Ms Ink Jordan Shipers
The Mariners busted slot recommendations this morning, giving 16th-round pick Jordan Shipers an $800,000 bonus to forego his commitment to Missouri State. The Ms have paid low-6 figure bonuses to a few guys in recent years, but this is the first time the Mariners have gone significantly above slot since they signed Matt Tuiasosopo back in 2004.
This is fantastic news. Teams like the Red Sox, who do not care about angering the Commissioner’s office, have had a giant leg up on the competition for years when it comes to mining the draft for talent. We just recently saw a sign of Boston’s aggressive draft strategy paying dividends, as OF Ryan Kalish, a 9th rounder who signed for $600,000 back in 2006, ripped through the high minors to make his major league debut this season.
The Mariners may not do this much next year, with all signs pointing to the team picking in the top half of the top half of the first round. The fact that they are willing to take a shot on signability guys, though, just makes this front office’s combination of smarts and resources that much more formidable. For reasons that outsiders have trouble fully comprehending, there are only a handful of teams willing to thumb their nose at Bud Selig’s seemingly toothless recommendations for draft bonuses. If the Ms become one of those teams, the system should get better in a hurry.
I do worry if this signing may foreshadow Littlewood and/or Stanek heading to college.
More and more teams are snubbing slot but this is a huge number for a 16th rounder.
The red sox, yankees, and even tigers have been doing this for some time, forgoing the slot amounts to get better talent.
Teams with owners who are more interested in being friends with Bud Selig (McLane in Houston is notorious for this) I hope keep on with that plan, as they will never be competitive.
Hopefully they can get the other college bound kids to sign.
I like this move.
If I remember correctly, Shipers was projected as a 4-5th rounder by some, but his strong commitment to MSU caused him to drop. Great sign, I hope they get the rest of the class…
I’m trying to remember – was Tui actually thought to be worth going overslot, or was it just a case of his having the right father?
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Relevance Henry?
I know everyone does, but I would live for the m’s to be exactly like the twins. Hopefully this is z’s plan.
What M’s draft picks are left unsigned?
11th rounder Jon Keller is from here in Cedar Rapids. I wonder how this is gonna work out for him.
Westside-
The Brewers considered taking Tui 7th overall in 2004, but passed on him. Everyone knew it would take high 1st-round money to sign him, and only the Mariners were willing to pull the trigger. I’m not sure anyone except the Brewers really considered him a $2 million+ talent, but the extra $ was to buy him out of his UW commitment.
Ah, thanks JH.
Imagine if that hadn’t happened… right now he’d probably be co-hosting a radio show on ESPN 710.
Frankly, at some point somebody needs to call Selig on the carpet for this. Either the league needs hard slots that teams are not allowed to go over (a la a salary cap) or Selig needs to just shut his trap and leave it alone. It’s bad for the game to create a system where a handful of teams get an advantage because they’re willing to ignore the Commissioner.
Hey. Show some respect for the capo di tutti capi.
For the Mariner’s sake I hope not. The system of “voluntary” forbearance artifically drives prices (in salaries and draft picks) low. If we ignore the system, we get premium talent at a bargain. Let’s hope every other team continues to follow the guidance while we ignore it.
Or playing football.
It has nothing to do with Selig, it’s part of the CBA. I’m sure the slotting system / salary cap will be issues addressed when the CBA is renegotiated. Both the NFL and NBA are looking at the same or very similar issues, particularly as it applies to rookies.
Well if anything the story behind Shipers is very interesting as well.
Yeah, see I was figuring he’d take the track most of our over-hyped local football players do – go pro, probably get drafted by the Seahawks, then retire after a short career once people realize the actual talent didn’t match the Husky Hype machine. 😀
Ever since Warren Moon went big time (via the CFL of course), people seem to believe every talented Husky player must simply be destined for NFL greatness. It doesn’t matter how many times it doesn’t play out that way – the next guy comes along and everyone buys into it all over again.
Bitter Coog alert.
800k is the same amount we gave Taijuan Walker.
They must think really highly of Shipers.
According to Churchill, Littlewood should sign pretty soon but Stanek is 50/50. Stanek was always a bit of a risk though so I wouldn’t be to dissapointed if he didn’t sign since we got Shipers.
I seem to recall some murkey law regarding the CBAs applicability to non-members of the Player’s Union (which draft picks are, since they aren’t players yet). Besides, the PU represents veterans, and has been quite willing to sell out kids in order to keep more money for the established guys.
At any rate, Selig making “suggestions” to teams is certainly not mandated by the CBA. If he has no actual authority to enforce the guidelines, it’s asnine for him to issue them.
Nah, I went to Seattle Pacific – we didn’t even have a football team. 😀
Really I’m just disappointed that James Paxton hasn’t signed yet.
If he had signed relatively soon after the draft, there was an outside chance he could’ve been in West Tennessee or Tacoma by now.
So am I the only person who saw this in the article listing and read it as: a woman of indeterminate marital status with the name Ink Jordan Shippers and that this person is somehow worthy of a post on USSM? It does sound a bit like a tattoo’d burlesque dancer, and we’ve had stranger headlines (and topics) here over the years….
Oh, so you’re a bitter Husky wannabe? 😉
I agree with your comment about the “unofficial” nature of the current guidelines. Rather than being mandated, they are probably simply unaddressed. What we have seen is a precursor to a system that will indeed be a part of the next CBA. The issue is of interest to the existing players as much as it is to newcomers in all three sports. The greatest resistance will be from the agents.