Bubba Starling watch

[Titty Meat]

Since the MLB draft is in a week why not? Baseball gurus where do you see Starling getting drafted and what kind of money will be thrown his way? I heard momma Starling wants him to go to school but that could be posturing.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by Cornstock

Wouldn't call a Neb education much more than a GED
Huck the Fuskers

Filter Evasion: REPORTED

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by chefsos

I'm curious as to why these signings come, literally, at the last minute. Are they really negotiating right up to midnight or is it just some kind of weird tradition?

I'm not the most informed person on this subject so someone can correct me if I get it wrong, but I heard that MLB frowns upon/doesn't allow teams to deviate so far from the draft salary slotting system until late in the negotiating period so for people like Starling who are going to end up busting the salary structure, these deals have to happen at the last minute.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

You knew he was going to be a top 5 pick a year ago? Didn't know fortune telling was a degree at Shitt state.

Yeah, no one had a clue Starling would be a top 5 pick, even though Keith Law had him as his #1 overall draft prospect last summer.

Another brilliant take by billay.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I'm not the most informed person on this subject so someone can correct me if I get it wrong, but I heard that MLB frowns upon/doesn't allow teams to deviate so far from the draft salary slotting system until late in the negotiating period so for people like Starling who are going to end up busting the salary structure, these deals have to happen at the last minute.

MLB has to approve all contracts. It's well known that they won't approve over-slot deals - especially big, first-round ones - until as close to the deadline as possible (to keep spending down).

As for Starling's ceiling and draft status...

He has been considered a top 10 pick since the Area Codes games last year (which were almost exactly one year ago). Still AFTER his Nebraska commitment, but it's been pretty clear since then that he was baseball all the ay.

And his ceiling... Starling's ceiling is Matt Kemp offense with Gold Glove defense. Basically, he has the same ceiling - with more power - as Angels prospect Mike Trout. Who was No. 1 in a lot of prospect lists this year.

This is a kid with plus-plus power, who can be an All-Star level baserunner and hitter for average, with Gold Glove skills in CF, who also will have one of the better throwing arms amongst CFs. Yeah, his ceiling is pretty high...

[Lex Luthor]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

Completely agree with his ceiling, in fact, might even be higher as far as power for sure. What about his floor though? He very well might not develop into anywhere near of a player we thought he could be. I think there is a chance he can be Ken Griffey Jr, but I think theres a much better chance he flames out.

His floor is Roscoe Crosby.

[duncan_idaho]

Also... For any fans of The Erroneous One, he is getting roasted on the Royals' scout board re: his Bubba/the MLB draft. Typical TEO.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Also... For any fans of The Erroneous One, he is getting roasted on the Royals' scout board re: his Bubba/the MLB draft. Typical TEO.

He has been mocked for years on that board ever since his "source" told him the Royals were going to trade for ARod.

[DJ's left nut]

I think a very good comparison for who Starling could end up is Bobby Abreu.

He doesn't have that awe-inspiring power that Bryce Harper has; he's not terribly likely to be the annual 40 HR threat that people are predicting of Stanton, Harper or Bruce. And from what I've read, he's not the burner or projected defender that Trout is.

I've considered him the happy medium between the raw slugger in Harper and the top of the order threat w/ Trout. Where Harper is a prototype #4 hitter and Trout could be a latter-day Ricky Henderson from the #1 hole, Starling projects as an absolutely ideal #3 hitter; a kid that will probably threaten a 30/30 season here and there, but probably never hit 40 or steal 40.

Bobby Abreu languished away in the high minors for a couple of years that he probably shouldn't have, then he spent 2 more years being wasted at the big league level while Derek Bell stole millions from the Astros before being exposed in the expansion draft (Hunsicker really really dicked that up).

As soon as he landed in Philly and got the ABs, he was a .900 OPS guy. By his second year as a starter, he was entrenched as the 3 hitter.

Over his 9 prime years in Philly, he averaged 22 HRs, 28 SBs, and a .303/.416/.513 slash line (OPS+ of 139), with 2 30/30 seasons.

Now take that player and give him the potential to play premier CF defense (as opposed to Abreu's slightly above average corner OF defense), and you have a legitimate perennial AS candidate and superstar.

[duncan_idaho]

I've seen Atarling graded:

60 Hit
60 power
60 run (bases) 80 run (fielding)
70 field
70 throw

Pretty consistently. Matt Kemp with a better glove, basically. I think he and Trout will profile similarly as defenders in CF. Trout has more raw speed but Starling is thought to have better instincts and definitely has a stronger arm.

Exciting either way.

[GoHuge]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

You were talking about how he was nothing special because he wasn't a Rivals top 100. If the guy would have played in Florida or Texas he would have been rated in the top 10. Rivals puts a lot of stock into what competition level.

You are delusional. Brody Eldridge played at Prairie View (about 45 minutes south of GE) and was rated #47. He had about 80 people in his graduating class and played 4A. Went to Oklahoma and now plays for the Colts. Really validates your competition theory!! New name.........same dumbass.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I've seen Atarling graded:

60 Hit
60 power
60 run (bases) 80 run (fielding)
70 field
70 throw

Pretty consistently. Matt Kemp with a better glove, basically. I think he and Trout will profile similarly as defenders in CF. Trout has more raw speed but Starling is thought to have better instincts and definitely has a stronger arm.

Exciting either way.

Yeah, it's just hard to compare a prospect to a guy that's still developing (and has had as erratic a career as Kemp has had).

Had you offered the same comparison last season, people would've been aghast by it. Granted, Kemp's just hitting his prime and the guy he's been this season may just be the guy he truly is, but I don't trust him yet and I'm certain I'm not comfortable saying exactly what kind of player Kemp is.

To each their own.

[Mr. Laz]

well it's great to see that we can rely on Athan to be full of shit.

Posted on Mon, Aug. 15, 2011 11:43 PM
Royals sign first-round pick Bubba Starling

By RUSTIN DODD
The Kansas City Star



Gardner Edgerton's Bubba Starling chose the
Royals over Nebraska football on Monday night.

All day Monday, there was silence. Most of the night, too.

No word from the Royals. No word from their coveted first-round selection from June’s amateur baseball draft, Bubba Starling, a center fielder and multi-sport phenom from Gardner Edgerton High School.

Starling had a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska waiting for him if he spurned the Royals’ advances, and as the clock neared zero on Monday’s deadline of 11 p.m. Central time, the silence continued.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore waited inside Kauffman Stadium, later saying the talks finally heated up in the final five to six minutes. Inside his home in Gardner, Bubba and his family waited for the last 10 seconds before the call was made.

Finally, that silence was broken. Ending perhaps the most watched negotiations in franchise history, Starling set aside his flirtation with the Cornhuskers and accepted the Royals’ offer of a club-record signing bonus to play professional baseball.

“I got a lot of adrenaline going through me right now,” Moore said. “I’m trying to compose it.”

The deal will pay Starling $7.5 million spread over three years. The Royals said Starling will be introduced at Kauffman Stadium this week before leaving for the Royals’ spring training facility in Surprise, Ariz.

Agent Scott Boras advised Starling throughout the summer and at one point was believed to be seeking a deal approaching $10 million. The Royals were thought to have countered at $7.5 million before communication between the two camps dried up.

Had he chosen to attend school at Nebraska, Starling would have been the highest first-round pick to go unsigned since outfielder J.D. Drew, another Boras client, who was selected No. 2 overall by the Phillies in 1997.

This is not the first time the Royals and Moore have dealt with a Boras-advised selection. In fact, the Royals have drafted Boras players in the first round of five of the last six drafts. And for the third time in the last five years, the negotiations bled extremely close to Major League Baseball’s hard and fast deadline for teams to reach agreement with their unsigned draft picks.

In 2007, No. 2 overall pick Mike Moustakas agreed to a $4 million bonus just 10 minutes before the deadline. One year later, Eric Hosmer signed for a then club record $6 million in the final minutes.
Starling followed the same pattern.

“I sweat them all out,” Moore said. “And this was particularly tough. We knew on draft day, and prior to draft day, that this had a chance to work really, really good, or it had a chance to go wrong.”

Now the deal is done and a sigh of relief is spreading from the front office at Kauffman Stadium to the high school fields in Gardner, where Starling matured into one of the most accomplished prep athletes in Kansas City history.

In signing Starling, the Royals acquire an extremely marketable player who was generally viewed as the best athlete in the draft — a 6-foot-5, 195-pounder with the size and speed to be a Division I quarterback and a set of baseball tools that prompted Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg to call Starling the draft’s “most electric” player.

“Lonnie has had his vision on this kid for three years; that’s all he’s spoken about,” Moore said. “And he gets a lot of credit … for the vision and going after this player and selling this player to us as an organization.”

On the other side, Starling is now an overnight millionaire while receiving the opportunity to play for the team for which he grew up cheering — a prospect that he once described as a dream.

“This is his boyhood team, and this is where he wants to be,” Moore said. “He’s gonna take the field every day in the minor leagues with that vision of playing here in Kansas City.”

Starling now becomes one of the top prospects in a minor league system that graduated a wave of potential cornerstones to the major leagues during the past three months. The Royals can point to the money invested in Starling as evidence that the organization continues to bury a past in which talented players were passed over in the draft because the organization deemed them too expensive.

By the time news of Starling’s decision arrived late Monday night, the Royals had committed more than $12 million in known bonuses to their 2011 draft class.

And after 11 p.m. on Monday, Moore could leave the negotiations and the waiting behind.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Moore said. “But I know tomorrow we’re gonna wake up with smiles on our face and look forward to moving on in Bubba’s development in our system.”

To reach Rustin Dodd, call 816-234-4355 or send email to rdodd@kcstar.com

Posted on Mon, Aug. 15, 2011 11:43 PM

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Laz

well it's great to see that we can rely on Athan to be full of shit.

Death, taxes and wartaint errorstrated.

[Deberg_1990]

Heh, yeeeeeeaaa! go Rooooyaaals

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

,600 OPS in A+ ball

Oh my.