In the bullets earlier today, Brett raised concerns about the Cubs’ ability to sign their second first-round draft pick, LSU righty Alex Lange.
The lack of a deal that close to the deadline (5pm ET today) was a particularly big problem, because it could have prevented the Cubs from signing their fifth and sixth round picks, high schoolers Nelson Velazquez and Jeremy Estrada, for bonus pool reasons (they would lose not only whatever they saved on signing him, but also the 5% overage on his slot).
Fortunately, all is well, because the Cubs have reportedly signed all three just in time:
Lange gets $1.925M #cubs
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 7, 2017
The @Cubs also finalized a deal with 5th-rder Nelson Velazquez as well. @MLBDraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 7, 2017
6th-rder Jeremiah Estrada signs w/@Cubs for $1 mil. Which means 1st-rder Lange signed, or else Cubs would forfeit future 1st-rder. @MLBDraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 7, 2017
According to Heyman, the Cubs signed Lange for $1.925 million, which saves them about $260K. Of course, they went $777,400 over slot to get Estrada in the sixth round ($222,600 bonus slot value). I have not yet seen reports on what fifth rounder Nelson Velasquez received, but he is also considered an over-slot type. For what it’s worth, his slot bonus is $285,800.
We’ll have more on each of the draft picks later on (we already got to know Lange right here), but for now, know that the Cubs pretty much cleaned up during this draft. Their minor league organization just got a fair bit stronger. Nicely done.