Superseding Indictment
STOP THE PRESSES!!!
Svrluga says that Nationals.com's sources might be wrong. There's a chance that the Nats could still sign McGeary!?!!
The key thing from the article (and, yes, this'll be hard for me to type!), is that it's NOT ABOUT THE MONEY! In some ways, though, the hold up is even worse. The Lerners are political cowards, hacks of the worst sort, who are unwilling (so far) to stand up to Bud Selig, the man who screwed over Montreal and Washington DC baseball.
If money isn't a problem (which we all know it really shouldn't be, and the only holdup is because of internal political squabblings with a liver-spotted commissioner and the Lerners' unwillingness to put the health of their franchise -- the franchise that MLB dicked over for so many years -- then that's perhaps a worse indictment of the quality of the ownership we have.
They'll put cronyism ahead of what's right for their fans.
Great.
NFA, who usually takes a dispassionate approach -- at least publicly! -- says just get the damn thing done.
Svrluga says that Nationals.com's sources might be wrong. There's a chance that the Nats could still sign McGeary!?!!
The key thing from the article (and, yes, this'll be hard for me to type!), is that it's NOT ABOUT THE MONEY! In some ways, though, the hold up is even worse. The Lerners are political cowards, hacks of the worst sort, who are unwilling (so far) to stand up to Bud Selig, the man who screwed over Montreal and Washington DC baseball.
From what I'm told, money is not going to be a problem. The question, rather, is are the Lerners - new to baseball, trying to make inroads into a very political operation - willing to (potentially) ruffle a few feathers by signing a sixth-round pick for first-round money? According to Baseball America, MLB wants picks after the fifth round to receive no more than the last slotted bonus in that round, which was $123,300 this year. Clearly the Nationals would have to go well, well beyond that to land McGeary, who - just like No. 6 overall Ross Detwiler and No. 31 overall Josh Smoker, lefties already signed by Washington - was in the top 15 on the Nationals' draft board....
What, though, does upsetting MLB mean? There are no financial penalties for paying draft picks more than their "slot" value - a value suggested by MLB and assigned to each choice in the draft....
The Lerners, though, feel they're in a precarious position. One of the reason they won the eight-horse derby to get the Nationals - and a reason Commissioner Bud Selig and his people capped the bidding at $450 million, so they could choose their favorite group - was that managing principal owner Theodore N. Lerner preached a conservative fiscal approach.
If money isn't a problem (which we all know it really shouldn't be, and the only holdup is because of internal political squabblings with a liver-spotted commissioner and the Lerners' unwillingness to put the health of their franchise -- the franchise that MLB dicked over for so many years -- then that's perhaps a worse indictment of the quality of the ownership we have.
They'll put cronyism ahead of what's right for their fans.
Great.
posted by Chris Needham at
11:26 AM
5 Comments:
According to Baseball America, MLB wants picks after the fifth round to receive no more than the last slotted bonus in that round, which was $123,300 this year.
I wonder if the Nats knew about this expectation prior to drafting McGeary.
If so, . . . nah, too cynical. ;-)
By
Anonymous, at 8/15/2007 11:48 AM
I would find it hard to believe that the teams didn't know about the slotting desires of MLB before the draft. Not that these guys don't do dumb things...
It still makes sense to me that of all the teams that deserve to go over the slotting, the Nats should be the most understandable case given how the franchise was treated by MLB. They need all the influx of talent that they can get.
And it's still a chance for the organization to make a statement to the fans about how they are going to run this franchise. I would rather have guys like McGleary in the system than have an All-Star game anytime soon.
BTW, thanks again to all of you guys who blog...
Chris' blog is the center of things for me, but I appreciate all the work that guys like Chris, Brian, and Basil are doing to provide us this forum. Good times.
By
Anonymous, at 8/15/2007 12:14 PM
//The Lerners are political cowards, hacks of the worst sort, who are unwilling (so far) to stand up to Bud Selig, the man who screwed over Montreal and Washington DC baseball.//
If the reason for the McGeary holdup are true, and the deal doesn't get done because of this, i hate to say that i will have to agree with that statement.
By
Anonymous, at 8/15/2007 12:31 PM
Just Sign Him. The Goodwill alone for The Fan Base is worth the costs. Besides--he's very talented, exactly the type of young player Our Team needs.
By
Screech's Best Friend, at 8/15/2007 1:56 PM
As a former Expos fan now Nats fan I say screw Bud Selig. Who in the hell cares what he thinks? MLB made crazy money by forcing the 'Spo/Nats into a tiny payroll and shoestring budget. Not only does Selig owe me a 1994 World Series, he owes it to me to keep his car selling nose out of the Nats business.
By
Anonymous, at 8/15/2007 3:19 PM
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