if we put our money into the draft we can be good for lots and lots of years instead of just 3-4 then a down time. Now only if they would realize they need to do it in other countries.

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  19. College seniors (Daniel Edwards) can still be signed. Everyone else is either off to a 4 year college (eligible in 3 years), Junior College (eligible next year) or Independent Ball (eligible next year)

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  20. sdcaphil, i believe college seniors can be signed anytime, the aug 15 deadline does not apply to them. not sure about juco.

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  21. wonder if they’ll consider Weber again next year as he’s going to CC and not Univ of Florida??

    Also this Cosart signing let’s people know that we’ll bust slot when appropriate and its much cheaper to take fliers on him than the AE’s of the world. Heck we could sign 40+ Jared Cosart’s for one AE.

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  22. “its the phillies FO. have we ever gotten the impression that they are smart?”

    Hey, well that’s the whole point of being excited about Cosart! Maybe they are smart(er), and if they are, maybe they won’t let one guy determine future strategy.

    It’s hope sure, but it also seems like justifiable hope.

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  23. thanks for the answer does anyone know if Daniel Edwards is the only unsigned college senior that would be left, I know most unsigned college seniors especially at this point are probably of limited promise

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  25. Obviously the Phillies have taken a “different ” approach to the draft this year, what we need to know is who is behind this new idea.Somebody has gotten Montgomery’s ear and convinced him that this is the way to go. It has to be either Arbuckle, Amaro or Lamarr(only because he is new to the FO), my bet is Amaro. I say that because Montgomery seems always impressed by his Stanford degree and him as a person.
    I know many of you on this forum are not big supporters of Amaro because of his closeness to the old regime, but you need to remember some people can learn from the mistakes of others. And just because Amaro was a part of that FO he was not calling the shots, he may not have agreed with all the moves that were made. So what I’m trying to say is that if Amaro did replace Gillick maybe it won’t be as bad as many of you think it will be. Any thoughts?

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  26. Wonderful signing, wonderful draft.

    We may never know, but I am very curious, were Broxton, Marrs, and Law, open to signing in the same price range?

    If they were not then this draft received three cheers.
    If they were, then it would show that the Phillies Ownership
    were just dipping their toes in the water, and acting
    like mini-me Red Sox. With a good PR outcome.

    Again, we may never know, but it is a good good sign.

    Last year they busted slot with a CC Pitcher, but not like this. I miss the website where we could go back and look
    at previous years drafts, does anyone know how to get in touch with that owner of that defunct website?

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  27. PhuturePhillies I saw a site that listed the college of the drafted phillies who didn’t sign. Some at this time had no college do these kids go to the independent league like you suggest. If so why not college ball. Or cc.

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  28. If they go to a 4 year college, they are locked in for 3 years unless they transfer to a JuCo, in terms of draft eligibility, which is why some kids choose Indy Ball or Junior College instead of going to a big program.

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  30. All ownership had to do was looking at the $$$ they gave to Eaton & Garcia and see how financially it makes so much more sense to bust slot in the draft. Will any of these draft picks develop into members of the Phils starting 5 one day? Who knows, but by adding more quality arms to the farm system only betters those % of happening.

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  31. We spent 5,851,000 in just rounds 1-10. This came in at 11th overall which is pretty hi for a team that didnt have a top 10 pick and was picking at #24 IMO. Im not sure what they spent overall compared to the rest of the teams but you just have to be happy with them going out and trying to sign EVERYONE.

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  32. SirAlden, Broxton was quoted in saying he was expecting to sign with the Phillies now I have no idea if the Phills had a budget or a GET 1 MORE GUY SIGNED thinking but no matter what they got the right guy. Maybe they wanted Broxton and whoever else was interested but just didnt see them worth their asking price. I cant see them giving Broxton 500K unless they just had it too spend and no 1 else would take it.

    I dont think grabbing a lot of HI Ceiling HS kids is a PR move thats a pretty bad comment. A PR move is to draft just 1 TOP HS guy to a HUGE deal but let everyone else go. They went over slot on a bunch of guys and really made an effort to get Coy, Weber, and Broxton and stole Cosart from college.

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  33. Good points Bergeraj,

    I was not being critical, I was wondering if Cosart’s signing
    left Broxton, Marrs, and Law at the altar, wanting to sign
    in the same range or lower.

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  34. those guys have college scholarships ready to go, so its not like they are going to be living in moms basement until next year. if they had REALLY wanted to sign they would have signed for less and a deal would have gotten done, i think.

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  35. I think this draft represents a realization by the FO on where to actually spend money instead of giving it to 5th starters. All those guys were signed for less than a whole season of Eaton…you gotta think they’ll have more positive impact than Eaton will over the next 5 years.

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  37. The question on Broxton vs Cosart etc, comes down to which player is most worh themoney it would take to sign him? I trust the Phils scouts that Cosart was worth the investment and Broxton, etc. may not have been worth what they were asking for.

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  38. Kyle Drabek was in Reading at FirstEnergy Stadium to work out prior to Tuesday’s game. Drabek left Clearwater to escape Hurricane Fay and is reportedly on his way to pitch for Williamsport, which is on its New York-Penn League All-Star break.

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  39. PhuturePhillies. Can you tell me about stroup. He signed for 150,000. I thought he was a high ceiling prospect.He was the last player drafted.I though that he was a hard sign who was committed to college. If so why so little does he sign for it to me doesn’t make sense.

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  40. rocky,

    The word on Stroup was that he overestimated his ability and asked for too much money to take him out of a commitment that wasn’t all that strong. Another rumor is that he is not a team player and his teammates did not like him. Rumors like that can sometimes be enough for a team to move on to someone else. I don’t know the guy and don’t know if any of that is true, but that is what I heard.

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  42. Pat, do you have a link/source you can reference on the Weber offer? That’s pretty interesting.

    In other news, Jim Callis provided this insightful analysis today:

    Danny(Philly): How good a signing was Jared Cosart for the Phillies?

    Jim Callis: (2:25 PM ET ) Interesting one. He broke Jay Buhner’s record for single-season batting average at his high school this spring, but most teams like him as a pitcher. He’s raw, but he’s athletic and has hit 96 mph. He signed for $550,000.

    Whoever you are, Danny, thanks for trying.

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  44. I actually messaged him on facebook on signing day and he just got back to me yesterday, saying no and that they offered 230.

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  45. Pat, thanks. That’s a good source! I wish him luck and hope we get another shot at him down the road.

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