There are a lot of reasons that we can be thankful we did not choose the Nationals as our favorite team (or that the Nationals didn't choose us, if that's how your fandom works). But the ongoing nut-squeezing by the dry, calloused, perfect-for-nut-squeezing hands of Scott Boras with Stephen Strasburg is just another one. Let's take a look at each team's first-round draft picks, and when they signed:
1. Washington, Stephen Strasburg -
2. Seattle, Dustin Ackley -
3. San Diego, Donavan Tate -
4. Pittsburgh, Tony Sanchez - signed June 12
5. Baltimore, Matt Hobgood - signed June 30
6. San Francisco, Zack Wheeler -
7. Atlanta, Mike Minor - signed August 6
8. Cincinnati, Mike Leake - signed August 15
9. Detroit, Jacob Turner -
10. Washington, Drew Storen - signed June 10
11. Colorado, Tyler Matzek -
12. Kansas City, Aaron Crow -
13. Oakland, Grant Green -
14. Texas, Matt Purke -
15. Cleveland, Alex White -
16. Arizona, Bobby Borchering - signed August 14
17. Arizona, A.J. Pollock - signed June 20
18. Florida, Chad James - signed August 15
19. St. Louis, Shelby Miller - signed August 17
20. Toronto, Chad Jenkins - signed August 12
21. Houston, Jiovanni Mier - signed June 25
22. Minnesota, Kyle Gibson -
23. Chicago White Sox, Jared Mitchell - signed July 8
24. Los Angeles Angels, Randal Grichuk - signed June 20
25. Los Angeles Angels, Mike Trout - signed July 2
26. Milwaukee, Eric Arnett - signed June 14
27. Seattle, Nick Franklin - signed August 15
28. Boston, Reymond Fuentes - signed July 1
29. New York Yankees, Slade Heathcott - signed August 17
30. Tampa Bay, Levon Washington -
31. Chicago Cubs, Brett Jackson - signed June 23
32. Colorado, Tim Wheeler - signed June 16
Of the 32 first-rounders, 19 have signed (as of 3:08pm Central), and Bobby Heck wrapped up Jiovanni Mier's contract on June 25. Only seven teams signed their first-rounders before Houston did.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
