Obviously, this story comes from the usual caveats. First, the agent and player are not publicly saying anything. The Astros top brass (Luhnow) are not saying anything publicly. So, the first caveat is that we don't know exactly where this story is coming from. Ergo, we don't know how accurate this story is. That being said, let's assume for the time being that it is true. There are multiple ways to look at it. First, we have the initial gut reaction that the Astros are getting a bad reputation for welshing on agreed deals. I'm in wait and see mode on this one. It remains to be seen what kind of negative impact the team will get from this. I'm acknowledging there likely will be one, but to what extend remains to be seen. Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether they will be right on both Aiken and Vogelsong. If Vogelsong goes out and wins 15 games (unlikely since he is slated to be in the pen) then Luhnow will look like a jackass. If Vogelsong goes out and blows out his arm in April then he will be vindicated. The same will be true of Aiken, but we won't know for several years.

It sounds to me like the Astros have a more extensive database for medical records, injury history, voodoo witchcraft, and whatever else you can think of. I remember Luhnow and Mijdal bragging about that when they first set up shop. So, it does not surprise me that they would come up with something where the Giants did not. Sabean seems like the kind of guy that poohs poohs sabermetrics and decision science. I would laugh at that notion, but he is the guy with three fat rings on his fingers. It remains to be seen whether all of this extra information amounts to any sort of his tangible advantage. 

I am a senior writer at thefantasyfix.com and a staff writer at bigleaguesmag.com. The Hall of Fame Index is also still for sale and as relevant as ever.