Well, I am glad that Stephen Strasburg finally decided to accept the deal that the Washington Nationals offered him. I just don't understand what was going through his mind for the last few days leading up to the deadline. If it were me, I would be ecstatic just to be drafted and offered a contract to play the game that I love. I don't blame him for waiting for the last second and trying to drive the price up. All the blame should go to his agent, Scott Boras. That is why I think teams should just stop dealing with agents like him and Drew Rosenhaus. They aren't in it for their client, just for the money. They care nothing about what they are doing to the sport or to their client's reputation.
To solve this problem, Major League Baseball needs to adopt some sort of salary scale for draft picks and then set a cap. I believe MLB should have some sort of salary cap across the board.
I think that the league should make players liable for being hurt all the time or not producing like they should. If they get hurt and spend most of the year on the DL, they should have to give some of their salary back. Or take a pay cut for the next year if they come back.
One example that drove me crazy and shows how the current system is screwed up is Shawn Hill. Shawn Hill was a promising pitcher that was drafted by the Expos in 2000 and had great stuff. He made it to the big leagues with the Expos in 2004 and then missed all of the 2005 season with an elbow injury (Tommy John). He comes back mid way through the 2006 season and then gets hurt again. In 2007, while making $380,000, Hill starts out with a bang. Then gets hurt again and spends half of the season on the shelf. In 2008, the Nationals pay him $402,000. Does he earn this? No, he was put on the DL twice before finally being shut down in June for the rest of the season. Before the 2009 season, Hill goes through arbitration where, for some reason, he wins and is awarded $775,000 instead of the $500,000 the Nationals offered him. That right there shows how screwed up the system is when a player who, from 2005 to 2008, had totaled barely one year of playing time due to injury and gets rewarded by a $373,000 raise from the year before. And then what does he do next? He gets hurt. He was FINALLY released by the Nationals in March 2009. I read that the Padres picked him up for a minor league deal and after making a few starts was put on the DL in June for the rest of the year with Tommy John surgery. (AGAIN!)
This is why I think that draft picks should be capped on how much they can make. They do it in basketball and football, why not baseball. Strasburg could turn out like Mark Prior or Kerry Wood or even Shawn Hill (God forbid) and be injury prone. He will still make all that money even though he is sitting at home watching the games on TV.
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