The deadline to sign 2007 draft picks passed at 9 p.m. (PT) Wednesday and the Angels did not reach an agreement with right-hander Matt Harvey. The third-round pick was the Angels’ highest selection still unsigned.That the Angels were able to snag first-round-caliber talent in the third round of the June draft became moot Wednesday when they were unable to sign highly touted Connecticut high school pitcher Matt Harvey, who rejected an offer of $1 million and will attend the University of North Carolina.
A 6-foot-4, 210-pound product of R.E. Fitch High School in Groton, Conn., Harvey is represented by Scott Boras. Ranked among the premier prep products available, Harvey fell in the Draft when word circulated that it would take a $2 million bonus to sign him.
The Angels, who did not have a first-round pick, offered what they thought was about mid-first-round money -- the Rangers signed Texas high school pitcher Blake Beavan, the 17th overall pick, for $1.5 million -- but it wasn't enough to lure Harvey away from college.
"I'm real excited about going to college," Harvey said. "It was going to take something special to get me away from school," and what the Angels offered wasn't "near what it was going to take."
Under new rules governing the draft this year, Harvey will go back into the draft pool and the Angels will be compensated with another third-round pick in next year’s draft.
"We picked him knowing he had an agent who it might be difficult to get a deal done with, but also knowing if we failed to make a deal, we'd get a replacement pick," Stoneman said. "The offer we made was very generous for a guy drafted 118th” Stoneman said on Wednesday night.
Stoneman said he didn’t consider drafting Harvey a gamble because "we didn’t view the downside as being that much (because they will receive another pick as compensation in 2008) and the upside is getting a guy we really liked."
The Angels spent weeks trying to determine Harvey's value but didn't make their offer until Tuesday, one day before the deadline to sign him. It was common knowledge what Harvey was looking for, so did the fact the Angels came up considerably short make Harvey wonder why the Angels bothered drafting him?
"I don't really know," Harvey said. "You always think, if they're going to draft me, why wouldn't they make a run at me? I'll just go to school and be a top-five pick in three years and double what I could get now."
Angels scouting director Eddie Bane had a different perspective."You have three years to sit there and worry about injury," he said. If Harvey took the offer, he'd be "financially set for a long time," Bane continued. "It's baffling, but it's expected."
"What we've tried to do with all our guys like Jered Weaver, (Nick) Adenhart, (Sean) O'Sullivan is evaluate these kids each in their own right, put them where we think they would fall in a quote-unquote normal draft (without sign-ability issues)," Bane said. "That's what we did with Harvey."
"I'm real excited about going to college," Harvey said. "It was going to take something special to get me away from school," and what the Angels offered wasn't "near what it was going to take."
Under new rules governing the draft this year, Harvey will go back into the draft pool and the Angels will be compensated with another third-round pick in next year’s draft.
"We picked him knowing he had an agent who it might be difficult to get a deal done with, but also knowing if we failed to make a deal, we'd get a replacement pick," Stoneman said. "The offer we made was very generous for a guy drafted 118th” Stoneman said on Wednesday night.
Stoneman said he didn’t consider drafting Harvey a gamble because "we didn’t view the downside as being that much (because they will receive another pick as compensation in 2008) and the upside is getting a guy we really liked."
The Angels spent weeks trying to determine Harvey's value but didn't make their offer until Tuesday, one day before the deadline to sign him. It was common knowledge what Harvey was looking for, so did the fact the Angels came up considerably short make Harvey wonder why the Angels bothered drafting him?
"I don't really know," Harvey said. "You always think, if they're going to draft me, why wouldn't they make a run at me? I'll just go to school and be a top-five pick in three years and double what I could get now."
Angels scouting director Eddie Bane had a different perspective."You have three years to sit there and worry about injury," he said. If Harvey took the offer, he'd be "financially set for a long time," Bane continued. "It's baffling, but it's expected."
"What we've tried to do with all our guys like Jered Weaver, (Nick) Adenhart, (Sean) O'Sullivan is evaluate these kids each in their own right, put them where we think they would fall in a quote-unquote normal draft (without sign-ability issues)," Bane said. "That's what we did with Harvey."
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