The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed first overall pick Gerrit Cole, and second round pick Josh Bell, according to Jon Heyman (Cole, Bell).
Cole will get $8 M, and it’s a minor league deal, per Dejan Kovacevic. The bonus is the highest in draft history, topping the $7.5 M bonus that Stephen Strasburg received. It’s also a record for the Pirates.
Josh Bell gets $5 M. That’s the fourth biggest bonus given out by the Pirates, behind Cole, Jameson Taillon, and Pedro Alvarez.
The two bonuses bring the Pirates’ total spending to just under $16.5 M, which is a draft record. That doesn’t include unannounced bonuses, which will bring the total to over $17 M.
The Pirates have officially announced each move. The draft pick signing tracker is updated with the moves.
+ postsTim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.
WOW. just WOW – never thought we would get Bell. The Bucs are now a Big League Organization.
Woop Woop!
What a coup!
Great news to wake up to today.
While very happy they signed both Cole and Bell, 5M for a mid-1st round talent (Bell) is a lot of money. Lots of upside though, I’m looking forward to seeing him progress over the next few years.
any update on watts
watts didn’t sign
I think the system is finally rebuilt!
Unbelievable. Just… unbelievable.
What a great day for the Pirates. The Bell signing shows once again this team is serious.
Not too shabby of a draft. Maybe this just bought N.H. another year of fans’ animosity.
Not to mention the eye-rolling and head-shaking of the pundits and the denizens of the P-G Asylum who will moan “Same old cheap Pirates” when the club doesn’t go all-in on some free agent.
haha, exactly, just because they won’t pay 40-50% over market value for maybe, possibly one free agent, that could only pose a relative improvement of 5-10 games, when they’d need to win 20 to make the playoffs.