Cubs Continue Spending Spree: Record Bonus Given to 11th Rounder

Baseball America's John Manuel reports this week that the Chicago Cubs just gave their 11th Round draft pick Chris Huseby a $1.3 million bonus (first round money), which is the highest bonus ever paid to an eleventh rounder by $750,000 ("Cubs Give 11th-Rounder Huseby Record Bonus"). Huseby is a 6'7" right-handed pitcher out of Martin County High in Stuart, Florida. The Cubs also reportedly gave their 14th rounder, a prep outfielder from Oregon, a signing bonus in the amount of $500,000 (third round money). Recently, I discussed the contract the Cubs just gave to their fifth rounder, two-sport Notre Dame star Jeff Samardzija, who is guaranteed $7.25 million if he makes baseball his primary sport sometime over the next five years.

I have been following the MLB draft each year since I signed my first minor league contract back in 1989, and I can't remember this type of free spending on amateur players since 1996 when Scott Boras had a couple of his draft picks designated as free agents by exploiting a loophole in the Major League Rules regarding the tendering of contracts. I'm not one that questions teams' decisions when it comes to scouting and draft picks because that's their business and that's what they know best, but Huseby's signing is even more intriguing than the Samardzija signing because Huseby had Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2005 and only pitched a total of 5 innings in 4 appearances all spring in 2006! How could the Cubs possibly be that confident about Huseby's projectability having seen him throw only a few innings this past spring and coming off Tommy John surgery last year? Furthermore, in those few one inning appearances, it is reported that he threw in the 90-93 mph range, which is not considered to be "lighting up the radar gun" by any means. I'm just a law professor, but doesn't the fact that he has only thrown 5 innings all spring tend to suggest that maybe he's still not healthy and that maybe he has trouble consistently maintaining that velocity?

According to Manuel: "Huseby's family said it would take first-round money for the righty to bypass college, and the Cubs had enough of a track record on Huseby (including crosschecking him this spring) to feel comfortable rolling the dice." I guess I could understand rolling the dice for maybe $100,000, but for $1.3 million? And it's only the first week of July! Even if the Cubs really want to sign him, they still have plenty of time left before he starts college in the fall in which to negotiate a lower signing bonus figure. Just because the family said it would take first-round money to sign him, doesn't mean they would not have ultimately settled for much less. It's interesting to note that Huseby and Samardzija have the same agent (oops, sorry, I mean "advisor"), who apparently is a long-time friend of Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

Posted in: