Pirates Sign Gerrit Cole... and Josh Bell

That's right the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed their first and second round 2011 draft picks.

Both negotiations went down to the wire but the Pirates were able to get both guys. Nobody was expecting them to not sign Cole, but almost everyone was expecting Bell to wind up at Texas this fall.

We don't know how much these two signed for, but you would have to think the Pirates spent 12-15 million total in these deals. I don't think anybody will be complaining, these two guys will instantly be top-5 prospects in this system and probably top-50 guys in the major leagues. These signings were absolutely huge for the organization and make our future even brighter. We'll have more details when they are available.

Update: Josh Bell got $5 million dollars in his deal, and Cole got $8 million. That's less than I was expecting for both players, great deals. Let's go Bucs.