Red Sox, eighth round pick Alan Marrero agree on $160,000 deal

The Red Sox have agreed to a $160,000 signing bonus for eighth-round pick Alan Marrero according to Jonathan Mayo.

For those counting up GroomeBucks^TM this doesn't do much to move the needle for the Red Sox or their first-round pick. Slot value for Marrero's pick is slightly over $180,000 which, when you toss in the 5% overage they're allowed, leaves them with a hair under $30,000 extra to add to the pot for Groome or, depending on how those talks go, some of the potential over-slot guys they picked after the first 10 rounds.

It's hard to really call this more or less than they should have gotten from the pick, as there's not all that much information available on guys once you get down to the later rounds. We know Marrero is a young catcher with a strong glove and a weak bat, but relatively little else, including how much interest there was in him from other organizations. It's not entirely surprising that it took some money to land him given that he had a commitment to Alabama State, but it also wouldn't have been terribly surprising if they'd signed him for $25,000.

However much they expected him to go for, though, this is one more prospect and $30,000 more in bonus pool space that the Red Sox would not have had if they'd failed to sign Marrero, so in that sense, it's simply a positive.