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Pirates Don’t Sign Appel

Posted Jul. 13, 2012 4:50 pm by Conor Glassey
Filed under: News

As reported by Baseball America's Jim Callis, the Pirates were not able to come to terms with No. 8 overall pick, Stanford righthander Mark Appel. He's the only first-round pick who didn't sign this year.

Callis reports that a source told him that the Pirates offered Appel $3.8 million, the most they could have paid him without giving up a first-round pick as penalty.

Appel will return to Stanford for his senior season after going 10-2, 2.56 as a junior with 130 strikeouts in 123 innings. He has a workhorse build at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds to go along with his mid-90s fastball that touches 98. He throws a hard slider that has the potential to be an out pitch and his changeup has improved.

The Pirates will receive the No. 9 pick in next year's draft as compensation for not signing Appel.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 13, 2012 at 4:50 pm by Conor Glassey and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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13 Comments

Poor Mark. Should have been drafted #1 but dropped to #8 because Scott Boras is his agent. Teams just don't want to deal with Boras. You can see why when you look at the Pirates this year.
Signing with Boras cost him many millions of $$$ that he'll never be able to retrieve. I sure hope he's got sense enough to drop Boras before next year's draft.
Houston played it smart. Rather than just drafting Appel, they assessed things with Boras and concluded that their desire to sign the top pick between $4.5 and $5 Million wouldn't work with Appel. So they moved on to another top prospect with a more competent advisor. This enabled them to not only sign Correa, but also Lance McCullers and Rio Ruiz. I think just about every team in baseball would prefer to have those three top prospects for about the same price as Appel.
You have to have a high intelligence to get accepted at Stanford University. But smart people sometimes do dumb things. Signing with Boras is a dumb thing.

Posted by davesmall | July 13, 2012 at 4:59 pm | Shortcut

Boras is his advisor, sure, but the final decision remains with Appel. I remember A-Rod going against Boras's advice when he signed with the Mariners. The amount of money they were haggling over was peanuts compared to what A-Rod has made after he hit the majors. Once more year in the majors where a player is eligible for arbitration or free agency is likely to be worth much more than a few more million as a signing bonus. Appel may still turn out to be a good player. But the players who are hungry to report and get going, rather than squeeze the last dollars out of their first paycheck, those are the ones I would want on my team. Bryce Harper is a great example. He had more leverage to hold out than Appel has.

Posted by Bill Myers | July 13, 2012 at 5:51 pm | Shortcut

I don't blame Boras, it is a business. I wonder if Appel realizes that he just rolled the dice. What if he has minor arm problems next spring. He will drop like a rock. I know that Boras is upset with the new draft rules and I hate that he is using the pirates as his test agaisnt the system. They have been very generous is previous drafts and went to the wall this year. They are building and couldn't afford giving up there future.

Posted by Jim Wilson | July 13, 2012 at 6:25 pm | Shortcut

The Pirate fans are big losers. They won't get to see Mark's gorgeous sister, former Stanford women's basketball standout Jayne Appel, grace PNC Park with her beauty.

Posted by David Steinle | July 13, 2012 at 6:42 pm | Shortcut

All I can say is Good Luck!! This is very risky the way the draft is set up now. Look at Matt Purke last year. If Appel has any issue that is not even bad, but keeps him from pitching enough next year he falls God knows where and has almost no leverage. Scott Boras extracts the most $ for his clients, but it is easy to play hard ball with someone else's financial future. 1 year of service time extra in the majors is worth atleast $3m for the average ball player today – forget the stars. Trying to be the #1 pick next year gets you about what he gave up with that 1 yr he will most likely lose now at the major league level in his baseball career. Take the $3.8m and run laughing to the bank. If your advisor was really looking out for you, you could have got $5-$6 m from the Astros. Maybe before he made this decision he should have called Matt Harrington and asked for his advice.

Posted by Jon Graser | July 13, 2012 at 8:15 pm | Shortcut

Scott Boras is a dedicated, experienced, and zealous advocate for his clients. That a team does not want to deal with Boras is simply not true when you look at the hundreds of players he represents who play professional baseball. A team's unwillingness or inability to negotiate with Boras is more reflective of a short-coming in that team's ability to negotiate. Query: Didn't the Pirates do any due diligence as to the potential to sign the player before drafting him? If not, their post-draft woes are theirs to bear alone.
Boras' reputation as baseball's top agent is seen time and time again with his clients obtaining the best contracts in baseball. Again, if Boras was not respected by the teams then he would never be able to obtain such industry-leading results. Appel will do fine staying with his attorney and staying committed to the strategy they have developed.

Posted by Ted Bryant | July 13, 2012 at 10:58 pm | Shortcut

@ Ted Bryant. Loosen up a bit, mate.

Posted by Dug | July 14, 2012 at 12:20 am | Shortcut

[...] Business of Baseball: Breaking Down the Pirates' Failure to Sign Mark AppelBleacher ReportPirates Don't Sign AppelBaseball America (blog)7Online.comall 349 news [...]

Posted by Pirates Only Team Unable to Sign First-Round Draft Pick – New York Times | Baseball News Pro | July 14, 2012 at 1:26 am | Shortcut

[...] Business of Baseball: Breaking Down the Pirates' Failure to Sign Mark AppelBleacher ReportPirates Don't Sign AppelBaseball America (blog)RHP Appel spurns Pirates, will stay at [...]

Posted by Appel fails to sign; no teams lose future picks – Boston.com | Baseball News Pro | July 14, 2012 at 2:09 am | Shortcut

[...] Appel heads back to Stanford: After a shocking draft day slide that had many wondering if he would sign, Mark Appel spurned the Pirates’ contract offer and will pitch at Stanford for one more year. Pittsburgh reportedly offered the 8th overall pick over $3.8 million, the most they could without forfeiting a draft pick. While at this moment it seems likely he could earn more in next year’s draft, it appears that the money wasn’t the driving factor in Appel’s decision, but a genuine desire to play at Stanford one more year. The Pirates will receive the 9th pick in next year’s draft as compensation. [...]

Posted by Bus Leagues Express: July 14 | Bus Leagues Baseball | July 14, 2012 at 4:04 am | Shortcut

Mark Appel cane to Stanford from the same general area (the East Bay) as Jane Appel. Jane was a great womens' basketball player, earning numerous awards including All-American honors. Stanford fans were quick to ask if the two were related. They quickly learned that they were not. So for a while many fans gave Mark the nick name of "Not." Soon Mark earned an independent personna and "Not" was retired.

Posted by Ally Palto Chuck | July 14, 2012 at 12:26 pm | Shortcut

Appel's greed is just revolting. I'll never root for him at all.

Posted by Dave Thomas | July 15, 2012 at 4:03 pm | Shortcut

Appel is doing pretty well this year. Looks nailed on to get the money he was looking for.

Posted by Tybalt | March 24, 2013 at 12:34 pm | Shortcut

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