40 Acres Sports

Jordan Danks could return to Texas. Everyone thought he’d be gone but if he’s not signed by August 15th he’ll be back next season.

I thought he’d be back at Texas when he dropped to the 7th round, but Jordan Danks is motivated to join his brother with White Sox.

The Statesman is reporting that [tag]Bradley Suttle[/tag] signed with the Yankees over the weekend. I went looking for specifics but couldn’t find anything official. This alt.sports.baseball.ny-yankees post says that Kevin Goldstein is reporting a $1M deal. I’ll post more if I see it.

The Statesman post also says that Kyle Russell and Preston Clark have both indicated that they’ll be back. They still have two days to sign, though. The deadline is August 15th.

UPDATE. As of 2pm (Eastern) on Aug. 15th, the Yankees are saying that they have not signed Bradley to a deal. FYI. (Link.)

UPDATE #2. According to the Baseball America Draft Blog, Bradley and the Yankees have come to terms. Bonus: $1.3M (a record for a 4th round draft pick). Good for him. And, good luck to him. I’ll miss watching him play at Disch-Falk.

[Cross-posted to my baseball page.]

[tag]James Russell[/tag] signed with the Cubs (Statesman link) for a $350K bonus. And, the Cubs will pay for 5 semesters of college. My guess is that the $350K is at least $250K more than the slot bonus guidelines set forth by Major League Baseball.

I have not heard any definitive news on Kyle Russell or Bradley Suttle. But, Bradley was drafted by the Yankees and it’s very likely they will offer him a bonus close to what he was hoping for before the draft (that is: 1st round money). The situation is not as clear regarding Kyle Russell. The fact that the Cubs went so far over the guidelines makes me rather nervous about Kyle’s chances of sticking around, though. To this point, the highest reported signing bonus for a 4th rounder is $225K. That’s $125 below James Russell’s bonus (and he was drafted in the 14th) so…

Who knows? I guess it all depends on how much the Cardinals really want him, eh?

UPDATE. I just did a little bit more research on slot signing bonus guidelines and found out that the MLB does not want anyone in post 5th-round positions to get more than an estimated $123K. All of the lower rounds (6th through 50th) fall in the same group. I thought it kept going down as you got further along but it doesn’t. So, James Russell’s bonus was about $227K over slot.

[tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] appeared on KVET 1300 this morning and had plenty to say. Among the highlights:

• He agrees that Texas should be the best college baseball team in America and that, at times, this team was that this year. We did have a very good team that did a very good job. He’s not offering excuses. Accepting not getting to the CWS is very difficult. He was bitterly surprised at the role that fate played in the Regionals.
• The team GPA was 2.9 in the Fall and over 3.0 (the highest ever) in the Spring.
• He gave full credit to UCI for the series they had and noted that UCI hasn’t lost a championship game yet and he won’t be surprised to see them do well at the CWS because they are fundamentally extremely sound.
• When asked about his exit interviews with the team, he said the three comments he got most about what impacted the team going into the Regional were: (1) The players really felt the impact of losing Preston Clark behind the plate before the Regional tourney…more than Coach Garrido would’ve imagined. Brett Lewis is very capable and the players had confidence in his ability. But, Preston’s leadership and interactions with the team all year provided more of the glue that held the team’s spirit together than Coach Garrido had imagined. (2) Losing Nick Peoples was also huge. (3) He was surprised to hear that the players were disappointed that they didn’t play at Disch-Falk and that they felt they would’ve won if they’d been playing at home. He thought that since they’d played 11 games at Dell Diamond early in the year, it wouldn’t have as much of an affect as it seemed to have. He thought they were past all that so that was surprising to him.
• Regarding the draft, he thinks there’s a decent possibility that Kyle Russell will be back (he wants 1st round money but was drafted in the 4th), no clear idea about Bradley Suttle (also wanting 1st round money and drafted in the 4th; but the drafting team was the Yankees and you never know what they’ll do), and a good chance that both James Russell and Preston Clark will return.
• Asked about Coach Johnson’s contribution in his first year and as they look forward: he thinks Coach Johnson is absolutely the right man at the right time for this job. He knows Texas baseball at every level inside and out.
• He thinks we’ll have a real good team next year but added that he hesitates and stutters a little bit making that statement because he was so surprised to lose the Regional.
• Regarding the construction at Disch-Falk: they’re not on schedule but they’re not behind, either. He explained that the team doesn’t need to be back out on the field until September and they should be able to do that. Prior to the first game on February 22nd, everything’s supposed to be completely finished. So, they’re behind schedule due to the recent rains but the delay won’t cause problems because things will still be completed before the team and fans actually need access.
• He made a comment about ESPN being the only entity that has the power to force the changes that would bring a higher level of consistency and quality to college baseball. The implication, clearly, was that the best way to influence the NCAA was with money and ESPN holds the purse strings.

For more detail, please check out the report I filed on my site.

As Brian already noted in the “Quick Hits” section, Adrian Alaniz has come to terms with the Washington Nationals. Adrian will be signing a contract on Friday when he reports for his Minor League assignment and will not be back for his senior year.

The Statesman also reported that seniors Nick Peoples and Chance Wheeless had signed with their respective drafting teams (the Cardinals and Diamondbacks).

I heard Coach Garrido on the radio this morning say that undrafted seniors Brett Lewis and Chais Fuller have also been offered contracts by Major League teams; he did not say which teams, however.

Adrian Alaniz won’t be back for his senior season, he will sign with Washington Nationals this week and be in single A ball soon.

A couple of quick notes. Texas signee Brandon Workman (rhp, Bowie HS) was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft. [tag]Kyle Russell[/tag] and [tag]Bradley Suttle[/tag] were drafted in the 4th round. They only got through the first 5 rounds of the draft yesterday; more Horns will be drafted today.

Major League Baseball has changed their “draft and follow” rule. In the past, a team could draft a player and then take up to 51 weeks to sign him…and no other team could come knockin’ on the door during those 51 weeks. So, they could draft a player, encourage him to play another year of college ball, watch his progress, and then decide. All the while safe in the knowledge that if they wanted to sign the player, they had a year to do so. The new rule states that the teams only have until August 15th to sign a player, except for college seniors. I think the change will mean more draftees from the later rounds will go ahead and sign. But, maybe not. Some people think the rule change will mean that teams will draft fewer players. The draft goes 50 rounds. In the past, 4 or 5 teams would drop out as the draft got into the later rounds. But, most would draft all the way through to the end since teams had so long to evaluate talent. The new rule may mean they won’t bother drafting some players they would’ve drafted in the past.

If I’m able, I’ll update this post as the draft progresses today.

Update (2 pm). [tag]Randy Boone[/tag] was drafted in the 7th by Toronto; [tag]Adrian Alaniz[/tag] in the 8th by Washington; signee Taylor Grote (cf, The Woodlands) in the 8th by the Yankees; and signee Runey Davis (cf, Georgetown) in the 11th by Pittsburgh.

Update (5 pm). [tag]James Russell[/tag] was drafted in the 14th by the Cubs; [tag]Joseph Krebs[/tag] in the 14th by Cincinnati; [tag]Chance Wheeless[/tag] in the 17th by Arizona; [tag]Nick Peoples[/tag] (as a second baseman, apparently) in the 19th by St. Louis; and signee Kevin Keyes (rf, Connally HS) in the 26th by the Rangers.

Update (6 pm). [tag]Preston Clark[/tag] was drafted in the 33rd by the Cubs; [tag]Kenn Kasparek[/tag] (who was recovering from Tommy John surgery and did not play this year) in the 34th by Washington; signee Garrett Clyde (rhp, San Jacinto College) in the 43rd by the Cubs; signee Cameron Rupp (c, Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano) in the 43rd by Pittsburgh; and [tag]Clay Van Hook[/tag] in the 45th by Seattle.

Carson Kainer was drafted in the 14th round of last week’s Major League Baseball draft but his pro career is going to have to wait. Kainer learned earlier this month that he was in need of a kidney transplant. Born with chronic renal failure, he has only one functioning kidney and that one is starting to fail as well. His overall kidney function has fallen to 13 percent.

Kainer hopes to have the transplant within the next few weeks, but that is dependent on finding a suitable donor kidney from a relative. After the surgery there would be four to six weeks of recovery and then at least three months before he is allowed to resume any kind of physical activity. If a donor can’t be found within his family, Kainer will have to be put on the national donor waiting list and undergo dialysis treatments while waiting.

Kainer hopes to be back in the outfield for the Texas Longhorns next season. We certainly wish him the best of luck in his treatment and recovery.

On Tuesday Drew Stubbs became the highest Texas Longhorn draft pick taken in the MLB draft since 1992 when Calvin Murray was taken with the 7th pick. The Atlanta, TX native Drew Stubbs was chosen with the 8th pick overall by the Cincinnati Reds. Longhorn pitcher Kyle McCulloch was also taken in the first round, with the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox selecting him with the 29th overall pick.

This makes it 13 Texas Longhorn that have been selected in the first round since Augie Garrido has been at the helm, and the second time in the last 2 years that two UT players were selected in the first round.

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