My brother Marc is one of only 12 known Washington Nationals fans in the world -- and two of his sons help comprise the other 11. In June, I recommended that the Nats not draft all-world pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg out of San Diego State. I was wrong. They made the correct choice and it seems to have legitimized the Nationals franchise -- at least that's the hope.
Besides his piece above on what the Strasburg signing means to the Nationals, Boswell also had a great piece on Sunday counting down the negotiations.
I'm convinced that Boswell and Marc were right, and that I was wrong. Signing Strasburg for less than $16 million isn't exactly a bargain, but it was much lower than what many commentators were predicting.
I misread Strasburg and Boras. I thought the super-agent was going to use this as his own personal Judgement Day. He was going to force the Nationals to pay a price similar to what Strasburg might get if there was no draft, and if Washington didn't play, they would walk over to independent league baseball. But apparently Strasburg wanted to make this work, and Boras was content to let him. I have often lambasted Boras about being more about himself than his clients. In this case he abandoned his wage war against MLB and did what, I believe, was in the best interest of Strasburg's career.
So hats off to the Nats for making this work. And it gives all 12 of those Nats fans something to look forward to in 2010.
I wonder what this will do to the attendance figures? The one negative about a big name pitcher, speaking from a business perspective, is they only draw a crowd 16-18 times a year at home.
ReplyDeleteHard to say. But any boost to attendance for the Nats would be a huge positive.
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