Nats fail to sign first-round pick Crow
The Nationals and first-round Draft pick Aaron Crow were unable to come to an agreement on a deal by Friday night's midnight deadline.
According to Baseball America, Crow's agents came down from their original $8 million dollar asking price, to $4 million, while the Nationals offered $3.3 million.
Crow inked a deal to play with the Fort Worth Cats of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball on Thursday. Washington will get the 9A pick in next years' Draft as compensation.
The Nationals now have two Top 10 picks in the 2009 Draft. If the season ended today, Friday August 15th, they would get the top overall pick because they have the worst record in baseball.
Jim Bowden talks about the failure to sign Aaron Crow with the media
Washington did sign outfielders Marcus Jones, 11th round, and J.P. Ramirez, 15th round, before the deadline.
Jones, a Washington DC native who attended The Landon School for Boys in Bethesda, Maryland, batted .318 with 13 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 49 RBI this season as a junior at North Carolina State University. He scored 45 runs and compiled a .400 on-base percentage in 63 games, while stealing 12 bases in 14 attempts. Jones batted .321 with 14 extra-base hits, 33 RBI and six stolen bases as a sophomore, after hitting at a .289 clip with three extra-base hits and three RBI as a reserve during his freshman season.
The 20-year-old was a Northwoods League All-Star while playing for Thunder Bay during the summer of 2007. He tallied 24 RBI in 48 games and batted .271 with seven extra-base hits and six stolen bases. Jones hit .409 with seven doubles, three triples, four home runs and 15 RBI and earned All-American honors in 2005 as a senior in high school. He participated in the PlayStation East-West All-American Game and was cited as a Second-Team All-Metro player by The Washington Post.
Ramirez, 18, batted .521 (49-for-94) with 22 doubles, eight triples, eight home runs and 48 RBI this season as a senior at Canyon High School in New Braunfels, Texas. He was named a Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and garnered his third consecutive All-State and fourth straight All-District selections. The left-handed batter hit .500 with 10 homers and 39 RBI as a junior, and .629 with eight home runs and 38 RBI during his sophomore campaign. Following his junior year, he represented the United States as a member of the USA Baseball Junior National Team.
The Nationals have agreed to terms with 30 players selected in this year's Draft
I think it is great that the Nationals did not cave in to what I think were unreasonable expectations by the agent and/or Crow. Why should this guy expect a lot more money than the Orioles gave their #1 pick, Brian Matusz, who was picked 5 or so picks higher. If you read the article, the Nationals will recieve the same pick in next years draft because they didn't sign Crow. So they should be able to draft a player of about the same expectations. Why give this guy more than you think he is worth, when you will recieve the extra pick in next years draft if you don't sign him. Now the team should have two very early first round selections and can really give the farm system a boost.
Developing teams, especially those that are bad as the Nats, must sign their 1st round picks. To lose this kid over 700k is absurd.
QUESTION: When will the Washington Post baseball beat writers start bashing Lerner the way they've bashed Angelos over the years?