With less than a day to go before the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft signing deadline (July 7; 2pm PST), Oregon State RHP Jake Thompson remains unsigned by the Boston Red Sox. The fourth rounder is the highest-drafted Boston selection yet to be signed. Although many deals are completed over the final days of the signing period, Boston hasn’t signed any drafted players since June 25th. In 2016, it should be noted, the Red Sox did sign their 1st and 4th round picks on the final day of the signing period.
Based on the publicly reported signing bonuses of their other draftees and the amount of money the team was allocated, however, the Red Sox might simply be running out of money to make Thompson a compelling offer. Based on his draft position, Thompson should command a bonus of around $400k but—assuming the reporting is accurate—the Red Sox may have as little as $137,600 remaining. While this is not a hard cap on spending, the Red Sox would have to pay a penalty to exceed it, or even surrender a draft pick in next year’s draft depending on by how much they did so.
Selfishly, I’d love to get to watch Thompson in orange and black one more year. He was a revelation this season, and it’d make for a helluva story to see the whole gang back together and making one more run at bringing the national title back to Corvallis. That said, college baseball expert Kendall Rogers is very confident Thompson will sign before the deadline.
Thompson will sign with the Red Sox. https://t.co/NjZGpNnG1z
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersD1) July 6, 2017
But, with the potential (shocking) return of Drew Rasmussen to Corvallis, after he failed to reach an agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday, all eyes will now be fixed on Boston for the next twenty-four hours...and counting!
#GoBeavs