A Giant contract number for Posey?

Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette offers weekly commentary for jacksonville. com This is his entry for Thursday June 5.


With Florida State superstar Buster Posey being selected fifth by the San Francisco Giants in Thursday's Major League Baseball free agent draft, the hard part now will be coming to contract terms with the Seminoles' All-American catcher.
SIgning bonuses have been a tricky negotiation for clubs and agents over the past decade. With ESPN reporting that Posey wants as much as $12 million, speculation will escalate that it could be a long, drawn-out process before Posey begins his professional baseball career.
Posey, who leads all of college baseball in batting average (.468), slugging percentage (.897) and on-base percentage (.572), was the MVP of last weekend's Tallahassee NCAA regional and is a finaist for the Golden Spikes award, symbolic of the nation's top collegiate player. The question becomes how much is signing the consensus top defensive catcher and one of the best power hitters around worth to the Giants, who are weak at the position in their farm system.
Major League Baseball has had a "slotting" system in place since 2000 as a way of helping its teams sign the top drafted players without paying runaway prices for their services. However, the richer teams like the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox have been known to pay well above the slotting price to obtain the services of players they covet.
Posey, considered to be ready for the big leagues within two years, will likely want far above the approximate $3 million slotting price for someone in the No. 5 spot.
Last year, Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters was taken with the fifth pick and was given a signing bonus of $6 million by the Baltimore Orioles, more than double the $2.475 million bonus handed to Clemson pitcher Daniel Moskos, who was picked at No. 4 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wieters is a client of agent Scott Boras, who has a reputation of demanding well above market value for his draft picks.
Posey will be represented by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which has recently ventured into the sports field after being the exclusive domain for actors, directors and music artists for decades.
Posey, who still has one year of eligibility left at FSU, has until the start of fall classes to sign a contract with the Giants. He could elect to return for his senior year, but it's doubtful his value will be any higher than it is at the moment.
In 1997, Boras client and FSU outfielder J.D. Drew was the No. 2 pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, but turned down a $3 million signing bonus and went back into the following draft in 1998. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and received an $8 million signing bonus.
Since then, Major League Baseball has tried to keep signing bonuses from getting out of hand, but the final price tag is at the discretion of the individual club. The San Francisco Giants don't have a reputation as a high-paying club when it comes to signing bonuses, but that could change with Posey.
With the aging Bengie Molina's contract expiring after the 2009 season, the Giants have no big-time catching prospects, though 21-year-old Pablo Sandoval got off to a hot start at Class A San Jose this season.
San Francisco desperately needs Posey, but it looks it's going to take a record signing bonus for them to get FSU's standout player in a Giant uniform.