Cubs First Rounder Considering Turning Down Offer
LSU pitcher Alex Lange was selected in the first round, 30th overall, by the Chicago Cubs in last month’s amateur draft. A baseball players dream, to be drafted by a Major League team, and the opportunity to join one of the game’s best franchises.
But all of that could be delayed for the 21-year-old Lange.
According to multiple reports, there was an issue in Lange’s physical. Because of that issue, the Cubs are now offering less than the slotted $2,184,300 for the 30th pick.
“The sides continue to talk about a deal that would presumably be less than the slot bonus value of $2,184,300 for the No. 30 pick”, league sources told FanRag Sports.
The power righty that features a devastating curve was 10-5 with a 2.97 ERA as the Tigers ace last season, his junior year. Alex can decide too return for his senior season if the two sides cannot come to an agreement by 5 PM today.
If he returns to LSU, it might not leave the Cubs empty handed. The Cubs can offer him a large percentage of the slot to retain their rights to be awarded a compensatory pick.
Lange may elect to agree to terms with Chicago as there’s no guarantee he would be able to regain that slot money. While returning to LSU is a large bargaining chip he gets to use, if he underperforms he will lose his negotiation chip and could potentially lose more than a million dollars if he falls in the draft.
Falling in the draft isn’t out of the question either. Thought to be a top 10 pick early in his college career, his underwhelming sophomore campaign hurt his stock. While regaining some off his value, would he bet on himself again?
IMO, it’s fine if a kid wants to finish what he started at school. But if he has any intentions of doing so he should let be known so a pick isn’t wasted on him. It’s called respect, a quality becoming rare these days.
He did sign with the team before the deadline. But it wasn’t about going back to finish anything, he was using going back to school as leverage in the contract negotiations. Kids do this all the time, mostly as leverage, but it didn’t really work in his case since there was something wrong in his physical.