Why isn't Matusz signed yet?

[Moose Milligan]

Well hey, at least we might be treated to another night of OH midnight insanity at the deadline like we did last year with Wieters.

McLovin's ultimate test to see if he can keep the board from crashing

[TonySoprano]

Well hey, at least we might be treated to another night of OH midnight insanity at the deadline like we did last year with Wieters.

McLovin's ultimate test to see if he can keep the board from crashing

About 10 minutes to the deadline, we'll have inside information predicting a no-deal and then once again Angelos and MacPhail will charge in on their white horses and save the day.

[coe76]

My main concern with this is simple. If he is waiting for Crowe to sign he may have a long wait. It does not look like the Nats are having much success at all with their top picks and everything I read down here about Bowden is he is following his owners instructions about holding a hard line on costs to sign these guys. Hopefully AM can talk some sense into our guy and get it done.

[hoosiers]

Well, like most everyone here, I hope Matusz signs.

I would not be disappointed, however, if we do not get it done and Matusz goes back into the pool and we pick again next year. There will likely not be any talent decrease from Matusz to the prospect we would have next year as a result of not using this pick.

My gut feel is that odds would be about two to one that Matusz would end up with less $ than what we are offering now - perhaps significantly less.

I imagine that's a lesson a few management folks in baseball would not be disappointed if it were visited upon a few agents and their prospects.

[Aloe]

Can someone please answer a question for me. Why don't the owners try to get a collective bargaining agreement with the players that allows them to keep the rights to any player they draft just like they do in Basketball and Football. At least for the 1st round. The Union might not agree but they could at least try.

[baltfan]

He's risking a lot. If he goes to the indy leagues and does not perform well he's toast.

He would be a fool to not sign. He was the number 1 pitcher taken. He doesn't have David Price type stuff, so it is doubtful he will ever be taken higher than 4th. Plus, the 2009 draft is supposed to be really strong.

[Anonymous]

Warning: Devil's Advocate Perspective

Trying to get inside the Matusz head ... I assume that his agent has a written contract from the team in hand. Even if they're planning to accept the offer, why not play this thing out for the next four days, see if Crowe signs for more than expected (which would probably lead to a little upward bump on the O's offer), and then, if nothing of the sort comes to pass, simply fax in the signed contract at 11:55 pm on the 15th. It will drive all of us nuts -- but it's not a stupid strategy (unless his fax machine gets jammed!!!!!).

[hoosiers]

Warning: Devil's Advocate Perspective

Trying to get inside the Matusz head ... I assume that his agent has a written contract from the team in hand. Even if they're planning to accept the offer, why not play this thing out for the next four days, see if Crowe signs for more than expected (which would probably lead to a little upward bump on the O's offer), and then, if nothing of the sort comes to pass, simply fax in the signed contract at 11:55 pm on the 15th. It will drive all of us nuts -- but it's not a stupid strategy (unless his fax machine gets jammed!!!!!).

There is nothing wrong with a negotiating strategy that calls for waiting until the very end. Some agents play this game well and it is completely within the rules and many times teams draft players knowing the agents (or the players) will make it a difficult signing.

However, you have to understand it appears the Os were led to believe by either Matusz, his family and/or his agent that Brian would NOT be a difficult sign and that the prospect would not reach for every last dollar. If the Os were led to believe this, this has proven to not be true. Someone on the Matusz side of the negotiating table is very concerned about money. Enough to avoid starting BM's major league career in a timely fashion, enough to risk upsetting the Orioles in the negotiation process, enough to now bring an element of risk into the picture at this juncture that the signing may or may not occur.

If Matusz and his agent want to play this out to the end, it's their right. It's also the Orioles right to rescind the offer because they did not like the truthfulness of the prospect or his agent and do not want to deal with them in the future. This apparently has already happened with the Orioles tenth round pick this year.

It is 95% this works out and the Os own the rights to a strong prospect. It's not unusual to make a team sweat to sign a prospect.

If Matusz intends to sign for the current offer, why risk by delaying the signing? Why risk annoying the Os? and seeing them pull their offer? Why risk being viewed as untruthful by the Os FO? Why risk that someone behaves unrprofessionally in the heat of negotiations and someone gets offended? Better yet, WHAT IF AARON CROW gets the Nationals to cave in and he receives a $3.5M offer? Who is to say the Os will budge one penny? What has Matusz gained then?

Better yet, why doesn't Matusz just accept the Os latest offer? Once Matusz signs, does one really believe the Nats are going to offer Crow more?

[Sports Guy]

This will be awful if it doesn't get done...That being said, no way it doesn;t get done IMO.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong with a negotiating strategy that calls for waiting until the very end. Some agents play this game well and it is completely within the rules and many times teams draft players knowing the agents (or the players) will make it a difficult signing.

However, you have to understand it appears the Os were led to believe by either Matusz, his family and/or his agent that Brian would NOT be a difficult sign and that the prospect would not reach for every last dollar. If the Os were led to believe this, this has proven to not be true. Someone on the Matusz side of the negotiating table is very concerned about money. Enough to avoid starting BM's major league career in a timely fashion, enough to risk upsetting the Orioles in the negotiation process, enough to now bring an element of risk into the picture at this juncture that the signing may or may not occur.

If Matusz and his agent want to play this out to the end, it's their right. It's also the Orioles right to rescind the offer because they did not like the truthfulness of the prospect or his agent and do not want to deal with them in the future. This apparently has already happened with the Orioles tenth round pick this year.

It is 95% this works out and the Os own the rights to a strong prospect. It's not unusual to make a team sweat to sign a prospect.

If Matusz intends to sign for the current offer, why risk by delaying the signing? Why risk annoying the Os? and seeing them pull their offer? Why risk being viewed as untruthful by the Os FO? Why risk that someone behaves unrprofessionally in the heat of negotiations and someone gets offended? Better yet, WHAT IF AARON CROW gets the Nationals to cave in and he receives a $3.5M offer? Who is to say the Os will budge one penny? What has Matusz gained then?

Better yet, why doesn't Matusz just accept the Os latest offer? Once Matusz signs, does one really believe the Nats are going to offer Crow more?

These are good arguments, hoosiers -- and I don't disagree at all. My post was intended to be explanatory rather than justification.

You raise an interesting point about the possibility that the O's may pull their offer. I'm a bit uncertain about the way these sorts of negotiations work. I had assumed that Matusz has a signed contract offer in hand from the O's, which he can just fax in if he agrees to the terms. Based on your post, it seems that this was a bad assumption. If he doesn't have such a commitment in hand, then I'm pretty close to persuaded that he's playing a dangerous game at this point.

[connja]

It'd be interesting to know if the O's have presented a "take it or leave it" offer. If not that would be an indication to the BM team that there was more room to negotiate.

[bej6789]

I would love to know what Matusz's agent is doing now. I may be completely off here, but I just can't see a scenario where the Orioles haven't made a fair offer by now... I just can't.

[Lucky Jim]

This will be awful if it doesn't get done...That being said, no way it doesn;t get done IMO.

I don't think it's awful if it doesn't get done. We've got fairly advanced arms in the minors. We've got lots of above-slot arms floating around from this draft.

And next year's draft is - correct me if I'm wrong - deeper and better than this year's.

I've got no problem if Matusz is being hard-headed sending him back into the draft. More power to him. If we're not offering below slot we shouldn't be far apart. Period.

Matusz has virtually no leverage here. He's not Wieters. In spite of his No. 4 status, he's not a "make or break" guy.

Now, don't read that wrong - I actually like his projection and want him in the fold. But...

...he's about as non-urgent as a No. 4 signing can be.

[Sports Guy]

I don't think it's awful if it doesn't get done. We've got fairly advanced arms in the minors. We've got lots of above-slot arms floating around from this draft.

And next year's draft is - correct me if I'm wrong - deeper and better than this year's.

I've got no problem if Matusz is being hard-headed sending him back into the draft. More power to him. If we're not offering below slot we shouldn't be far apart. Period.

Matusz has virtually no leverage here. He's not Wieters. In spite of his No. 4 status, he's not a "make or break" guy.

Now, don't read that wrong - I actually like his projection and want him in the fold. But...

...he's about as non-urgent as a No. 4 signing can be.

Matusz is more advanced then what we have. We have heard that starting him below double A would be wrong. With the way a lot of our pitching is looking more like BP arms and the injuries we have had, the Orioles absolutely have to get Matusz signed...Not doing so would be an incredible disappointment and big black mark against the team.

But again, i have no doubt it gets done.

Tony is right...Whether it gets done in 10 min or 11:59 in a few days, it doesn't matter.

[Lucky Jim]

Matusz is more advanced then what we have. We have heard that starting him below double A would be wrong. With the way a lot of our pitching is looking more like BP arms and the injuries we have had, the Orioles absolutely have to get Matusz signed...Not doing so would be an incredible disappointment and big black mark against the team.

But again, i have no doubt it gets done.

Tony is right...Whether it gets done in 10 min or 11:59 in a few days, it doesn't matter.

Well, you'll remember that I didn't panic with Wieters. I'm certainly not now - I'm not even really weighing the will he/won't he dilemma, because I think it's 80% that he'll sign.

That said, we simply disagree on the state of our minor-league arms. You may be right, of course - but I'm not uninformed about what we're looking at.

Whether Matusz is "more advanced" or not isn't all that relevant - to me, at least. Love it for its risk-reducing value, but not too shook up about it otherwise.

We agree it'll get done. On the slim chance it doesn't, I'm not going to get broken up about it.