Interesting that he says rejecting the Astros was about not feeling they would support him over the long-term.

Remember that the Astros already had some insurance here in Nix. They had a 2-fer and wound up losing both. Plus, the Astros did offer him $5 million post-exam so we're really talking about $1.5 million being the sticking point.

Marshall, IMO, was just the bonus if everything went as re-planned. Lots of pitchers come back from TJ surgery with even more life on their fastball than before the surgery. It's not a death knell to a pitcher's career. It does mean he probably doesn't see the majors until 2019 or 2020 at the earliest because he'll be two years behind due to the surgery.

While the #2 pick in this year's draft is like hitting the "reset" button, I think the better thing to have done was to sign Aiken at the agreed-upon $6.5 mil, signed Nix as insurance and lived through a couple of years of rehab with Aiken. No bad publicity. No agents going all over the media dissing the front office.

My guess is that Aiken will now sign with the Dodgers or Angels, teams that can toss away a few million on a prospect who might or might not be what he once was. Right now, the Astros look like geniuses but will they still in five years?