The night before the Draft is a time when rumors of deals can run rampant. This year appears no different, with the Rays at 4 and the Braves at 5 the teams subject to the most speculation right now. In both cases, the deal would include signing a player for well below pick value in order to use the savings to aggressively go after talent with later picks.
Tampa is being mentioned with just one name: Bubba Thompson. Thompson, a two-sport star from the Alabama high school ranks, is No. 26 on our Top 200 Draft prospects list and will be in attendance at MLB Network on Monday night. The Rays have the third-highest Draft bonus pool at just over $12.5 million. They have a Competitive Balance Round A pick at No. 31, then their second-round selection at No. 40. There is still a very good chance they'll take the best player available, someone like Royce Lewis, but they do like Thompson's tools, and the money saved could come in handy with those next two picks.
Atlanta appears to have many balls in the air currently. If Lewis or Vanderbilt right-hander Kyle Wright gets to the Braves at five (something that could certainly happen at this point), they could certainly go that route. But they could also decide to cut a deal, something they did at No. 3 last year with Ian Anderson, allowing them to get high school arms like Joey Wentz and Kyle Muller for above pick value. If they wanted to go the high school arm route again, Shane Baz is the name that comes up often. But there are lot of bats in play as potential money-savers. On the high school side, there's Nick Pratto, the SoCal first baseman, as well as Texas outfielder Tristen Lutz. And if a college hitter is what they're in the market for, Virginia's Adam Haseley has long been associated with this pick and the Braves have talked to Keston Hiura as well. Pratto, Lutz and Hiura all came in for workouts in Atlanta.