[DC 86]

I remember seeing Bailey's college stats and thinking in my John McEnroe inner voice "You cannot be serious. This guy can't hit, shouldn't be a first round pick, and we already have Joey Bart." I realize they took Bailey because he was more like a 3rd/4th pick, who agreed to sign for much less money.

That's a great story, except that the slot value for the pick was $4.197 million and Bailey signed for $3.8 million, less than a 10% discount. Third and fourth round slot values ranged from 431k to 857k that year.

The Giants had an overall pool of $9.2 million for their five draft picks. They saved on Patrick Bailey (and others) in order to spend just under $2.5 million -- not $710k, their third round slot value -- on their 3th round pick that year. Fella by the name of Kyle Harrison. Their last two picks, Dabovich and Murphy signed for just $197,500 and $22,500 respectively. All of the savings on each draft pick helped the Giants to sign Kyle Harrison.

Frankly, I thought all but Kyle Harrison were a stretch.

Nobody disputes that the Giants shrewdly manipulated their bonus pool money to sign Harrison to an over slot deal. However,

1. You said that they signed Bailey "for much less money" - False. $3.8 million is not much less than $4.197 million, it's less than 10% savings, and given that college players have less leverage than high school players it's pretty standard.

2. You said he was "more like a 3rd-4th pick" - again False. If that was the case the Giants could have offered Bailey $1 million (well above the highest third round slot value) and had over $3 million left over to not only sign Harrison over slot but to also sign their 2nd, 4th and 5th round picks to over slot deals as well, instead of having to go under slot as they did. That didn't happen because Bailey was considered a mid-first round pick by the industry. The Giants didn't offer $3.8 million as a charity.

3. You said that based on his college stats that Bailey "can't hit" - False yet again. He recorded a .979 career OPS (1.151 in his final season) as a well above average defensive catcher in a power conference. For comparison's sake, Joey Bart recorded a .950 career OPS (1.102 in his final season) playing in the same conference, and he was drafted #2 overall and received a signing bonus over $7 million, despite having a defensive reputation when drafted that was inferior to Bailey, albeit still regarded as an above average defender.

---

Hunter Bishop who has played only about 130 games since being dafted 10th overall by the Giants in 2019 is out for the year after elbow surgery

And none of those games has been above A-ball, and he turns 25 in June.

[DC 86]

I remember seeing Bailey's college stats and thinking in my John McEnroe inner voice "You cannot be serious. This guy can't hit, shouldn't be a first round pick, and we already have Joey Bart." I realize they took Bailey because he was more like a 3rd/4th pick, who agreed to sign for much less money.

That's a great story, except that the slot value for the pick was $4.197 million and Bailey signed for $3.8 million, less than a 10% discount. Third and fourth round slot values ranged from 431k to 857k that year.

The Giants had an overall pool of $9.2 million for their five draft picks. They saved on Patrick Bailey (and others) in order to spend just under $2.5 million -- not $710k, their third round slot value -- on their 3th round pick that year. Fella by the name of Kyle Harrison. Their last two picks, Dabovich and Murphy signed for just $197,500 and $22,500 respectively. All of the savings on each draft pick helped the Giants to sign Kyle Harrison.

Frankly, I thought all but Kyle Harrison were a stretch.

Nobody disputes that the Giants shrewdly manipulated their bonus pool money to sign Harrison to an over slot deal. However,

1. You said that they signed Bailey "for much less money" - False. $3.8 million is not much less than $4.197 million, it's less than 10% savings, and given that college players have less leverage than high school players it's pretty standard.

2. You said he was "more like a 3rd-4th pick" - again False. If that was the case the Giants could have offered Bailey $1 million (well above the highest third round slot value) and had over $3 million left over to not only sign Harrison over slot but to also sign their 2nd, 4th and 5th round picks to over slot deals as well, instead of having to go under slot as they did. That didn't happen because Bailey was considered a mid-first round pick by the industry. The Giants didn't offer $3.8 million as a charity.

3. You said that based on his college stats that Bailey "can't hit" - False yet again. He recorded a .979 career OPS (1.151 in his final season) as a well above average defensive catcher in a power conference. For comparison's sake, Joey Bart recorded a .950 career OPS (1.102 in his final season) playing in the same conference, and he was drafted #2 overall and received a signing bonus over $7 million, despite having a defensive reputation when drafted that was inferior to Bailey, albeit still regarded as an above average defender.

---

Hunter Bishop who has played only about 130 games since being dafted 10th overall by the Giants in 2019 is out for the year after elbow surgery

And none of those games has been above A-ball, and he turns 25 in June.