August 16, 2008 [LINK / comment]
Who the hell is Aaron Crow?
And more importantly, Who the hell does he think he is for demanding a major league contract with a $9 million signing bonus fresh out of college? You can get some partial answers at MLB.com. The Washington Nationals could not reach an agreement with their number one draft pick, a right-handed pitcher from the University of Missouri, and he ended up signing with the Fort Worth Cats, an independent team. Apparently, he is both vain and foolish when it comes to money.
Some people have criticized the Nats owners and/or GM Jim Bowden for taking so long to sign their draft picks, but it seems like Crow is an extreme case, and they shouldn't get blamed for that situation.
I was chatting with a guy last night who thinks that the answer to the Nats woes is to get Mark Teixera. Assuming that Dmitri Young stays around for another year (not likely, I suppose) and assuming that Nick Johnson gets healthy again, that would make three first basemen. Well, the Nats had four catchers until a couple weeks ago, so why not?