It all happened pretty much as expected

When the dust settled and the day was over, there were no real surprises. The Orioles got Manny Machado and they said from the beginning they were confident they would. Jim Callis, in this space last week, said it was 99.9 percent certain. He said that for a few reasons I'm sure but one of the biggest was that most of these kids do sign every year. In the end, all the worry about how many O's unsigned top ten picks there were as the deadline neared was wasted worry. The O's total signings of 39 is a big number. It's the most Joe Jordan has signed in his six years as scouting director, topping the 38 players from 2007. In each of those years by the way, there was only one top ten O's pick that did not sign. That is true this year as well with sixth-round pick Dixon Anderson. Looking back on the day, the one thing that puzzles me is Buster Olney's report on ESPN where he said "the big question in baseball is whether the O's will sign Machado." First of all, to my knowledge, he was the only one reporting or hinting that the deal might not get done. Secondly, all along the O's knew this would cost five million. They knew it and they paid it. For all the criticism the club has gotten over signing Matt Hobgood, where some think they did it to save money, when the O's have had a pick that they knew would cost a big number, like Wieters and Machado, they cut the check. Now comes the math. It's exciting to add 39 players to the system, but most will never make it. That is just the math when it comes to the draft. Also, with that bonus comes pressure for Machado. Fans will expect greatness from the start. That may not happen. Maybe high school kids take a year or two to adjust to pro ball. For the first time in their lives some will be away from home and playing every day vs. the highest level of competition they've ever faced. Finally, baseball needs to move this signing date up. Machado could have signed for this amount months ago. It's not his fault or Scott Boras's fault that he didn't. There were 17 unsigned first-round picks as yesterday began. The system is broken and needs to be fixed. And now, on with the rest of this season......