But he was very disappointed not to have reached a deal with Tampa Bay on Florida high school outfielder LeVon Washington, who was described by one scout as a "Carl Crawford-type." The Rays offered $1.1 million to Washington, less than they paid Crawford a decade earlier. Washington is likely to go to a junior college.
Baseball America has the projected 2009 slot for pick 30 at 1.08 million and last year's slot at the same pick was 1.2 million. Let's look at the surrounding picks and their signing bonuses:
Pick | Player | SB(Mil) | Slot |
27 | Franklin | 1.28 | 1.161 |
28 | Fuentes | 1.134 | 1.134 |
29 | Heathcott | 2.2 | 1.107 |
31 | Jackson | 0.972 | 0.972 |
32 | Wheeler | 0.9 | 0.954 |
High school players italicized
Throw out the Heathcott deal and you have mostly slot friendly deals. Franklin took a bit extra, Fuentes and Jackson received slot, and Wheeler took less. 1.1 million versus 1.08 million isn't a ton of extra money, but looking at his peers bonuses versus slot, it's about the going rate.
I don't know how much Washington's side wanted, but the Rays seemed to be fair in their offer.