Nationals sign Strasburg for $15 Mil

[SportsWorld]

http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman/status/3376135630

strasburg appears to be close to agreeing to a deal for $15 mil, sources say.

[SportsWorld]

#2 pick Dustin Ackley signed with the Mariners for $9.5 mil as well.

[Bleeding Green]

Opening Day starter?

[studcrackers]

idk where to put this so i'll put it here, matt purke is a god damn moron, f*cking cocksnot

[Schad]

idk where to put this so i'll put it here, matt purke is a god damn moron, f*cking cocksnot

Why are you surprised? The Rangers are basically broke. Purke wanted huge money (no surprise there, it was well known before the draft, and the reason he dropped) and the Rangers couldn't pony up.

Far worse is the Jays: Rogers spent the offseason saying that they were allotting a large pool of money for the draft, allowed the GM to draft a bunch of guys who were looking for above-slot money, dumped a bunch of salary before the signing period ended...and then pulled the rug out at the last minute and didn't put up the money necessary to sign three of the top four picks. Absolutely ridiculous.

And even though they didn't buy out his arbitration years, that's a good deal for Strasburg...he'll never be overly cheap, but they get four years at a manageable number to determine whether he is in fact Jesus.

[studcrackers]

you dont know sh*t if you think we didnt pony up, we may be broke but we're still spending in the draft and overseas, we offered him the 5th highest amount in the draft, and he was the 14th pick. we offered 2 million over slot for what many believed to be the 4th rated HS pitching prospect. the guy from colorado was perceived to be a tougher sign and he got less than what we offered.

kids just an idiot for thinking he can improve on that money 2 years from now when he'll be a sophmore eligible player. not to mention if he does in fact make it, he'll be slower to free agency. only mistake we made was judging how money grubbing this guy would be

[Schad]

you dont know sh*t if you think we didnt pony up, we may be broke but we're still spending in the draft and overseas, we offered him the 5th highest amount in the draft, and he was the 14th pick. we offered 2 million over slot for what many believed to be the 4th rated HS pitching prospect. the guy from colorado was perceived to be a tougher sign and he got less than what we offered.

kids just an idiot for thinking he can improve on that money 2 years from now when he'll be a sophmore eligible player. not to mention if he does in fact make it, he'll be slower to free agency. only mistake we made was judging how money grubbing this guy would be

Newberg states that you were probably offering close to $4m, while it sounds like Purke wanted a number at least comparable to Jacob Turner. That shouldn't have come as a shock...he was talking 'Porcello money' before the draft, and while that wasn't going to happen it was well-known that he wanted to be paid like the best high school player going. There was a reason many thought his demands might cause him to slide out of the first round altogether.

I think he's an idiot for leaving that kind of money on the table, too, but Purke made it perfectly clear that he was shooting for the moon...it was going to take an absurd amount of money to keep him from going to TCU, and while the Rangers offered a lot, the only team that was going to get Purke was one for whom money was no object at all.

[craig01]

Opening Day starter?

As desperate as the Nats are who knows.

BTW- since the draft began 40+ years ago, how many pitchers that were selected first in the draft have won 20 games in a single season?

Answer.......NONE.

[nitetrain8603]

Well does anyone know the breakdown of which pitchers were drafted #1 overall? Also, I'd look more at their ERA+ and other stats like that simply because wins are an indicator of team success.

[craig01]

Mike Moore is the all time leader in wins for the first player drafted.

161-176 for his career.

[sunshinekids99]

Here arethe first pick pitchers.

David Clyde- Rangers 1973- Career 18-33 with a 4.63 era 1.53 whip
Floyd Bannister-Astros 1976- career 134-143 with a 4.06 era 1.36 whip (Did however have a 16-10 season with a 3.35 era.
Mike Moore- Mariners 1981- career 161-176 with a 4.39 era 1.42 whip (19-11 with a 2.61 era with A's made 1 All-Star team)
Tim Belcher-Twins 1983- Did Not Sign
Andy Benes-Padres 1988- career 155-139 with a 3.97 era 1.31 whip(18-10 with a 3.83 era one season with Cards 1 All-Star Team)
Ben McDonald-Orioles 1989-career 78-70 with a 3.91 era 1.25 whip
Brien Taylor- Yankees 1991- Never threw a major league pitch
Paul Wilson- Mets 1994- Career 40-58 with a 4.86 era 1.45 whip
Kris Benson- Pirates 1996- Career 69-74 with a 4.41 era 1.39 whip
Matt Anderson- Tigers 1997- Carer 15-7 with a 5.19 era 1.58 whip
Bryan Bullington-Pirates 2002- Career 0-5 with a 5.08 era 1.56 whip
Luke Hochevar- Royals 2006- Career 12-19 with a 5.37 era 1.41 whip
David Price- Rays 2007- Career 6-5 with a 4.55 era 1.48 whip

There was nobody that stood out. Andy Benes had the best career. But of course the jury is still out on David Price. Not even close to being a sure thing. You have a much better bet with position players(Chipper Jones, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Gonzalez, Joe Mauer, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr, Darryl Strawberry, Harold Baines)

[studcrackers]

stupid rangers owner for f*cking up david clydes career. in an effort to get attendance up clyde skipped the minors and went straight to the majors. he was good the 1st few starts and it soon became evident he needed some fine tuning. ends up getting hurt and is never the same

[craig01]

Believe it or not I actually remember that.

[studcrackers]

interesting, so i assume it was a pretty big deal? ive only read about that knowing that it was a promotional stunt since our owner was going broke and trying to bump up attendance. it worked the 1st few starts but quickly lost interest since the team sucked so much

which reminds me, a great book about the rangers suckitude in the 70's called seasons in hell. id look to amazon for it, very entertaining read