“I think you’re better off calling Jeff (Luhnow),” Jim Crane tells the Chronicle when asked about Aiken. “You’re ahead of the curve on me.”
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 18, 2014
First time No. 1 pick hasnt signed since 1983 (Angels- Tim Belcher). Only other time was 1971 (White Sox- Danny Goodwin) — Clint Longenecker (@Clint_BA) July 18, 2014
#astros made 3 offers friday, the 2nd w/30 mins to go, the 3rd, at $5M, w/5 mins. aiken side: no counters. he just said no — Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 18, 2014
I don’t understand how Houston was so worried about his elbow that they’d rather blow up their draft than pay $6.5M, but were okay with $5M.
— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) July 18, 2014
If you have offended the party with whom you’re negotiating to the point that they won’t even counter, that’s your fault, not theirs.
— David Cameron (@DCameronFG) July 18, 2014
@MitchellNJ almost 100% the system, which Astros overplayed. They got burned. To them there will be other kids. Not a fan of approach — John Manuel (@johnmanuelba) July 19, 2014
“This is the most advanced high school pitcher I’ve ever seen in my entire career,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said on draft night. — Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) July 18, 2014
Just finished a BA Podcast about Aiken/Astros that will be up soon. Quick summary: You can’t blow up your entire draft for Mac Marshall.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) July 19, 2014
Untweeted Addendums
- The risk in not signing lies almost exclusively with Aiken and Jacob Nix, and that is entirely the fault of the Players’ Union. Neither Aiken nor Nix is likely to win a grievance, in my opinion, which means the Astros will simply be awarded the #2 overall pick next season.* The main risk on the Astros’ side lies with Luhnow himself, depending on how Jim Crane views the situation in retrospect.
- Remember when Ground Control was hacked and everyone noted that the Astros came off like the most annoying owner in their fantasy league (e.g. in asking for Lucas Giolito in return for Lucas Harrell)? I heard some pretty good arguments at the time that this strategy was actually a sound negotiation tactic. Aiken’s case, however, seems like Exhibit A in how it can go bad.
*Most feel that Nix has the better case. If the Astros were to be found at fault and forced to honor their agreement with Nix, they would exceed their budget and lose their first round picks in the next two seasons.