Milwaukee Brewers have the second-lowest bonus pool for 2019 MLB Draft

FanGraphs has released the 2019 draft signing bonus pool for each team and it doesn’t look great for the Milwaukee Brewers.

According to FanGraphs, the Brewers have the second-lowest draft pool in baseball at $5,148,200. The Brewers can use that money to sign the players selected in the draft this June. The team will face a penalty for exceeding these totals. The penalties are as follows:

• 0-5% and the Brewers pay a 75% on the overages
• 5-10% over and the team pays the tax and loses their first-round pick for next year
• 10-15% over ups the tax to 100% and costs the team their first-round pick
• 15% or more means the Crew pays a 100% tax and they will lose their next two first-round picks

The 2019 draft pool total is a downgrade from the Brewers’ $6,572,600 in 2018. It’s also only beats the Boston Red Sox, which has a total of $4,788,100.

Most of the Brewers’ draft capital comes from their first pick — 28th overall — which gives the Crew $2,493,900. That’s nearly half of their entire bonus pool. Here are the slot values for each of Milwaukee’s picks:

Round 1 (21). $2,493,900
Round 2 (65). $1,025,100
Round 4 (133). $422,300
Round 5 (163). $315,400
Round 6 (193). $244,900
Round 7 (223). $192,900
Round 8 (253). $162,000
Round 9 (283). $149,500
Round 10 (313). $142,200

Milwaukee lost a good chunk of its bonus when it traded the competitive balance pick (41 overall) to the Texas Rangers for Alex Claudio. The competitive balance pick had a slot value of $1,813,500. Then, the team lost its third-round pick when it signed Yasmani Grandal in free agency. That third rounder would have come in at around $560,000. Had the Brewers kept those two picks, they would have come into the draft with $7,521,700, putting the Crew 20th in the league.

Oh, by the way, the Brewers would lose yet another pick if they signed Craig Kimbrel or Dallas Keuchel, and two draft picks if they signed both. Just signing one would be enough to bring Milwaukee below Boston, setting them at dead last for draft capitol.