:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52940475/598760348.0.jpg)
The Texas Rangers 2017 draft bonus pool allotment would be $7,262,700 under the proposal currently existing, according to Baseball America. BA notes that the slot money for the #1 pick is lower than last year, with the overall gaps between each pick at the top less, and the slot bonuses from #55 on being lower as well. The goal is apparently to minimize the amount of “flexibility teams have” to “redistribute their bonus pools” by signing players in later rounds to below-slot deals.
Texas has, under this proposal, the 16th largest bonus pool in the 2017 draft. Their pool is bolstered by having both their own pick at #26, and a compensatory pick at #29 for losing Ian Desmond after they made him a qualifying offer.
Texas has been one of the teams that has been most aggressive in manipulating their bonus pool money. The mechanism has been for teams to select seniors or other very signable players in the 4th through 10th rounds for well below slot money, which can then be applied to give players elsewhere in the draft more money. Other teams have used the dramatic drop in the slot values of the first few picks to pressure potential draftees to take significantly less money than slot. We shall see if these changes have a significant impact this year.