a.m.s.

Pirates get some love on both fronts. Listed first under the winners:

Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates were having an awful August at the big league level, falling out of contention for the National League playoffs. But they revived the hopes of their reinvigorated fans by signing No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole for a straight $8 million bonus and getting second-rounder Josh Bell done for $5 million.

Cole’s contract was a surprise only in that he didn’t receive a major league contract, which has become the norm for college pitchers at the top of the first round. Instead, he received the largest bonus in draft history for a player who signed with the team that drafted him, breaking the $7.5 million bonus record set in 2009 as part of Stephen Strasburg’s $15 million major league deal.

Bell’s bonus is the largest in draft history for a player picked after the first round, shattering the old mark of $2.75 million set in 2000 by Rockies second-rounder Jason Young. More on Bell later.

Then, under the losers is every team that passed on Josh Bell.

Teams That Passed On Josh Bell: There have to be 28 teams (the Tigers didn’t draft early enough to have a shot at him) that were stunned to see Bell sign for $5 million. The Texas prep outfielder’s family sent a letter to all 30 clubs indicating his unwillingness to sign—a letter that most scouting departments viewed as heartfelt and sincere—and it was rumored in early August that it could take an eight-figure bonus to land Bell.

The Pirates took the plunge in June, spending a second-round pick on Bell, and wound up being rewarded. Plenty of teams are happy with what they got, but many of them are wondering how different they’d feel if they had added Bell for $5 million.

The draft has become like Christmas for the Pirates. Now comes the hard part — developing the talent.

Cole was obviously going to sign — was only a matter of how much and when ($8 million and midnight). The bigger question was Bell, who told every team not to draft him. The Pirates did anyways. They offered him $5 million — he’s now a Pirate.

Tremendous work once again by Neal Huntington and the Pirates front office. That’s almost $50 million spent on the draft during their regime. Unreal.