The Astros and unsigned 2014 5th Round pick Jacob Nix have agreed to a settlement of an undisclosed amount, according to multiple media reports.
To recap just what the hell this is about:
The Astros drafted Brady Aiken with the #1 overall pick, and then drafted friend, fellow UCLA commit, and fellow Casey Close client Nix with their 5th Round selection. The Astros and Nix had agreed to a $1.5m bonus contingent on Aiken's $6m signing. Then the Astros "found" Aiken had a teeny-tiny UCL and tried to renegotiate (or, drop the bottom out of) Aiken's bonus. Aiken and Close told the Astros, whose bedsheet and comforter were decidedly soaked with fecal matter, to piss off. When the Astros realized they'd be on the hook for the full pricetag of the 1-1 pick, they couldn't sign Nix. So, through no fault of his own, Nix lost out on becoming a teenage millionaire. And the world was understandably pissed.
Now, both Aiken's and Nix's college eligibility is up to the NCAA (which is akin to having your fate decided by a drunk with a combover at the roulette table), because their eligibility has been compromised by having Close obviously represent them.
The only bright side? It seems as though the Astros won't have to forfeit their 1-2 and 1-5 pick in 2015. Why would they have to do that? Because if they were on the hook for Nix's $1.5m deal, that would put them over their bonus pool by such a percentage that the penalty is to forfeit the top two picks in the following draft. So it seems as though by making this agreement, the Astros aren't going to lose the "benefit" of not signing Aiken, after all.
What a freaking train wreck that was.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
