Headlines

  • Rangers Trade Dane Dunning To Braves
  • Kyle Gibson Announces Retirement
  • Yankees Interested In Mitch Keller
  • Pirates Trade Adam Frazier To Royals
  • Mets, Yankees Among Teams To Show Recent Interest In David Robertson
  • Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Draft Reactions: Nationals

By Tim Dierkes | August 18, 2008 at 7:00am CDT

The dust has settled on the 2008 amateur draft.  The Nationals, Pirates, and Royals had storylines worthy of a closer look. 

The Nationals failed to sign their first round pick, college righty Aaron Crow.  Crow might’ve completely skipped the minors had he signed.  ESPN’s Keith Law considers the Crow situation a major blunder for the organization.  The Washington Post learned the details via a lengthy Q&A with GM Jim Bowden.  Here are some highlights:

  • Crow is represented by Randy and Alan Hendricks, and much of the discussion occurred over email.  Last Tuesday the Nats were told it’d take a $9MM big league deal.  Bowden wanted the Hendricks brothers to explain the rationale behind that figure, but the Hendricks brothers did not provide it. 
  • Law blames the Nationals for not properly gauging Crow’s signability before the draft.  That point comes up in the Q&A but Bowden does not provide a clear answer on how he gauges signability.  He mentions that they knew they couldn’t afford Rick Porcello last year, but doesn’t explain why they thought they could afford Crow.
  • The Nats were offering $2.25MM on a minor league deal until Brian Matusz signed Friday, six hours before the deadline.  Matusz got a $3.5MM Major League deal.  Bowden called and said he’d do a deal within that framework, but the Hendricks were not interested. 
  • At one point Bowden gave in and offered a Major League deal, but this offer was by the boards at 6:30pm on deadline day.  That’s because the Nats would not have had enough time to give Crow a physical, and a big league contract can’t be voided.  Both sides seemed to understand this.
  • 15 minutes before the deadline, Crow’s agents dropped their demand to $4.4MM on a minor league deal.  In the last few minutes the Nats offered $3.3MM, and then went to $3.5MM over the phone at the buzzer.  Needless to say the offer was not accepted, and the Nats lost Crow over $900K.
  • I agree with Bowden’s implication that the Hendricks brothers didn’t do a great job here – their client now has to play for the Fort Worth Cats for a year when he could’ve been in the Major Leagues.  This looks ugly for both sides, and neither agents nor teams seem happy with the idea of a midnight deadline. 
  • It’s fair to consider Bowden on thin ice.  The FBI investigation, public mention of his plan to non-tender Chad Cordero, and many of his contract extensions form a poor resume coupled with the Crow situation.
Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Washington Nationals Aaron Crow Jim Bowden

Giants Rumors: Winn, Walker, Aurilia
Main
Draft Reactions: Pirates Sign Pedro Alvarez
View Comments (0)
Post a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Rangers Trade Dane Dunning To Braves

    Kyle Gibson Announces Retirement

    Yankees Interested In Mitch Keller

    Pirates Trade Adam Frazier To Royals

    Mets, Yankees Among Teams To Show Recent Interest In David Robertson

    Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September

    Nationals Select Eli Willits With First Pick Of 2025 Amateur Draft

    2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results

    Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear

    Astros Promote Brice Matthews

    Red Sox Likely To Activate Alex Bregman Tomorrow

    Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

    Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help

    Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

    Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu

    Trevor Williams To Undergo UCL Surgery

    Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez

    Brewers Activate Brandon Woodruff

    Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Recent

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Minnesota Twins

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Cleveland Guardians

    Rays Agree To Deal With First-Round Pick Daniel Pierce

    Yankees To Designate Rico Garcia For Assignment

    Blue Jays Agree To Terms With First-Rounder JoJo Parker

    Brewers Place Sal Frelick On Injured List

    Reds Sign First-Round Pick Steele Hall

    Mets Interested In Danny Coulombe

    Rangers Select Cody Freeman

    Diamondbacks Sign Sergio Alcántara, Place Ketel Marte On Restricted List Due To Personal Matter

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version