With a captip to Brian Hamilton for finding it and passing it on, Moisekapenda Bower is reporting (via sources) that Carlos Correa will sign today, for $5.135m - $2m and change under the recommended slot for the 1-1 pick.
This is huge, as the Astros can increase their offer to Lance McCullers from the recommended $1.2587m to about $3.2587m (if they commit all of that to McCullers). That $3.25m+ is the recommended slot value of the 1-6 pick.
Let's say the Astros split the savings from Correa between McCullers and #129 overall pick Rio Ruiz. McCullers would then receive around the equivalent of the #15 overall pick ($2.25m) and Ruiz would receive around the equivalent of the 38th overall pick ($1.36m) - which may not be enough because, if you recall, Ruiz told Inside SoCal he wanted Top-10 money. The slot recommendation for the 10th overall pick is $2.7m.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
