In light of the fairly disastrous road trip the Astros are in the process of completing, there is some good news: Luhnow signed 1-41 Lance McCullers.
Baseball America's Jim Callis put the signing bonus at $2.5m, almost double the slot for the 41st overall pick of $1.2587m, and just under the recommended bonus for the 12th overall pick.
Via Street we get some numbers from Baseball America that show that 3-96 Brady Rodgers signed for $495,200 (slot), 5-159 Andrew Aplin signed for $220,000 ($49,700 under slot), and 10-309 Joe Bircher signed for $20,000 ($105,000 under slot).
So with all this new information, if my math is correct, the Astros have committed $8,385,200 to the draft, with $1,496,100 remaining in recommended slot bonuses. Combine those two figures and you get $9,881,300 - or $1,296,400 remaining to go over slot on 4-129 Rio Ruiz or 11-339 Hunter Virant.
It's possible that Florida senior Preston Tucker will sign for well under slot (as Joe Bircher did), so we'll see how much wiggle room the Astros have after the College World Series.
See the full draft list here.
Quick something to note. The Astros wouldn't necessarily be able to just offer the rest to Hunter Virant. If they do not sign Rio Ruiz, the $360,200 assigned to the 129th overall pick is removed from their bonus pool.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
