Baseball America's Jim Callis posted his last mock draft before the main event this evening and, boy oh boy, there's some weird news there.
He's hearing reports that the Astros have a preference for Appel, but only at the right price. I didn't realize this (I rarely realize the things that make perfect sense), but the July 12 signing deadline doesn't apply to college seniors, which means that Boras/Appel can hold the Astros' bonus pool hostage or, at the very least, corncob it so hard that the Astros get severely penalized. Buzz on Wednesday night was that the Cubs and Appel were close to reaching a deal at 1.2.
Callis projects Gray as the pick, but that Houston could go Bryant or Moran.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
