One of the reactions following the baseball amateur draft last week was the glee by Washington Nationals fans that Aaron Crow, the team’s first round pick in 2008 who they did not sign, fell further in the first round than he had been the previous year and wound up as the 12th pick with the Kansas City Royals, likely for far less money than the $3.5 million he would have gotten from Washington last year.
This is nothing to gloat over. The kid made a massive miscalculation this year by letting signability be an issue yet again. This time, the word should have been out there that Crow was ready, willing and able to make a deal.
SEE RELATED:
But the Nationals still, because of the mismanagement of Jim Bowden in the negotiations with Crowe’s agent last year, coming down at the end to a $500,000 difference, missed out on getting a high-quality starter to add to their roster of young arms.
Crow, after pitching for a season in independent minor league ball for the Fort Worth Cats, had only impressed scouts more than he did the year before, when he was the ninth pick in the draft by Washington. He was, by all accounts, ranked as high as third on many team’s list of best available players this year going into the draft, which means the Nationals, if they had signed Crow, would have wound up with the first and third-ranked players in this year’s draft.
Crow made a bad decision, but that doesn’t mean the Nationals didn’t, either. They lost out on a quality young starter.
Radio
I will be on The Sports Reporters on ESPN 980 AM Washington on Monday, June 15, from 5 to 7 p.m.
To learn more about Thom Loverro, go to www.thomloverro.com
