Will Josh Bell Sign With The Pirates?
Pittsburgh (KDKA)- The deadline for the Pittsburgh Pirates to sign 2nd round pick Josh Bell has arrived.
If the two sides can't come to an agreement by tonight at midnight, the Pirates will lose their rights to Bell.
Throughout this entire period, it's been reported that it's not about the money and Bell just wants to play at Texas.
Over the last couple of weeks, we've heard that $10 million wouldn't be enough to get Bell signed.
In the entire history of the draft, only 11 players have received a bonus of $6 million or more. None of those players went lower than fifth overall.
Keep in mind, the Bell family or Scott Boras (Bell's advisor) haven't made any public comments.
Tim Williams, who runs a great website called Piratesprospects.com, brings up a couple of great points regarding Bell not wanting to sign.
Williams doesn't totally believe Bell is serious about this. Here's why:
1) His adviser is Scott Boras
2) There are the rumors that MLB asked if he wanted to be removed from the draft list, and his mom said no. Those rumors make too much sense, as it would be easier to appeal to MLB to remove his name from the list, rather than asking all 30 teams to pass on him 50+ times.
3) 3. Speaking of that letter, why bother with it? If you don't intend to sign, what does it matter if someone drafts you?
4) I never buy the "school is important" line.
One way or another, this story will have an ending tonight at midnight.
