Seattle selected Stephen Baron, a high school catcher and defense extraordinaire, with the 33rd overall pick in the draft.  It was a multi-round reach and supposed to be a money saving signibility pick, and we had heard for a couple weeks that there was a pre-draft deal in place.  Since we knew about said deal it wasn’t a huge shock to hear Baron’s name called at 33, even after the Mariners went cheap at 27.

Shortly after the draft it was reported that Baron still wanted to play for Duke, who upped their scholarship to 90%.  Baron said he wanted $1.3M to play with the Mariners, and that he’ll be willing to negotiate all the way to the August 17th deadline.  $1.3M is only a couple hundred thousand less than what a legitimate first rounder like Rex Brothers may be asking for, and upwards of half a million more than what Seattle planned on paying him.

What pre-draft agreement?

Keith Law, via Twitter:

Second time I’ve heard in four days that Stephen Baron has backed out of his predraft deal with the Mariners.

Backing out of a handshake agreement like that shows a lack of integrity, but I don’t really blame him for wanting to take advantage of a near full scholarship to a university as great as Duke, especially if he knows his bat may not develop enough to make big money as a pro ballplayer.

Baron is not worth slot at number 33, which is approximately what $1.3M is.  He’s barely worth the middle ground of about $1M.  Could be an interesting couple of weeks as our signibility pick becomes a tough sign.

There is a bright side to all of this.  If he doesn’t sign then the Mariners will get the 34th pick in 2010, and maybe they’ll use it to take the best player available.  (Edit: I was just reminded that since the M’s would have to sign next year’s pick, they would probably go signibility again.  That could still be a better player than Baron.)

Stay tuned.