Earlier today, Mark Berman reported Daz Cameron was in Houston to sign his deal. Later, Jim Callis reported that, as expected, Cameron had agreed to a 4 million dollar deal, 2.3 million over slot.
This leaves only Eshelman as unsigned in the first 10 rounds, and he reportedly has a verbal deal and is expected to sign this week. This news effectively brings the Astros 2015 draft to a close. They had $17,289,800 to spend in the draft, and, assuming Eshelman gets close to slot, will have used almost all of it. The end result is an unheard of three player in the Baseball America's top 10, with some depth behind, including several advanced pitchers who could help sooner rather than later.
They can still go to $18,154,290.00, 5% over slot, without losing a future draft pick. They could still make a run at one of the unsignables, including their 11th round pick Patrick Sandoval, who is committed to USC. Longer shots include Cole Sands, a FSU commit, and Luken Baker, a TCU commit. It remains to be seen how willing they will be to incur the monetary penalties associated with going over slot to sign those players. From round 11 on, any amount over $100,000 goes against the bonus pool.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
