As you probably heard, a young pitcher named Brady Aiken is going to miss some time with an elbow injury. The bad, but not fatal one. Last week, Aiken took to The Players' Tribune to discuss his injury, and his decision to turn down a $5 million offer from the Astros last summer. Here's the part that seemed to particular intrigue our own C.J. Nitkowski:
Since last summer, a lot of people have wondered how I could have turned down a multi-million-dollar signing bonus after being picked first in the Draft. Now, I know they'll probably be wondering about it again. I can honestly say I don't regret not signing. It was a very difficult decision, but it also was an informed decision based on circumstances only a few people know the truth about. My family and I planned for all the possible outcomes. We weighed the pros and cons, talked with friends and mentors and doctors whose opinions we value and discussed it over a number of family dinners. This wasn't a decision we made lightly.
The money wasn’t the only factor to consider. I wanted to play somewhere I felt comfortable, with a support system I felt would lay the groundwork for a successful and long career. Making sure I had that in place was worth the frustration of not being able to get on with my career sooner.
As we've learned over the years, while it's usually true that money isn't the only factor that baseball players consider, it's often the most important factor. Granted, the negotatiations do seem to have become acrimonious. Somtimes if you're mad, you just see red instead of green. Because let's be honest about this: five million dollars is a great deal of money.
Support system, though? If Aiken had accepted the Astros' last-minute offer of $5 million -- which had reportedly started at $6.5 million, then plummeted to $3.1 million before the bump back to 5 -- wouldn't the Astros have been highly motivated to take the best of care with Aiken? If only to protected their cold-blooded investment?
Anyway, part of C.J.'s take:
This is from an 18-year-old kid who turned down $5 million dollars less than a year ago and just had Tommy John surgery. Could the Astros have handled his situation so poorly that even now, with all that has happened, he doesn't regret taking the last minute offer? Apparently so.
And that "support system" part? That's the equivalent of dad saying he's not mad at you, just disappointed in you. Those sting.
The handling of Aiken, Jacob Nix, J.D. Martinez, Bo Porter and the mystery of whatever happened with Ryan Vogelsong and the Astros this past winter has not been a good look for Houston.
Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez will be coming back from Tommy John surgery this year, it is hardly a career ender for elite level talent. Elite level people though are much harder to come by, and the Astros let one get away.
I guess I see this one differently than C.J. does. I certainly wouldn't expect a teenager (or anyone else, really) in Aiken's position to admit, in a written statement that might have been written by just about anyone, that he'd made a mistake. I mean, there are two possibilities here, right?
1. He thinks he made a mistake but doesn't want to admit it.
2. He doesn't think he made a mistake at all.
Does No. 2 seem significantly more likely than No. 1? Not to me. My general preference is to take people at their word ... but a teenager and a written statement on a vanity website? Sorry, gotta reserve some real skepticism for those.
I think C.J. and I just look at the Astros from different perspectives. I'm more likely to forgive them their mistakes and missteps because I admire how they approach winning an unfair game. I think C.J. is less likely to forgive, because he's been in the same positions as guys like Aiken and Vogelsong, while I (quite obviously) haven't.
I'm mostly interested in the bottom line: Will the Astros win 90 games within the next two or three years? And I'll be honest: When the number on the contract runs into seven figures, my empathy does begin to fade just a little.
