It's Crow's Fault, Too

You'll have to go to Fort Worth to see this.

Well, the draft signing deadline passed last night, and all but three picks signed. One of the most controversial seems to be Aaron Crow choosing to go to an Independent League instead of the minor leagues for the Washington Nationals. Most, including Keith Law, have been bashing the Nationals for yet another blunder which doesn't help their team. I agree that it's a blunder. They reportedly only differed by $700K, but on such a small number, I imagine a major league deal was also a big difference between the two. Prospects seem to really want those these days. If it was just those small differences, then yes the Nationals made a mistake. But what about Crow? He was the ninth overall pick by the Nationals out of college. Now, he has to wait for next year's draft when he'll be a year older. So, instead of taking $3.3 million dollars, he'll go play in the independent leagues, and wait for next year. He could get hurt and lose his stock. He could simply lose his stock just playing against the Independent League and falling off the radar. Maybe he won't. The thing is this now keeps him away from the Majors for another season. He could have budged, too. Then again, who wants to play for the Nationals?