epic failure
Well the Major League Baseball Amatuer Draft signing deadline has officially passed, and only three 1st rounders went unsigned: Aaron Crow (Missouri), Josh Fields (Georgia), and Gerrit Cole (Lutheran HS – pictured above).
Seattle has until a week before the 2009 Draft to come to terms with Josh Fields because he was a college senior, and there’s a 90% chance that he signs on the dotted line in the next few days. However, the Nationals failure to sign Aaron Crow over a gap of less than an extra $1 million in bonus demands is inexcusable.
It is equally as bad for the New York Yankees to have lost Gerrit Cole, although no one saw this coming. The tall right-handed pitcher from California evidently had a change in heart and was unwilling to sign for any amount of money, as he wanted to attend UCLA this fall. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Cole made this decision just days before the signing deadline, rather than in early June.
In the next couple of days I’ll sort through the names and see what team had the best draft, and what team had the worst.
From One Schmohawk to Another 
September 19, 2008 at 8:17 am
There is a rumour that Aaron Crow did not want to play for the nationals and was asking for closer to 8 million, and then switched it down to 4 million hours before the deadline to appear as if his offer was reasonable. Could this be true? If the Nats really did give up a top pick over less than a million, those of us suffering through this season should be outraged. Unbelievable, since washington could have had a #1/#2 combo after the 09 draft if Crow had signed.
December 17, 2008 at 9:33 pm
And just think of how bad this looks if the Nationals go ahead and throw senseless money to Mark Teixeira, who will lead them no where. He could do nothing to propel the Texas Rangers to October baseball, bring the Braves back into relevance in the NL East, or put the Angel’s over the top against the Red Sox for once. If he couldn’t help those teams, he can’t possibly help the Nationals.
If Nationals have $150+ million to burn, they should instead capitalize on the poor economy and take advantage of undervalued deals that have low to moderate risk with nothing but reward (sounds like what got so many financial institutions in trouble with this subprime mess huh?). I could dedicate a whole post to this, but they should sign some of these players:
1. Orlando Hudson
2. Carl Pavano (did I just advocate this move?)
3. Brad Penny
4. Bobby Abreu
Also, why not trade for some “tarnished” prospects, similar to what the Pirates did with regard to Jose Tabata. Rumor has it the Reds may be shopping Homer Bailey, and his stock is bottom of the barrel.
The point is this franchise needs to worry less about finding a player to sell seats in the short-term, and more with trying to put a competitive product out there.