Pirates and Alvarez agree to a contract

Pedro Alvarez and the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a new contract ending a month long disagreement between the parties. Alvarez’s agent Scott Boras claimed that the contract that they signed with the Pirates was not valid because it came after the August 15th deadline. The MLBPA filed a grievance on August 27th over the issue and it was recently heard by an arbitrator on September 10th with the next two hearings were set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The new contract will pay Alvarez 6.355 million over the next four years according to a report by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Read the rest of this entry »

The Washington National and San Diego Padres are in the midst of a three game set as both teams battle it out for the worst record in the Majors in 2008. The team that finishes with the worst record will receive the number 1 pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. The consensus number 1 pick right now is Stephen Strasburg out of San Diego State. He was masterful this summer with the USA Collegiate National Team and the USA Olympic Team in Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »

The grievance filed by the MLBPA on behalf of Pedro Alvarez will have their case heard today. The case revolves around the validity of his contract which Alvarez’s camp says came after the midnight deadline on August 15th and the Pirates say is a valid contract. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports says: Read the rest of this entry »

Buster Posey

I know that we talked about the San Francisco Giants yesterday about how they moved up Conor Gillaspie up to the Majors but we continue with our coverage of the Giants minor league system with an article about Buster Posey. He was added to the San Jose Giants roster for the playoffs where he made his first appearance on Saturday evening where the Giants picked up a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of their playoff series against Stockton. Posey went 1-3 with a walk and threw out a baserunner in his debut. The Giants have had Posey on three different teams in the last eight days where he started in Rookie Ball in Arizona then promoted to short-season A ball in Oregon before being promoted to San Jose. Read the rest of this entry »

Conor Gillaspie has become the first 2008 draft pick to make it to the Major Leagues as he was called up after the Giants September 6th game. He had an outstanding career with the Wichita State Shockers where he was selected by the Giants with the 37th overall pick. He ended up spending only 91 days in the minors. I talked with The Giants Baseball Blog back in June and said the following about Connor: Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Holt

The New York Post has checked in on former UNC-Wilmington ace Brad Holt who was picked with the 33rd overall pick by the New York Mets in the 2008 draft. I did not have the opportunity to see Holt pitch against Northeastern but from the reports that I received from the game was that Holt had a high 90’s fastball and did not show too much of a curveball. Read the rest of this entry »

Gerritt Cole recently spurned the New York Yankees to start his collegiate career with the UCLA Bruins. He was the 28th overall pick in the 2008 Draft but could not come to terms with the 26 time World Champions. Read the rest of this entry »

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette checks in with an article about Pedro Alvarez and his options for the next season if his contract is voided. Dejean Kovacevic was able to talk with Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin to discuss the possibility that Pedro would return to campus. Read the rest of this entry »

Assistant Editor Mark Rafferty sent me a link to a Fanhouse post about the Pedro Alvarez situation. Alvarez is currently refusing to take a physical or take part in a press conference under the advice of his agent Scott Boras.

Boras is stating that the contract signed by Pedro is void because it came after the midnight deadline on August 15th. Boras did not raise any issues when he negotiated the contract, but since has gotten the MLBPA on his side. They have filed a grievance on behalf of Mr. Alvarez claiming that the contract was signed after the deadline thus making it illegal. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2008 Under Armour High School All-American Game will take place today (August 17th) at 1:35pm Eastern time at Wrigley Field. The game will feature some of the best high school players in the country which will be eligible for the 2009 MLB Draft. Read the rest of this entry »

Darren Heitner of The Sports Agent Blog continues his great coverage of the MLB Signing Day. He put up a post today on some of the biggest suprises of the day including Gerritt Cole going to UCLA over signing with the Yankees. This was a huge loss for the Yankees and is a major shock in the arm for the UCLA Bruins as he should impact the lineup immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - First round draft pick Allan Dykstra signed with the San Diego Padres about an hour before the Friday night deadline for Major League Baseball teams to sign players drafted in the 2008 MLB Draft. Senior Evan Ocheltree and incoming freshmen Austin Stadler and Daniel Marrs did not sign with the teams that drafted them and will play for Wake Forest this upcoming season. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Matusz

SAN DIEGO, Calif. ­ Former University of San Diego All-American Brian Matusz has come to terms with the Baltimore Orioles, signing his first Major League Baseball contract.

Matusz, the fourth overall pick by the Orioles in the 2008 MLB draft and the consensus best pitcher available, received a $3.2 million bonus and a four-year major league deal as part of his contract with the Orioles. That bonus is the second-highest in this year¹s draft, trailing only the $6.15
million the Rays gave No. 1 overall selection Tim Beckham. The total value of the deal has yet to be reported.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I have already posted, today is the deadline for players to sign contracts from the 2008 MLB Draft. Pat Murphy of Arizona State currently has had 14 players from the 2008 team already signed a contract with six incoming recruits deciding to join the pro ranks. It looks like Jason Kipnis will be making it back to Tempe in 2008 as he is having problems coming to terms with the San Diego Padres. Murphy is also worrying about three incoming recruits who were drafted in the 22nd, 26th, and 35th round. He also is trying to get 7th round pick Johnny Coy to turn down MLB and head to campus. Read the rest of this entry »

Our good buddy Darren Heitner of The Sports Agent Blog has put out a great article on the MLB Signing Deadline which is this evening at midnight. All players must sign a deal by the deadline or go back to college. The article also talks about how a bunch of the Scott Boras clients are not signed yet and how he always waits to the last minute with some of his higher profile candidates. Read the rest of this entry »