O's close in on signing some draft picks

Now that the First-Year Player Draft is over, it's time for scouting directors around baseball to start signing some of the players they selected. That process has already begun for the Orioles who already are close to an agreement with their fourth-round pick, Auburn outfielder Trent Mummey. "We do have a pretty good understanding with Mummey, our fourth-round pick. I think he's ready. Klein at three (from UCLA) is still playing. They're in the Super Regionals this weekend. We'll have to wait like we always do with some of the top guys," O's scouting director Joe Jordan said a few moments ago in the Camden Yards press box. The Orioles reportedly could sign 10 to 12 draft picks over the next few days, but only Mummey among the top ten round picks. Mummey could possibly start at Aberdeen or maybe even with Delmarva. "We've got a lot of players that are ready to go. I think the money is fine. I've got to take care of some administrative things on my end. I'll do that hopefully by sometime tomorrow and we'll be ready to sign the guys." Jordan repeated what he said yesterday when asked about fifth-round pick Conner Narron. "We'll sign Conner, I feel good about that." Negotiations have not begun with top pick, shortstop Manny Machado and those talks are expected to take a while. "I don't think it's going to happen any time soon. I'll talk with Manny tomorrow and I told him I'll give it a couple of days to let it calm down. It's going to take some time, there is no way around that. He's one of the better players in the draft, so we're going to have to wait." Today the O's made picks for rounds 31 through 50, ending their portion of the process taking high school pitcher Phillip Walby with their last pick. "We did two or three different things today. We filled rosters, we had some needs we had to take care of our lower level clubs. We also took some summer follows, some kids that are going to cost some money, we're going to follow this summer. "Some high school, some college, that's mainly what today was, a combination of those two things. "We identified some priority guys, some target guys last night, a handful of them that we really wanted to get, but it was mainly fill the rosters, take on some summer projects and see where it goes." Jordan was asked if he could identify a player or players that would be the hardest to sign. "We may have taken a couple of guys down in the draft that the likelihood of signing them is small. But, for the most part, the guys that we took in any meaningful part of the draft, I feel like I'll have a budget to go sign them all. "We were talking today with our scouts and saying this a great day because we are going to put a whole new group in our system like we do every year. It will also signal the end for some of the players that are in our system, but that's the way it works."