Red Sox First Round Draft Pick Jason Groome Will Sign For $3.65 Million
Earlier today, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reported that Jason Groome, the 17-year-old left-handed pitcher who the Red Sox selected in the first round of this year’s MLB draft with the No. 12 overall pick, was in Boston to take a physical.
A deal seemed like it was inevitable at that point, so I poked around and spoke with a source who confirmed that Groome had made the decision to sign with the Red Sox. It was later reported by Jon Heyman that Groome would be signing with Boston for $3.65 million. I know — you don’t have any sources, Jared. Fuck you, blah, blah, blah. Awesome.
In case you missed it, the Red Sox traded their top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza earlier tonight in exchange for left-handed starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres. Initially, there was some shock over the Red Sox parting with Espinoza, who has drawn comparisons to Pedro Martinez, but honestly, how many times have we heard that before? “The next Pedro Martinez” has been slapped on several prospects in years past, who haven’t even sniffed Pedro-like performance at the major league level. Needless to say, coughing up Espinoza for a necessary addition to their rotation makes a lot more sense now that they’ve signed Groome.
For a while there, it was looking like it wasn’t going to happen. Leading up to the draft, Groome was projected to be a No. 1 overall pick, and he slipped due to rumors of off-field behavior and signability issues. He fell to the Red Sox at No. 12, and Boston selected him knowing that they could pay him above slot money, which is what they did, but it was still less than many expected. Originally, the thought was that Groome wouldn’t sign for anything less than $4 million, knowing that he had the leverage of going to a junior college and re-entering the draft next year, likely to be taken higher in the draft and paid accordingly.
So, with Espinoza now in San Diego, that made Michael Kopech, who I wrote about earlier today for hitting 105 miles per hour on the radar gun yesterday, the top pitching prospect in Boston’s farm system. But now that Groome is here, that’s certainly open for debate. It’ll be interesting to see how outlets like Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com and SoxProspects.com rank Groome within the Red Sox’s system. It’s worth sharing again what ESPN’s Keith Law wrote about Groome after he was drafted.
This was the pick of the night, and about as good a sign as Red Sox fans can get on the direction of the amateur scouting department under new president Dave Dombrowski. Groome was No. 2 on my board with a case for No. 1, an athletic lefty with a grade-70 curveball and very easy arm action who slipped due to concerns about his character off the field. On the field, he’s as promising as it gets, and the Red Sox should be thrilled to get someone with this kind of upside even though they didn’t have a pick in the top 10. Several teams ahead of them had the chance to take him and passed in favor of good prospects but guys I ranked lower because they lack Groome’s upside.
The Red Sox have a long history of not being able to draft and develop good pitchers. The last legit ace that they’ve been able to draft and develop on their own was Jon Lester. Prior to Lester, can we even count Clay Buchholz? I vote no. I’d argue that Jonathan Papelbon belongs in that conversation, despite being a reliever. He’s the Red Sox all-time saves leader, and has gone on to have a very good major league career. But before those names, it was, what? Roger Clemens? That’s the challenge that the Red Sox will now face — draft and develop an ace in Jason Groome. Do not fuck this up.