PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) — Pirates President Frank Coonelly joined Seibel, Starkey and Miller on Sportsradio 93-7 The FAN to talk about the drafting of Stanford Starting Pitcher Mark Appel in the first round of the MLB Draft, as well as the new slotting system for the draft, and where the team could run into penalties for overpaying players.

Coonelly told us the penalties for overpaying are severe, and were designed that way to prevent teams from over spending.  We also heard from Frank what these draft rules would have done to their past drafts, especially last years when the organization spent $13 million on their first two picks.

This years first round pick, Mark Appel is a Scott Boras client like last years first two picks, and Coonelly told us what sort of posturing has already been done by Boras to gain leverage, and the teams expectations for signing him.

The money that the team saves on the draft under the new rules, according to Coonelly will be used on the team in other ways.