It might not really speak to Billfer’s point too much, though, which was getting elite talent like Miller and Porcello as a later pick may not be possible anymore. (I know Miller was the sixth pick, but nobody thought he should’ve slipped that far.) Regardless of what teams are doing in the later rounds, if they’re not from Houston, they seem to be committing to taking the top talent and taking their medicine when it comes to the boni.

I think the idea of spending over slot in the later rounds does, however, speak to the proper approach in response to this fact. Teams need to do due diligence to find guys who will waver on their desire to go to college and guys whose injury concerns aren’t all that concerning. Then they need to pony up and get those guys in the fold.

We can also look at the Tigers draft relative to some preseason draft rankings – did they in fact take the best available guys, as ranked by a consensus of those rankings? or did they pass on a guy due to injury/financial constraints?

Regardless of that, the Royals in particular stepped up in a big way this draft, which supports the overall point. Hopefully they picked the right players to reward with their largesse.