UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole and the Pirates beat the deadline to sign when the top selection in the June amateur draft agreed late Monday night to a minor league contract with an $8M signing bonus. Cole had been among 23 first-round picks facing a midnight deadline to reach agreements with major league teams. "It's essentially the largest signing bonus ever given an amateur player," Pirates GM Neal Huntington said. "Sometimes, it's more advantageous for a player to take a minor league contract with a bonus that can be spread over nine months than a major league contract that would be spread out over four years."