When Bowden drafted but did not sign Aaron Crow, most people just remember now that we took Drew Storen with the supplemental pick the following year. As it turned out, the team wasn’t really “hurt” by the loss of a year’s development time for a top end starting pitcher. But that lost opportunity cost is still there.

I’m trying to think of an example of a player in any sport who was so bad in the clubhouse that teams literally ignored his talents and just stayed away. Perhaps Barry Bonds when his San Francisco contract expired? He was 42, had just come off a season where he had a 169 OPS+, and I’m positive he could have contributed as a DH somewhere. But not one offer came his way. Maybe Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (nee Chris Jackson), who seemed to earn his way out of the NBA by virtue of the whole National Anthem controversy? Terrell Owens and/or Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson right now (probably not since they’re both too old to be effective in the NFL)?

Rizzo certainly has learned to keep his mouth shut. I supported the Hanrahan deal; despite his numbers in Pittsburgh I never felt he was going to do that here. Classic “needs a change of scenery” guy.

As an aside, the rigidity that I mentioned about Arizona’s thinking?: for a while I worried that Rizzo had the same outlook (and isn’t it interesting that he came out of Arizona). That phase where he was cutting guys because he ‘didn’t like his aura’ or ‘I got tired of watching him pitch’, plus what seemed like a pure dumping of Hanrahan following some awful relief appearances had me worried. But it does seem like he matured from that, and ironically I think the Hanrahan trade may have been part of the reason. I think that he felt like he gave up on him too soon.

We all know that teams try to change pitchers motions, and that not all teams have the same approach. It has to be frustrating for a kid to have thrown one way his whole life and then suddenly be asked to make changes by some low-A pitching coach.

Specific to Bauer; how in the hell does UCLA have the #1 and #3 overall picks (him and Gerrett Cole), both being near-MLB ready starters, and NOT at least reach the CWS that year? They got beat in the regionals, didn’t even make the super-regionals. So odd.

I had also read somewhere that Bauer’s velo was down a few ticks too, possibly related to a groin injury he suffered earlier in the year.

Arizona does seem like a rigid organization. Those repeated Justin Upton rumors are puzzling, since it can only decrease his trade value, plus alienate the player. I don’t know if it all comes from Towers, but that owner (or president) makes some unusual comments too. It is almost like they are consumed by a ‘machismo’ culture. They seem like a very black and white kind of place.

It also seems pretty clear that Bauer is an opinionated young man, but can you blame him? He deals with college coaches who’ll destroy a kid’s arm to win a few games; pro teams who also look to maximize short term results over a player’s interest; pitching coaches that try to fit everyone into the same square peg. He probably is the only one who is interested in his long term prospects. I don’t blame the kid for sticking to what got him here, and as far as his super small sample size results, isn’t that true for virtually 99% of young pitchers, that it takes them a while to figure out how to pitch at the top level?

I dunno, it seemed like Arizona decided that they wanted him gone for non-baseball reasons, and did it.