"At the end of a long, sometimes agonizing day of negotiations on Monday, Mariners scouting director Tom McNamara received a text message from Danny Hultzen.

"Thank you! Can't wait to get started!" Hultzen wrote.

Hultzen, the Mariners' No. 1 draft choice in June, had just signed a five-year major-league deal that will guarantee him $8.5 million. According to sources, Hultzen received a $6.35 million signing bonus, and the maximum value of the deal is $10.6 million. The guarantee is the fifth-largest in draft history.

As expected, the negotiations with Hultzen, a left-hander pitcher from the University of Virginia, went right down to the 9 p.m. Pacific deadline for teams to get their draft picks signed or else lose their rights.

"At the end, I think he's very excited about becoming a Seattle Mariner, and we are as well," general manager Jack Zduriencik said.

The Mariners also signed their second-round pick, Clemson shortstop Brad Miller. He received a $750,000 bonus according to Baseball America. But the Mariners missed out on their third-rounder, first baseman Kevin Cron, a high-school slugger from Arizona. Cron will instead attend Texas Christian University. The Mariners will receive a compensation pick between the third and fourth rounds in next year's draft.

"We made a very legitimate offer," Zduriencik said of Cron. "We couldn't get an agreement in place tonight. Tom worked very, very hard on it. At the end, you draw the line. We went pretty deep. It was a pretty substantial offer, but we just weren't able to come to terms."

Also signing Monday were right-handed pitcher Carson Smith (eighth round) and shortstop Cavan Cohoes (ninth round).

If the Mariners hadn't signed Hultzen, they would have received the third overall pick in next year's draft as compensation. However, the ballclub could ill afford to let the No. 2 pick in a draft touted as one of the best in years walk away."