The final numbers do not matter. Whether or not Stephen Strasburg even signed with the Washington Nationals on Monday is irrelevant.
It is the negotiations between agent Scott Boras and the Nats that will set in motion changes for amateur players entering the Major League Baseball draft in future seasons.
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Washington indeed was willing to shatter the previous bonus record of $10.5 million. And next season, the Nats — or whoever finishes with the sport’s worst record in 2009 — will likely have to top that number to sign phenom Bryce Harper, a 16-year-old catcher whose name has been lumped with previous teenage stars like Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr., and is the expected No. 1 pick in 2010.
Then there will be one last draft before the collective-bargaining agreement between the Players Union and Major League Baseball expires in 2011. According to industry sources, owners are expected to press for a slotting system similar to the ones used by the NFL, NBA and NHL — leagues where holdouts or unsigned draft picks occur far less often.
There may be a surprisingly receptive audience. Several veteran big-leaguers have bristled in recent weeks when asked about the Strasburg negotiations and the steep price Boras expected for a player yet to throw a professional pitch. There are other players, of course, who don’t begrudge a top talent making big money right away.
But owners who see a revamped draft process as a necessity for small and mid-market teams to compete will exploit that split opinion. Unlike the NBA, where organizations almost always select the amateur player they deem the best on their draft board, baseball teams routinely let top talent slip because they are unsure the player can be signed.
Part of the reason the Nats selected pitcher Aaron Crow in 2008 was because his agents — the Hendricks brothers — demanded close to $9 million. So Washington took a chance, figuring the price had to drop. It did — but not far enough. And so a franchise desperate for young talent was left empty-handed. It is an annual occurrence Major League Baseball is determined to stop. Whether it can do so at the negotiating table remains to be seen.
