Interesting story from Brian Smith and the Chronicle tonight, as Mark Appel's "advisor" Scott Boras says he'll get out of the way if the Astros want Mark Appel with 1.1.
Boras, who has apparently had "a couple of recent pre-draft conversations" with Luhnow, "thinks highly" of the Astros' GM.
I'm sure as they go through this they'll make a decision which, frankly, they've yet to make.
So, according to Boras, the Astros will, in fact, select a player with the #1 overall pick next Thursday. But what it tells us is that Boras, who represents Carlos Pena, Lance McCullers, Rio Ruiz as well as oldStros Rick Ankiel and Tyler Greene, is that he's ready to negotiate. And that he gets what the Astros are doing:
Their conduct last year was truly what they thought baseball-wise was their best decision...They did what they felt was best with the totality of their draft dollars.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
