The Pirates did, they offered $3.8 million and his slot was $2.9.

The rational to protect the bottom 10 teams was fine but they didn't foresee this scenario developing. I think the Mets have a good chance here.

I really hope this helps the Mets...we have been screwed enough times...

Guess so. But easy enough to pick a player that's known to want top $$$ & lowball him so he won't sign. And you get good pick in a stronger draft yr.

Hope so. Fingers crossed. Other body parts crossed too.

I don't know, they should, but as we're finding out they created a whole set of new issues. In any case, the Pirates offered way over slot so it wouldn't apply.

I understand the "protection" concept (FA opportunity + 1st rd pick for the bottom 10), but not the "rain-check" on unused picks, regardless of draft order station.

Not sure about rain check. Might be because making a good faith effort still might not get player to sign for whatever reason (go to college?). Seems like a harsh penalty to say "use it or lose it." Especially if it's a 1st or 2nd rd pick. And especially for a bad team trying to improve for the future.

Not sure it should carry over more than just to the following yr though (at least in the 1st or 2nd rd). Think it would now with current rule. Someone came up with a theoretical scenario that shows how flawed the rule is:

http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?sr=y&msg=547789.9&nav=messages&webtag=ml-mets

"A no 3 pick team can pick,not sign,do that for 6 years and by the time year 7 comes around they have 7 of the top ten picks in a strong draft class.
dont get me wrong, i dont see a team ever doing that,maybe the marlins,but it could happen."

It would be wrong to set a precendent just to help a pal. Besides, I'd rather we not sign him.
The team has a certain chemistry, and I'd rather not mess things up.

Adam Rubin ESPN

Adam Rubin ?@AdamRubinESPN

MLB has zero incentive to change it. By essentially upping number of protected picks to 11 they're encouraging more bidders--driving up cost

Details

I like that idea and it gives the team a little more leverage if the draftee knows he cants just wait it out.

Stanford pitcher Mark Appel, who is being advised by Scott Boras, was forecast to be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft. The Houston Astros instead picked Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa, who received a bonus of $4.8 million, far less than the $7.2 million slot for the first pick. Boras watched Appel slide to the eighth pick, chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The plummet lowered Appel's slot to $2.9 million, and the $ 3.8 million offer was not deemed enough by Scott Boras, and this is how the Mets lost the 10th pick for 2013.

Boras is probably now suggesting to the Met FO to protest losing a draft choice to MLB so that he can bid up the price on Bourn by using the Mets so that he can receive a BJ Upton type deal. (The Mets are being played by Boras)

The Harvard GM is playing catch up here as he 1) should have protested this rule months ago when the Met pick was lowered from 10th to 11th & 2) he should have made a run at Bourn earlier say when BJ Upton was signed & he is just waking up now because he is embarrased that the joke will be on him and not the OF once the season gets started.

How does it increase bidders if you are still only protecting the intended 10 teams.

It is a Boras ploy to play the Mets into bidding up Bourn's value

There is no Met plan other than keeping the Wilpon Mets afloat. They were afraid that casual Met fans would not buy tickets without David Wright as a front for a AAA roster. If they were truly rebuilding they would have traded both Reyes & Wright for a boatload of prospects and signed FA's or traded for high ceiling players with their new prospects.

Ok let me do my Sandy impression>
Sorry Met fans, we asked MLB to protect our draft pick but they said no. Look here is a check for 12Million with Bourns name on it but we can not lose the pick. See we tried. Now someone get me Sizemore on the phone, "Is he out of surgery yet" Ill offer him $50K and a box of donuts.

I actually want the Mets to bring in Sizemore lol. I 1 year deal with a 2014 team option would be smart.

DFAB Stop it! What has become of us? We used to be a REAL franchise! We used to sign TOP Free Agents all the time! Now we get wood thinking of a broken down Sizemore. LOL Man things would be looking up if we were a Pirates fan! Im jealous, they have money! LOL