Yanks Sign Nick Solak
I don't think the Yanks got a chance to workout Solak before the draft, so I'm not sure they could do their scientific tests. Maybe they got him last summer in a wood bat league. Anyway, they have a serious belief in this guy, and they took him in a spot where they could have takent someone else and saved a ton.
Solak is sort of emblamatic of the hitters they took this year, in that he seems to have an excellent contact tool and be hard to K's, but also willing to take a walk, and he's reportedly a plus base runner if not a 60 yard burner. Plus baserunners are more valuable than guys who are faster but don't know out to run the bases. Even after his bad knee injury in Oakland robbed Reggie Jackson of his speed, he was still a really savvy baserunner. Whereas, young Bernie Williams, a sprint champion, never quite mastered the craft.
So, what the the Yanks are buying for 950K is plus hit, plus contact, patience, plus baserunning, and maybe some developing pop an positional versatility.
Good Deal.
posted by Kalel9 @ 9:17 AM
16 Comments:
Mike Axisa @mikeaxisa 2h2 hours ago
If they give 3rd rounder Nolan Martinez slot, max they could offer Blake Rutherford is $3.78M. Slot is $2.44M.
All eyes on their first- and third-round picks now.
I still think they will pop a prep kid or 2, so I doubt they use all the slot savings on Blake and Nolan. Any decent prop will cost in excess of $100,000, and come out of the draft pool.
"prep", not prop.
So, we're almost a week away from it being July, and no sign of Kaprelian.
That's how it is with MiL Yankee injuries. They disappear then reappear suddendly. Still supposed to be back this month.
If they can save some money on Blake/Nolan, they might be able to add it to a few differeny 100K maxes and get a couple of players in.
I was told yesterday more guys were signings and physicals were ongoing.
Who is Rutherford's agent?
Casey Close. Jeter's agent.
To be fair, they built $1.1 M in savings with their top 10 draft picks. Add the 5% leeway and they have close to $1.5M over slot to play with. It would not surprise me if they had a good idea what Blake and Nolan wanted when they drafted them (especially as they have a long and productive history of dealing with Close). I wouldn't be surprised if they play a bit of five-card draw with the preps -- keeping them in the dark as to how much they really have to play with after they take care of Blake and Nolan. We'll see, but it is not inconsistent with the recent pattern of announcing the signing of the top choice at the last minute.
btw, I was right above, Solak is heading to SI.
OK, good. Actually Roc Nation is the new Boras, since Boras does understand the importance of relationships.
Hope to get to a couple of Staten Island games this summer. Looking forward to "scouting" the new kids. I want to see if Solak can remain at 2B. If he can, and the bat is for real, then we might have really had a pretty good top of the draft, for once.
BTW - Is Casey Close the agent who gets his clients to sign long-term deals, even before free agency? There is at least one of these agents out there, and I though Close was the guy. Except for Jeter's last contract, I think the Yankees always had a good relationship with Close.
Slot according to RAB is $1040800
I'm glad Nova decided to Hal he was full of shit.
"If anything, right now we'd be buyers." -Brian Cashman
(In fairness, he did say he'd recommend being sellers if it came down to it. No guarantee Hal listens regardless.)
He will say and do anything to keep his job. The anti-Theo.
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