Oakland Athletics prospect, NCAA football star and Heisman Trophy-winner Kyler Murray met with team representatives on Sunday to discuss increasing his contract’s value in order to secure his services, in turn foregoing declaring for the NFL Draft, as per Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Mike Leslie of WFAA reports that Murray’s target number in mind is $15 million, as per sources. Passan noted that during Sunday’s meeting in Dallas, “the possibility of Oakland guaranteeing money in addition to Murray’s $4.66 million signing bonus was raised”, adding that in order to do so, “Oakland would need to add Murray to its 40-man roster”.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic adds that “MLB’s position is the Athletics would be permitted to select Kyler Murray to their 40-man roster and sign him to a major league deal because the team did not contemplate or discuss such a possibility as an inducement when it originally signed him”.
Passan noted that MLB would “waive a rule that prevents teams from giving major league contracts to recently drafted players” to accommodate this peculiar scenario, before clarifying his statements, saying that the league “technically would not be waiving a rule”, adding that the “rule prevents major-league contracts for drafted players [and] Murray signed a minor-league deal”.
Rosenthal quoted a rival general manager as saying “everyone knows this isn’t circumvention” before expressing hope that Oakland “can get it done”, adding that “it would be good for the game for Murray to play baseball”.
Jon Morosi of MLB Network points out that Murray would add a fourth minor-league option year “because MLB rules gran a fourth option for players expending their third option year before completing five minor-league seasons”.
We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
