While We’re Waiting… Signability, mocking the NBA draft and Thome’s bonus

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

“The 2012 MLB draft is in the books, and we finally got a good look at how the new Collective Bargaining Agreement effected the draft process, and how the Indians decided to attack it. The first round of the draft offered more surprises than ever, as some teams took the best player available, some took a player that was more signable than talented, and some (like the Indians) seemed to split the difference. As of today, the Indians have signed eight of their top ten picks, and 17 of 40 overall. Out of the commissioner’s decreed bonus pool of $4,582,900, they’ve doled out $3,417,500. That leaves $1,165,400 to sign their remaining two picks in the top 10, plus any bonus over $100,000 for picks outside of the top 10. If the Indians go over that cap by less than 5%, they pay a 75% tax on the overage. If they go over the cap by more than 5%, they lose their first round pick next year. No one the Indians selected is worth losing next year’s first round pick, so it would be a shock if the team spent enough to suffer that penalty. So with that being said, let’s take a look at the Indians top 10 picks in the draft, how they’ve spent their bonus pool so far and what might still be to come before the July 13 signing deadline. ” [Al/The DiaTribe]

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A recap of NBA mock-draft Cavalier selections– “With the 2012 NBA Draft just days away, there is still plenty of mystery surrounding who the Cavaliers will draft with the 4th pick. We can give you our best guesses, but that’s pretty much all they would be — guesses. So you know what’s better than one guess? A whole bunch of guesses. For your convenience, I’ve compiled lots of mock drafts so you can see who various writers, reporters, and experts expect the Cavaliers to draft. Below are the first round picks but if you click on the links, you can usually see the 2nd round picks as well. ” [Kaczmarek/Fear the Sword]

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“It is interesting to compare and contrast the quarterback situation for the Cleveland Browns and the Seattle Seahawks. First, before the Browns made the decision to draft Brandon Weeden, they were one of the teams rumored to be interested in Matt Flynn, formerly of the Green Bay Packers. I think it is safe to say that a fair share of Browns fans were convinced (and may still be) that Flynn was the answer for the team’s quarterback situation.

After Cleveland’s “reported” interest in waned, the Miami Dolphins seemed to be the heavy favorites to sign Flynn. That did not happen; instead, Flynn signed with the Seahawks. The three teams in the market for Flynn — Cleveland, Miami, and Seattle — could have used an upgrade at quarterback, although Seattle probably was not in desperate need of one. Now, Seattle might be stuck in a situation where you wonder, “is Flynn really the guy?” This is a guy who lit it up in two starts with the Packers, but we saw Derek Anderson light it up in a couple of his early games too.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]

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Mining the prospects for the best pick at 24– “Draftexpress listed Crowder’s best case as “shorter-saner-Ron-Artest”; a comparison that I inadvertently stole when describing MKG. Just to be clear, at age 24, Ron Artest earned NBA Defensive Player-of-the-year honors and provided the second-highest scoring on a 61 win team. I view this comparison as very high praise, and do not see Jae Crowder at quite that level.

Viewing the DX database, the shortest small forwards to amount to anything were Aaron McKie and Danny Green, both 3/4” taller than Crowder. Of over 400 players, around 25 measured smaller than Crowder and none registered a notable NBA career. In that regard, I think Crowder can be a trendsetter and prove usable as a short small forward. His strength, motor, defense, set-shooting and high basketball IQ makes him eminently useful. Some contender will snag him late in the first round, and I’ll call him a “shorter, equally-sane Kawhi Leonard”.” [Hetrick/Cavs the Blog]

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Jim Thome gets a five grand bonus– “Thome, who has a well-earned nice-guy image to protect, denied that any money had changed hands. Yet, anyway, and not where anyone could see. Because lip readers would tell you that Thome can be seen telling Papelbon “I want that check” as the Phillies congratulated him at the plate for his winning homer. So, does Citizens Bank have any branches inside Citizens Bank Ballpark? Because it would be really convenient for Thome if it did. (If the game had been played at Chase Field, they could have used QuickPay.) No matter that Thome reportedly has earned roughly $141 million in his 20 seasons in the majors. This is a special five grand we’re talking about.” [Brown/Big League Stew]