No Crow for the Nats

Back on draft day, I took pride in the fact that Mizzourah was the first blog to report that Aaron Crow had been drafted by the Nats. The post went up a record 15 seconds after Bud Selig made the announcement. (You think I had it pre-written or something? We never do that here...)

Last night was the signing deadline for this year's MLB draft picks, and Aaron Crow did not agree to a deal with Washington. I am shocked by this; even though 10 of 30 first rounders were still unsigned in the morning, only 2 remained after the midnight (EST) deadline: Crow and a high schooler who passed up a contract from the Yankees to go to UCLA (atta boy - stick it to the man!).

Like I said, I'm pretty shocked, since it seemed like all of the deals would work themselves out right before midnight.

2007 was the first year for the Aug 15 signing deadline - we had a similar situation and all remaining picks signed at the last minute. So everyone kind of figured Crow and the Nats were playing an expensive game of chicken, and one of them would cave in. Oops. See you in Fort Worth, Aaron. As reported earlier this week, he'll be pitching for an independent team, instead of coming back for his Senior year in 2009.

*Update from Baseball 'Mericah: One source indicated the Crow camp, led by his agents the Hendricks Brothers, dropped their demands to $4 million from the $8-$10 million range, and that the Nationals came up from slot to $3.3 million, but that the two sides ran out of time and wiggle room and couldn’t work out a compromise.

Washington drafted Ross Detwiler (MO Lite) at #6 last year (Crow went #9) and paid him $2.15 million in bonus money. They tried to keep Crow's bonus low too, and it backfired - really on both accounts. It'll be hard for Crow to move up in the '09 draft too much, since his stock was so high this year. It was just that too many teams focused on bats with the early picks. I can't imagine him being taken much higher, or getting more money, but time will tell.

And I'm sure the Nats will gladly shell out $7 million in the offseason to someone like Livan Hernandez, but God forbid they spend a little extra money on the top RHP in the draft.