Big Time Bonus

Here's an interesting story detailing the large bonus that may be paid to Cubs fifth round pick Jeff Samardzija, a pitcher/wide receiver, from Notre Dame. What's interesting is how large the bonus potentially could be if Samardzija commits to baseball eventually. Bud Selig also became personally involved in the negotiations apparently and given that the Dodgers were fined last year for paying more than slot money I'm sure the Cubs will also be dinged accordingly. The difference here, however, is that Samardzija, being a two-sport star, has a potentially large payoff in the NFL draft and so the Cubs had to offset that enticement and so the situations are a bit different.

Also, here's a transcript of the BP chat from yesterday.