The Sox have gotten a fair amount of plaudits in the past for their ability to "place a value on a player and then walk away" if the price goes too high. They were able to take that approach both for major league free agents (Teixeira), and in the draft. There's a "feel good" approach to telling the players they are asking too much and walking away -- a sample from this board just before the signing deadline:

Oh my, they had the nerve to offer him only 3rd to 6th round money. Sham on the Red Sox F.O. These people think the Sox don't do there due dilligence on these picks. They know who derserves what. At least in my eyes they made an offer. That's all I ask.

But do the Sox really have a good grasp on value? Or more specifically, are they too fiscally frugal? Take a look at the 2010 draft preview thread.

ziggyosk41 wrote: He lists former Sox draftees: Yasmani Grandal, Justin Grimm, and Nick Tepesch as top prospects for next year's draft and he mentions Grandal as perhaps the Top unsigned pick from 2007. (he has Alex Meyer as one of the potential first picks for 2011)

Add to this list the history of the unsigned 2005 and 2006 drafts, which featured Matt Laporta, Alan Dykstra and Jason Castro, the 2008 draft that featured Pedro Alvarez all of whom became subsequent first round picks. In addition, the Sox failed to sign players who became 2nd rounder Charlie Blackmon, Bryan Morgado (3rd rounder), and Scott Green (3rd rounder) (I won't include Beau Mills, who was a special case, or Tepesch who was going to be a difficult sign).

That's a fairly significant amount of talent unsigned by the Sox. In many cases, the walk-away was over a hundred thousand or so (e.g., Alvarez, who we offered just under a million, and I believe could have gotten done at just over a million). (Thankfully, they shot their wad for Kelly and Westmoreland).


Now, I'm not trying to cherry pick, and recognize that extending a further $100,000 or $200,000 for each pick is not entirely feasible. I also acknowledge that many non-monetary factors can cause players to choose college over signing -- I tried to eliminate Tepesch and Mills from my sample for example. That said, Boston seems to have lost a lot more top end players than comparable high-revenue teams like the Yankees and Angels.