How very selective of you to stop at Cole... The players that went #1 over the last dozen years... Ryan Bullinger, Delmon Young, Matt Bush, Justin Upton, David Price, Luke Hochevar, Tim Beckham, Stephen Strasberg, Bryce Harper, Gerrit Cole. That is 10 players..... 6 of them have been busts.... Harper and Strasberg were no doubters... Price has proven his worth and with Cole it is still early. So to act like the Astros with Correa and Appel have been terrible is just not accurate. I said this a long time ago on these boards, most these major prospects in some degree never reach their lofty expectations.... You are lucky if you hit on 1/3 of them... Why you need depth like the Cardinals or old Braves teams.
Man..just tuned in to see yet another blunder in a collection of blunders for this team. I cant believe that I thought Drayton Mclane was bad...lol...jk However, what the Astros did today must have some prior precedence...using the player's physical at reworking a deal. If Astros' physicians can prove that his perceived defect could lead him to have a significant arm injury in the future, then I would think that the Astros balking on the deal has some merit. Secondly...I hate to say this but that kid and his agents are total idiots...they just left 5 million on the table. The probability of the same kid being able to be drafted at the same spot is extremely low... To not budge on the 1.5 million difference is extremely irresponsible by his agent. Finally, I get that Aiken wasnt signed...but what was the excuse of the other kid?...to loose 7 million without anything for show...ugh...such a Disastros' move
If Close was really offered 6.5 million tonight and turned it down, he didn't do his clients (Aiken & Nix) any favors.
Yea i wasn't gonna type out every first pick ever made in the thread, and I did make comments about busts and much longer term info about number one picks and so forth We won't agree on this so i'm no use continuing to go back and forth I do hope it all works out well at some point though, i've been a fan my entire life, and no matter how much I hate our current owner, and no matter how I feel about the job that Luhnow is doing, I will continue to hope for the best
What kind if idiot 17 year old kids turns down $5 million? He'll have to be 1.1 next year to get that kind of money. I think his agent failed him. The Nix thing is unfortunate though. Why was his deal contingent on Aiken signing?
It's the MLB system. The Astros thought they had money to go above slot for Nix because they had a below-slot deal with Aiken ($6.5 million before the injury issue popped up). Without Aiken signing at the slot discount they planned on, they weren't allowed to go above slot for Nix anymore (without forfeiting two high future picks), and Nix was always unwilling to sign for his actual 5th-round slot value. So that's why his deal unraveled as well.
R.A. Dickey was drafted in the first round by the Rangers in '96. They offered him $810,000. During a post-draft physical, they found that he didn't have ANY UCL in his throwing elbow, rescinded the offer, and basically gave him a $75,000 take it or leave it offer. He ended up winning a Cy Young in 2012. However, he never had to rely on his fastball (which never got above the high 80s) and had fairly mixed results for about a decade until he turned his forkball into a knuckler and mastered throwing it.
I guess next time Close has negotiations with Luhnow he will know Luhnow doesn't bluff. Hopefully the Astros scouts have determined the next yrs 1-2 will be better than Aiken at 1-1. I wanted them to take hometown guy Kolek 1-1 and they wouldn't have these problems. Local boy is a stud. Closest thing to Nolan Ryan that I've seen.
Boras doesn't like the Astros? We didn't really have problems with him the past 2 drafts, did we? Unless you are still in the past about the Beltran thing
Everybody is blaming the Astros for a kid being unable to sign. The Astros wanted to give that money away, but just to 3 kids instead of one. Nix and possibly Marshall were ready to sign, but Aiken not signing made that impossible. I certainly don't blame Aiken for that, he's not responsible for them, but saying it's all the Astros fault isn't entirely accurate. The Astros basically said Aiken wasn't worth the risk unless they could get an extra player or probably 2. They would rather just have a do-over next year with the second pick.
What happens if they wind up with the #2 pick anyway (get #2 +#3)? No trying to reduce the slot figure next yr because whoever they pick will have ALL the leverage. They will NOT want to go two yrs in a row without signing that high of a pick, and the players/agents all know this. They gave Singleton millions having never had an at bat at the major league level, and they're going to let an additional 1.5 mil keep them from signing the #1 pick in the draft?
This isn't about being cheap. The Astros wanted to give every penny of that money away, but they wanted to give that money to 2 other prospects instead of Aiken. They didn't think Aiken alone was worth the risk, but Aiken and 2 other really good prospects would have been worth forfeiting the #2 pick next year. They didn't get a physical until after the draft (silly rule if you ask me), what they saw basically made them not want Aiken anymore, if they could re-draft they would. They would rather have the 2 pick next year instead of Aiken. We pick 2 no matter what, if we finish with the worst record again we will have the first 2 picks.
The Astros not signing Aiken was not about an extra 1.5 million. It was about the Astros discovering a deformity in his arm and deciding that Aiken, Marshall and Nix was > than the #2 pick next year but Deformity Aiken and only Nix was not. Besides, if you believe one of the chronicle articles, the Astros went up to the original agreed upon 6.5 million and Aiken's agent said "no". Obviously not happy a #1 is turning into #2 a year later but not quite the narrative some are painting.
Very much agree. The NFL does things extremely differently here. The MLB players union is known as being quite strong, but this is a very stupid setup where teams cannot perform a full physical before making a draft pick.
You sure? It sounds like the Astros stopped at 5 million and Close just said no. No counter offer or nothing. Not even for the original 6.5 million. Aiken may have just said I don't want to play for this franchise. I would rather leave some money on the table now and play for someone else next year than play for the Astros. Who knows.
I think the agent didn't want to budge here because it would make him look bad when trying to land other future top talent. Competing agents can just say, "look how he's unable to work fair slot value for his clients." However, when Aiken goes into next years draft and gets selected at #5, or wherever, he'll likely get his slot value and it wouldn't look as bad on paper.
I think Aiken's camp screwed up and let their pride get in the way. Aiken will have to be selected in the top 4 next year to top 5 million. We will have one of the top 3 picks, and likely another pick in the top 4. It's a big gamble that the one or 2 others teams with top picks will be willing to overlook this issue and he will make more than we offered him, plus he lost a year of pro ball development.
