caulfield12

Thinking it's more and more likely that Wilkins will get some opportunities in August and September to see if he can stick as Dunn's replacement. The odds aren't that great, but he at least deserves a shot over someone like Danks as a DH replacement, if only as part of a platoon/DH by committee option.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) What if Abreu gets hit in the head by an acorn while walking through the park by a wayward squirrel and forgets who he is. What if Sale slips on a banana and hurts his right asscheek. Aiken has a smaller UCL and is still throwing 97 mph and is not injured. The common sense people wanted to take a bad season and turn it into something that will help the team for years. There were 3 pitchers that everyone had spun up as 1a, 1b, and 1c. There is risk in everything. Keep sticking your head in the sand with the "draft lovers" statements. Its these cartoon-like statements that have people dismissing just about everything you type. To be fair, three months ago, Jeff Hoffman was even the favorite, so you could say 1d quite accurately.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 01:09 PM) Why do so many people hate Danks? He's having a great year for a guy coming off an injury. He's performed pretty well this season. So what if he makes a ton of cash. It's not our money. It's not like Sox would do anything with the extra cash if they didn't have to pay Danks. Because he's just not going to be anything close to the pitcher he was in 2008-10. As far as having a great year, it has been pretty good, maybe a bit better than expected in terms of quality starts. The peripheral statistics don't match up with the standard numbers, so there's a lot of room for regression to the mean based on his homers and elevated walk/lower K totals. Remember, this is his second season after the surgery, so it was reasonable to expect better results. Of course, with shoulder injuries, it's a different situation than Tommy John.

Danks 0-3, 7.71 career ERA against the Astros coming into today's game. Jitters facing a team from his home state? Hard to explain. Maybe they're better at adjusting to change-ups?

http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2014/7/19/591...ign-brady-aiken Close the real loser in this situation...interesting take

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/ast...ros-5633418.php Controversy has knack for seeking out Astros The revelations that Luhnow was out of town for much of last week on a family vacation in Mexico doesn't look very good, either.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 19, 2014 -> 05:00 PM) "Wish I Was Here" not getting good reviews but the ones I read seem to be the same. Melodramatic and nothing new. Still want to see it since I liked Garden State so much. Is that the movie he largely funded through Kickstarter money?

http://www.astroscounty.com/p/you-are-jeff-luhnow.html Adventure Games with Aiken, you are Jeff Luhnow. TRY TO NEGOTIATE ALL THE STEPS WITHOUT DYING OF DYSENTERY. http://www.astroscounty.com/p/page-24.html You are agent Casey Close..."King of the World" *Jeff Luhnow calls back immediately* "Hey, I think we got disconn-." *Close hangs up* "Who was it," asks Brady Aiken. "Nobody," says Casey Close. "What did you do that for?" Aiken asks. "Well, Brady, have a seat." *Aiken sits on Close's knee* "The Astros think you could possibly get injured, and they would like to give you - and me, don't forget that part ha ha ha - less money because of that risk. They say you have an abnormally small UCL. And that's ridiculous. You're an elite pitcher. They're the ones who took you with the #1 overall pick. You're the first high school pitcher to be drafted first overall since 1991. There are inherent risks. They knew those risks. You're an elite pitcher. Hell, Jeff Luhnow said you were the most advanced high school pitcher he'd ever seen. Why would he not bet on you?" Aiken thinks, "To be clear, I am not injured. But the Astros think I could be at some point down the road, and so they have decided to cut their offer by the amount they're paying Jesse Crain to not pitch for them." "Correct," Close replies. "Screw them."

Nix and Close not the victims here... http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2014/7/19/591...a-victim-piffle

Making Papelbon, Soria and Benoit three of the most sought-after remaining targets.

80 bodies of children, including 3 infants....all will be sweltering in the blistering Ukrainian summer sun for a second day if the militants/separatists don't get out of the way and allow someone with a clue to take over the scene with a professional sense of decency and delicacy.

http://www.astroscounty.com/2014/07/from-o...g97-astros.html These Constable and Cockroach dudes are pretty funny. Can't wait to see his "rant" that he has yet to deliver. He hasn't written it for 5 hours now.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 09:13 PM) Yay Sox win. Boo Sox silliness in the 1st on offense 2nd on defense. Yay Q . Boo no decision for Q . Yay bullpen.. Yay Flowers you got a GWRBI with a double. Boo Flowers job is now secure for the rest of the season. Yeah, absolutely no need to force the situation with Eaton's injuries in the 1st half and Abreu coming up as one of the hottest hitters in baseball behind him.

By not signing Aiken, Houston lost not just the amount it offered him, but its entire $7.9 million allotment for the top pick, leaving the team with a bonus pool of just $5.4 million to pay all its other draftees from the first 10 rounds. As in 2012 and '13, the Astros had hoped to use the savings from the below-slot signing of their first pick to increase the bonuses of lower picks — in this year's case, fifth-rounder Jacob Nix and 21st-rounder Mac Marshall, both pitchers. ​That smaller amount left them unable to sign Nix and Marshall, who will now pitch at UCLA and LSU, respectively. All of which suggests that Houston was willing to shoot itself in the foot over a $1.5 million gap between the club and Aiken, an amount that happens to be the annual cost of three minimum-salary major league players. That's mind-boggling given what the team was prepared to spend a month ago. Aiken is committed to UCLA, but it is possible that the NCAA's ridiculous policy regarding "student-athlete" representation could cost him his eligibility. If he attends school in Westwood, he won't be eligible for the draft again until 2017, after his junior year. Aiken could instead go to a junior college for a year and re-enter the draft in 2015. He could also sign with an independent team, as Aaron Crow, Luke Hochevar and Tanner Scheppers have done in recent years, and still be in next year's draft. There's one other, more drastic possibility: Aiken could be declared a free agent if he pursues and wins either a lawsuit in the courts or a grievance through the Major League Baseball Players Association. MLBPA shares some fault in the matter, having agreed to the draft spending limits and the bonus pool system in the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, but placed the blame for the contract situation on the Astros. In its statement, the MLBPA said that the affected players "should be one step closer to realizing their dreams of becoming Major League ballplayers. Because of the actions of the Houston Astros, they are not." The Astros also released a statement, which read in part: "We are disappointed that we were not able to reach an agreement with Brady Aiken today. ... The Astros' offer to Brady was extremely fair considering all the factors involved in this case. As always, we approached these negotiations in good faith and with the best interests of the Astros' organization in mind, both short-term and long-term. Throughout this entire process, we have absolutely acted within Major League Baseball's rules and guidelines, which MLB has confirmed on numerous occasions." The failure to sign the three picks won’t make Luhnow’s job any easier, as this will likely hurt his standing with many agents. The GM has faced criticism from former players such as Jed Lowrie and Bud Norris over the team’s analytical bent and its connection to contract negotiations. Luhnow has also come under scrutiny over the delay of George Springer’s promotion to the majors due to his unwillingness to agree to a team-friendly, long-term deal. (Not to mention the "insider trade talks" leak...and instead of having three of Buxton, Bryant and Rodon/Kolek/Aiken, Luhnow currently has an injured Correa and a disappointing Appel) http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/07/18/houston-a...ick-brady-aiken

Hopefully Webb's coming around and becoming the pitcher projected of him. Viciedo giveth and taketh away. Who is our closer, by the way? Putnam or Petricka? Are they trying to showcase Putnam for a possible trade? Finally, did anyone think a month ago that DeAza would be worth a lot more than Beckham before July 31st?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11233212...ick-brady-aiken Those last comments (from the story) are going to come back to haunt Luhnow a bit unless Aiken's elbow goes out before he makes it to the majors. "Today, two young men should be one step closer to realizing their dreams of becoming Major League ballplayers," union head Tony Clark said in a statement. "Because of the actions of the Houston Astros, they are not. The MLBPA, the players and their advisers are exploring all legal options." Wonder how much more money they'll spend litigating all the cases against them...?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/25-degrees--l...-145803227.html Sale and Abreu also get shout-outs from Jeff Passan for their excellence.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 06:37 PM) Can someone please give me a winner in this situation? UCLA I guess? Losers: Lunhow, Aiken, Casey Close, Astros organization, Astros credibility, Cubs, Rangers, Rays, other teams with a chance at a top pick, etc. Luhnow. fwiw, Nix has a 50/50 shot at being declared a free agent and having an open bidding war for his services, which would benefit Close as his agent. Don't count on UCLA getting Aiken either. Read that again. Brady Aiken does not have much of an ulnar collateral ligament, which connects the parts of the elbow to one another. According to our resident Doctor Brooks, this condition might contribute to Aiken's ability to throw 97 mph because there is less mechanical resistance to the moving parts of his arm, but it certainly increases the likelihood of catastrophic injury. Additionally, surgery to add a functional UCL into his arm could very well slow his arm action and reduce his velocity. Incidentally, former Cy Young Winner R.A. Dickey does not have a UCL. But to succeed with his condition after a series of well-publicized struggles to pitch professionally, Dickey had to turn to the knuckleball and was not truly successful until age 34. Not a great comp for a 1-1 draft pick half his age. To me, this is yet another data point to illustrate the risk of drafting a High School pitcher so highly in the draft. At $7 million, you just don't know enough information. It's easy to imagine a scenario where Aiken goes to college, has general soreness, and the rolling-in-money Athletic Department shells out for an MRI that he might never receive from a High School with limited budget. The MRI would uncover the same thing the Astros found, and it probably would become, if not public knowledge, at least common knowledge among professional baseball scouts and front offices. That would severely damage his draft stock. One more conspiratorially-minded wonders if his parents knew about this issue, and that this is why they so carefully monitored his work load in High School, to minimize the chance of injury and maximize his chance of being drafted highly. If so, it worked, because Aiken still stands to make at least 40% of the recommended bonus slot, or $3.2 million. With this information now available (even anonymously sourced), there is no chance that if Aiken chooses College or JuCo to return to the draft at a later date that he will be drafted highly enough to receive even that much money. In other words - it's either take what the Astros offer or make far less later down the road...if his elbow even holds together, which no longer seems like a safe bet. Once again though, the Astros have taken a pounding in the court of public opinion, but have somehow stayed the course by not smearing the Aiken camp in the media or by outing his "representative" Casey Close to the NCAA and thereby preventing Aiken from even having college as an option. In this case, it seems that the Astros could be in the right. In the worst case for them, they will be paying over $3.2 million for a player who has a real chance of not making it to the major leagues at all. http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2014/7/16/590...-comes-to-light

Brady Aiken vs. the Astros: Top overall pick fails to sign with Houston By David Coleman  @MDavidColeman on Jul 18 2014, 4:49p 334 Rich Schultz It happened. And not in a good way.  TWEET (12) SHARE (9)  SHARE 334 COMMENTS ⋆ REC 1 Do you know what happens when a front office who has never won anything gets a reputation as being arrogant? Do you know what happens when any front office gets that reputation? People enjoy seeing them fail. Doesn't matter what they fail at. It could be their manager not knowing the rules. It could be getting their private communication system breached. Or, it could happen when a team fails to sign the No. 1 overall pick for the third time in baseball history. On Friday, the MLB deadline for draft picks to sign with teams came and went without Houston reaching a deal with either No. 1 overall pick Brady Aiken or fifth-round pick Jacob Nix. Word was that the Astros attempted to negotiate with Aiken's agent, Casey Close, throughout the day Friday, but were rebuffed. Reportedly, the offer reached as high as $5 million, but Houston couldn't get the Aiken camp to engage. For his part, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow says his team did nothing wrong: But, facts are facts. Houston failed to sign the top overall player in the 2014 draft. Brady Aiken was the consensus best talent in the draft, even before his smaller-than-normal UCL was reportedly discovered in medical exams last month. In not signing Aiken, Houston also missed out on talented prep pitcher Jacob Nix, who had reportedly reached an agreement with the team for $1.5 milllion and passed his physical. But, signing Nix would have forced the Astros to exceed their bonus pool by 17 percent and meant they'd give up a first and a second round pick next season. Where do the Astros go from here? By offering Aiken $3.1 million previously, the Astros gain the right to the No. 2 pick in next year's draft for failing to sign Aiken. What's unclear at this point is whether the union will file a grievance on behalf of Jacob Nix. There is a small chance the Astros could be forced to sign him, but a more likely scenario will be that an independent arbitrator rules that Nix can become a free agent and sign with any team. Also watch for talk about Aiken's eligibility. If his camp wants to see an unfeeling, heartless, cold and calculating organization, try dealing with the NCAA. The fact that the Astros contacted Close numerous times Friday (which became public knowledge) very likely means the NCAA will shut down Aiken's eligibility even if the Astros don't file the paperwork like the Phillies did with Ben Wexler. Which means Aiken could go to junior college and become a top pick in next year's draft. Just don't bet on the Astros taking him again. For that to happen, Aiken would have to sign a waiver saying he accepts being drafted again by the Astros. With the way things played out Friday, it sounds like Aiken made the business personal, dug in his heels and refused to negotiate at all with the Astros. Bottom line: Astros fans lose. The team has been mocked mercilessly on Twitter by everyone involved. There could be union action against them and the front office's job security just got much more unstable. TGIF, everyone.

Luhnow: “We did nothing unethical, we did nothing disingenuous. We tried to sign good players at the appropriate values” — Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) July 18, 2014 What the Astros found in his physical created enough discord that major league baseball’s draft system could be altered after the 2016 season, when the CBA expires. The slotting system, which attaches a dollar value to every pick in the first 10 rounds, effectively keeps teams from treating individual picks as individual picks, making them pieces of the puzzle instead. The Astros will receive the second pick in the 2015 draft as compensation for not reaching a deal with Aiken. “It’s disappointing. I’m not going to say it isn’t. we’ll just regroup,” Jim Crane said. — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 18, 2014 For Aiken, he can fulfill his commitment to UCLA and be eligible for the draft after three seasons or go to a junior college and be eligible for the 2015 draft. www.houstonchronicle.com/sports Astros looking even dumber releasing the "insider" information that they re-upped their offer at the last minute and an amateur player turned down $5 or $5.1 million...shows just how much distaste they (Aiken/Close/Nix) had for the organization, as well as the possibility of a lawsuit/appeal/grievance in the works going forward. Two years ago, they had a shot at Buxton and passed. Then Bryant. So they've lost out on Buxton, Bryant and Aiken/Kolek/Rodon and have Correa (injured), Appel (injured/under-performing) and nothing else to show for it. So much for their 2017 World Series win over the Cubs. SI JINX!

Begin Again....nifty little indie film. With Kiera Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine (Maroon 5) and Catherine Keener, Hailee Stanfield of True Grit fame By the way, Ms. Knightley can really sing quite well...I thought it was dubbed over until I read more about it. Check out her six songs at youtube.com. Sitting at a 80% approval rating at rottentomatoes.com

Seems the lesser-touted Fedde (compared to Hoffman) is going to receive $2.5-2.6 million...who fits in line with their previous Giolito signing at what most consider a huge discount/value Nats Nearing Deal With Fedde, Won’t Sign Suarez By Steve Adams [July 18, 2014 at 2:22pm CDT] 2:22pm: The team’s second-round pick, Andrew Suarez, has announced that he will return to the University of Miami rather than sign via his Instagram account. The Hurricanes also tweeted an announcement that the left-hander will be returning. MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that with the Nats not signing Suarez or ninth-round pick Austin Byler, the max amount they can give Fedde without losing a first-round pick is $2,511,100. 2:08pm: Fedde’s signing bonus will be between $2.5MM and $2.6MM, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (on Twitter). 1:32pm: The Nationals are nearing a deal with first-rounder Erick Fedde, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (on Twitter). A deal between the two sides will “almost certainly” get done in advance of today’s signing deadline, which is just two and a half hours away. Fedde was projected as a potential top 10 pick in the draft before the difficult news that he would require Tommy John surgery caused him to slide. The Nationals, never ones to let an injury scare prevent them from drafting a high-end talent (they also selected Lucas Giolito in the first round in 2012), snatched the UNLV ace up with the 18th overall pick, which carries a slot value of $2,145,600. As Kilgore noted in a previous piece, there were teams in the late first round that had expressed interest in going as high as $3MM on a signing bonus for Fedde, making his negotiations with the Nats complicated, to say the least. Fedde’s operation caused him to slide down pre-draft rankings. Keith Law ranked him 27th at ESPN.com, while Baseball America had him ranked 24th, and MLB.com’s duo of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo ranked him 33rd.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/18/world/eu....html?hpt=hp_t1 Apparently a BUK (surface-to-air/SAM) system, and there's also video footage of a battery being brought back across the Russian border.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) This will be an interesting situation. If the Astros fabricated the injury, they may not be entitled to a compensation pick next season, and if they are forced to honor Nix's contract, they could be forced to surrender next years first round pick as well. They are taking a big gamble on classifying this as an injury, when there have been multiple experts, including world renowned UCL expert Dr. James Andrews weigh in to say that there is no injury and that his condition does not correlate to an increased chance of injury in the future. I think the Astros are going to get dinged on this, and an arbitrator will end up declaring Aiken a FA if the Astros aren't willing to come up to the range of his original offer. http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2014/7/17/591...out-legal-basis Here's one lawyer's thoughts on this... We have arrived at my area of expertise. I am a lawyer. Not a sports agent, not a contracts specialist, just a general practitioner. But, this stuff is basic first year law school contracts law. If an offer is contingent upon an event occurring, and both parties know it's contingent upon an event occurring; if the event does not occur, the offer is null and void. The issue is not whether it's an offer in writing, or a verbal agreement. Keith (Law) is right in saying verbal agreements can be enforceable, and the Statute of Frauds is the correct area of law to be examined in that regard. But that is the red herring, because that is not at all what is important here. What is important here is that no one is disputing (at least to my current knowledge at 4:00 a.m. writing this piece), that the Nix offer was contingent upon Aiken signing a below slot deal. Thus, it will be extremely hard for anyone to say that the Astros will be forced to sign Nix, even if they miss on Aiken.

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) If we thought about trading sale all 20 teams be line up bidding on him 29