B.A. reports Nats considering taking Taillon

[hoosiers]

I'm sorry but anybody who doesn't want to draft and pay Bryce Harper what he is worth is being foolish IMO. Harper is a once in a generation type talent even if he can't stick at C.

Harper over Taillon is a major no-brainer. And the only team that you should be rooting for to take Bryce Harper is the Orioles.

He's hitting .431 with a .899 SLG and a .530 OBP.

To pass on that type of talent even for an arm like Tallion is doing a major harm to your franchise IMO. The Nats won't be that stupid.

This is not true. Folks were saying Hosmer was the best hitter since ARod two years ago.

Machado and Harper were on the same TeamUSA team and, per BA, Machado out hit Harper and Manny plays SS.

If one believes Harper is the BPA and wants to pay upwards of $15M, I can understand. I personally do not believe Harper is in the vicinity of Stausburg or Texiera or Weiters and would have a difficult time signing him for more $8-9M or so.

[JDubs]

But he is making more, then guys who have actually done something in the ML, which is no given for Strasburg. He could blow out his arm, get in a bar fight and hurt his shoulder, or lose control of the strike zone all together. As a former player, I understand both sides of the arguement, but I personally think you should get paid for what you do, in the ML's, not what you might be able to do.

This is more a critque of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (and I think, a valid one) than the player. Just like a player has the duty to do everything he can to perform up to any contract that he signs, he has a responsibility to himself and his family to provide the best life possible. The biggest piece of the equation is $$$.

It is not the player's duty to try and reform a bad salary structure in any sport. The MLB has the strongest players union in sports. If it wants to emphasize veterans over rookies, it can probably get results in the next CBA negotiations (2011). I think all sports need serious reform in terms of salary $ distribution to trend it away from the newer players. Baseball is interesting though, because players can toil in the minors for years before being earning his 'rookie' MLB salary. Since service time does not start until your rookie season, I think the CBA should take into consideration guys like Chris Coste who was a AAAA player that finally put it all together.