2014 Astros Draft Pick Tracker

No, not really... Agents and players would certainly not want their medical records and conditions discussed with the media when there is federal laws protecting them. That is a major no no.

If the Astros feel they have a legitimate basis, it will eventually come out and they will be cleared. If the Astros eventually sign Brady, it will no longer be a major topic of discussion.

Especially after the security breach, the Astros need to be very cautious with private information.

 

Ouch!

 

So he has a congenital abnormality in the ligament that they have no clue on whether or not this makes him more or less likely for surgery, and they don't know if he did need a surgery whether or not it would have a chance of being less successful... (Doesn't seem that "cut-and-dry").

And all the while, it still allows him to pitch at an elite level currently and while the ligament is small... there are no tears or inflammation detected (which would not make his current condition "catastrophic" or career ending by any means).

My only question is who or why did they order the MRI? Is this standard protocol in baseball now? Did every first round pitcher (including Rodon) get an MRI of their elbow or shoulder?

 

I am sure that every high draft pick has MRI's of their arm and shoulder taken... Some of the newer three D scans can go into great detail.

I can see why both sides are upset.

 

HIPAA applies to business associates as well. The team knowing couldn't be considered a violation because the player consents to releasing the information to him.

Aiken could let everyone know, but hasn't.

 

Are you sure about that? I hadn't heard of it till now in any sport.

Do Basketball and football players get their ACL's and achilles' scanned prior to signing?

Also, if they are routinely doing it, it didn't seem to pick up the UCL issues in all the other "younger" pitchers requiring TJ surgery.

Yes, modern imaging can pick up anatomy in great detail now... but they can also pick up incidental/congenital abnormalities such as these where they don't know if the finding is truly "abnormal" or requires treatment.

Hell, as far as anybody knows, his body evolved to compensate for the smaller ligament... and potentially may not produce the same strain level against it that makes pitchers susceptible to the tear (see how I spinned it)?

I blame whoever ordered the test... and the lack of evidence showing that a smaller ligament would cause any increased risk of injury would help Aiken, not the Astros.

 

Well, somebody leaked the above info... likely was the Aiken camp.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Definitely not the top Astros officials.

 

Definitely not... what also is not clear is whether the Astros had him visit the other doctors, or whether or not Aiken did it on his own to "clear" his ligament.

 

Astros accused of manipulating draft and medical evaluation rules

Posted on July 15, 2014 | By Evan Drellich

MINNEAPOLIS — Leave it to the Astros to land in a situation that can drown out the joy of an All-Star game.

The Astros’ protracted negotiations with their first overall draft pick Brady Aiken on Tuesday drew a stern admonishment from the head of the major league baseball players union, who accused the club of manipulating the draft slotting and medical evaluation rules to its advantage.

The Astros have until 4 p.m. on Friday to sign their five remaining unsigned 2014 draft picks, including three highly touted prep pitchers: Aiken, the first overall pick; fifth-rounder Jacob Nix and 21st rounder Mac Marshall.

At the core of the issue is a question of the health of Aiken’s throwing elbow, and whether the Astros are attempting to negotiate a lower signing bonus for the lefthander because of a legitimate issue or with the intent of creating an excuse to reallocate the money elsewhere. The current draft system effectively makes many signings contingent on others.

“It is disappointing on any number of levels to think that what has happened in that situation, what has happened with respect to the integrity of the draft process in general, is being put, or is putting players in a position now that Jacob Nix and Brady Aiken find themselves in,” union head Tony Clark said. “Our hope here going forward is that what we think has happened, didn’t happen, but you can rest assured that the manipulation we think happened in this case is going to lead us to have some conversations that are going to make sure that the players receive the support that they deserve as a result of the actions that we believe occurred from the Houston Astros.”

Commissioner Bud Selig, standing at the podium in front of reporters in Minnesota, turned to Dan Halem, MLB’s executive vice president for labor relations, to address questions about Aiken.

“Look, we made a comment yesterday that we fully support the Astros. We believe that they have conducted themselves appropriately,” Halem said. “Given that there’s still a few days ’til the signing deadline, we’re not going to say anything else at this time, and hopefully all the parties will be able to resolve this without our assistance.”

A person with knowledge of the situation told the Chronicle on Tuesday that there is a “cut-and-dry” issue with Aiken’s ulnar collateral ligament, even though he is presently able to pitch. Aiken has visited five doctors, the person said: two affiliated with the team and three who were not, including the renowned Dr. James Andrews.

“He may have some (of the UCL), but not much,” the person said, adding that Tommy John surgery, which has become common in baseball, would not be a straightforward solution in this instance.

How tricky Tommy John surgery would actually be and the level of risk Aiken faces isn’t easily decipherable from afar. Dr. Chris Geary, an orthopedic surgeon and the chief of sports medicine at Tufts Medical center, said the presence of a congenitally small UCL on its own wouldn’t necessarily indicate danger, or a lessened risk of success with Tommy John surgery.

“Maybe the ulnar collateral ligament is small but he has a freakishly big flexor-pronator mass, something like that, where it’s like, for whatever reason, his anatomy is different, but it’s not impacting him,” Geary said. “It sounds to me like it’s not completely straightforward. It’s one of those things you could maybe, depending on what it actually is, you could kind of spin it depending on what your own agenda is.”

On Tuesday, the agent who is serving as an advisor to both Aiken and Nix, Casey Close, told FOXSports.com that Aiken “has been seen by some of the most experienced and respected orthopedic arm specialists in the country, and all of those doctors have acknowledged that he’s not injured and that he’s ready to start his professional career.”

Close told FOXSports that the Astros made just one revised offer to Aiken after initially offering a reported $6.5 million. The new offer of $3,168,840 million — 40 percent of his slot value of $7,922,100 – is the minimum necessary offer so that the Astros would receive a compensation pick (the second overall draft pick in 2015) if Aiken does not sign with the team.

Close did not return requests for comment. Asked if the Astros were following the rules, general manager Jeff Luhnow said, “Of course we are.” He offered no further comment on the situation.

The situation has far-reaching implications that could affect the next round of collective bargaining, because it draws into question the rules surrounding both the medical reviews of draftees — MRIs are not mandatorily made available to clubs ahead of time — and the draft slotting system itself. Clark on Tuesday spoke as sharply as baseball official likely ever will, the late George Steinbrenner aside.

It too re-opens questions about the Astros, and how they go about their business. Are they just trying to cheat Aiken? Do they think they can get a better player next year? Did the collectively bargained draft medical evaluation system leave the Astros out to dry, or did the slotting system leave Aiken and Nix out to dry?

The way the CBA is structured, team doctors are given final say on whether a drafted player has passed a physical. If a team doctor says a player has failed the physical, the player’s only recourse is to go unsigned, or accept a reduced bonus. There’s no provision forcing clubs to accept second opinions.

The union can file a grievance, however, because the draft is a collectively bargained issue. A grievance conceivably could drag this matter beyond Friday’s signing deadline, a person familiar with the situation said. But both sides hope such a move can be avoided.

“The union can get involved,” Clark said. “It is a part of collective bargaining, and as such, we are invited into the conversation. … What seems to be happening now is not what happened in ’11, or not what happened in ’12 … but it’s definitely a concern as I stand here in front of you in 2014, and will need to be addressed accordingly.

“I’m hopeful that we don’t end up in a place that is more challenging than it already is. But you can rest assured that we have the interest of the players and the integrity of the draft process in general at heart within anything that may happen from here going forward.”

When asked if team doctors have too much power, Clark first stated the date, “July 15, 2014.” He was referencing the fact that the CBA does not expire until after the 2016 season.

“I would suggest to you that there appear to be some challenges there because of what we believe is the process being manipulated in favor of those making the decisions,” Clark said. “As a result those are conversations that we are going to have.”

Another issue in question, which has come up in prior collective bargaining discussions, is whether clubs should be afforded greater access to medical information ahead of the draft. Agents feel that in general, forcing players to get MRIs and the like before the draft would only hurt their clients’ stocks. The counter-argument is that situations like this could be potentially avoided.

The NFL scouting combine, held ahead of the draft, includes extensive medical evaluations.

“There have been conversations I think on any number of things,” Clark said of moving to a combine-like system. “Some that make the light of day, some that don’t. But suffice it to say, because of some of what has happened here, there will be more dialogue as to what may need to happen in the short term and in the long term.”

MLB’s draft system includes a pool of money for prospects in the first 10 rounds that teams must exceed or otherwise face penalties, including a potential loss of future picks. This year, the Astros’ pool totals $13,362,200. Aiken and Nix are their team’s only two unsigned top-10 round picks, and each pick is assigned a dollar value.

If Aiken signs for less than his slotted $7.9 million, as has been the likelihood all along, the Astros can use that money elsewhere, i.e. to give another player a higher, over-slot bonus. But if the Astros don’t sign Aiken at all, they lose that $7.9 million entirely —making it virtually impossible they could also sign the fifth-rounder Nix, who had agreed to a contract for a reported $1.5 million but has not had that contract honored yet as Aiken and Marshall’s situations unfold, angering the union. Nix’s slot value is $370,500.

Any player outside of the first 10 rounds, like Marshall, can receive up to $100,000 that does not count toward the top-10 round pool money. But every dollar above $100,000 counts against the pool.

Marshall is known to be a tough sign because he is committed to LSU. But, if the Astros could save enough money on Aiken — and perhaps reduce what they reportedly promised Nix — they could put that money toward Marshall. Aiken, Marshall and Nix all played for USA Baseball’s 18-and-under championship team last year.

“Our hope going into it, coming out of the bargaining with respect to the draft and the slotting system, or the slot values, was that — particularly how it was preached to us —that the teams who needed the best talent would be in position to secure that best talent,” Clark said of the slotting system, which began at the start of the most recent CBA, in 2012. “It is disappointing to think that even based on that original premise, that considerations that are currently being made in the draft are suggesting a manipulation that goes far beyond that.”

 

Mac Marshall says he 'wants to be at LSU,' has not been in contact with the Astros

 

Between Aiken's WTF issues, Appel's struggles, Correa's injury, AJ's trade demands and the Bosh/Parsons fiasco this is one crappy time to be a Houston sports fan....

 

I am pretty sure that it is fairly routine, especially if there is a red flag. I know for example there were scans taken of lots of NBA guys. I will ask my sister for certain but I am pretty sure that in MLB it is the same.

 

I'm all for it if there's a red flag/injury history/surgery follow-up... but I doubt there are simply a lot of "screening" MRI's done on young pitchers for absolutely no reason (not sure if Aiken was complaining of "soreness" and that spurred it... who knows).

And even if there were, they didn't prevent Strasburgh or Fernandez from either signing or requiring TJ surgery (presuming they got one, if all high round picks get one), so not really sure of their "effectiveness" if there is no known injury history.

And, as I've already said... there is no evidence that having a short UCL makes one more prone to injury or makes a surgical repair less effective (and on the flip-side, no evidence that it makes him safe from injury either... then again nobody is).

Seems to be purely an incidental/congenital finding that has stalled things up pretty badly.

 

If there's no precedent for this (no previous picture in MLB history had a smaller UCL for instance), then it has to give you pause. I don't think this has anything to do with trying to save money to sign Marshall and all to do with the unknown of Aiken's genetic abnormality.

 

Should be no pause. Like you said the unknown. Every pitcher has an unknown when it comes to injury. Aiken might never get hurt who knows. I mean the cubs pitcher who was 13 and won the rookie of the year lost his ability and his UCL was perfect.

 

Well, they've definitely taken pause. I doubt they have "small UCL" built into their super-computer algorithms on how to project/pay players.

I also doubt he's the first pitcher ever with this "abnormality"... its just that they don't get MRI's of every elbow that's ever thrown an major league pitch unless they were injured. Hell, if there was never a TJ surgery due to a "small UCL"... maybe that's another point in Aiken's favor.

I'd love to see retroactive MRI's of big-name former pitchers who never had elbow trouble/surgery and compare lengths of UCL's. Hell, if the front office was as smart as they think they are, they should be getting Nolan in the MRI machine now to see how long his UCL is.

 

Hard to say what is directly analogous without knowing the specifics, but, off the top of my head, RA Dickey had his draft bonus offer reduced by Texas from an initial offer of $850,000 to $75,000 because of his UCL, or lack there of. He busted as a conventional pitcher, topping out with fastball in the 80s after throwing in the mid-90s in college. Historically, numerous other teams have reduced or failed to sign picks/free agents because of failed physicals. Because of HIPPAA and/or other rules regulating what teams can publicly say about draftee's medicals, the reasons for the failed physicals don't typically come out. So it is impossible to know how many physicals were failed because of abnormal UCLs.

What is telling is Aiken's camp's spin. They are not claiming the five doctors who have examined Aiken haven't identified the issue or, more importantly, haven't concluded that it will be a medical risk going forward. Instead, they parse their words by saying Aiken is "asymptomatic," not currently "injured," or ready to start his professional career. All that may be, but it doesn't mean that the abnormalities in his elbow aren't a serious medical risk going forward. (See "If a pitcher has no UCL, he must compensate with extra compression between his elbow bones and/or extra tension in the other ligaments and tendons," says Glenn Fleisig, research director at the American Sports Medicine Institute http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8...ckey-extends-career-knuckleball-espn-magazine).

If Dr Andrews, or any of the other doctors that examined him, concluded that Aiken's elbow abnormalities wouldn't be a serious medical issue going forward, Aikens team would be shouting that to the high heavens. They're not.