12:05 pm EST - SI.com's Jon Heyman via the Twitter:
"strasburg appears to be close to agreeing to a deal for $15 mil, sources say. #nats."
12:00pm EST...???????????
11:50 pm EST...Should know within 15 minutes...
11:21 pm POLL RESULTS...
With a little over a half-an-hour to the Signing Deadline, there is still no news on whether or not the Washington Nationals have been able to sign Stephen Strasburg, though everyone's hinting that things are getting serious now. The Federal Baseball.com Readers are serious, and after 1,522 votes have been cast in the latest poll which asks, "Will The Washington Nationals Sign Stephen Strasburg? Yes or No?" these are the results:
Yes. Stephen Strasburg Will Be A National On August 18th. = 733 votes = 48.5%
No. The Nationals Will Not Be Able To Reach An Agreement With Stephen Strasburg. = 789 votes = 51.5%
I've just added the POLL below, optimism will prevail...
11:05 pm EST - SI.com's Jon Heyman via Twitter:
"#nats are upping their bid from 12.5 mil, according to sources. the game's not over quite yet. 54 mins to go."
10:57 pm EST...
With one hour remaining...there is absolutely no news to report. Washington Post writer Chico Harlan checks in an the one hour mark with a Nationals Journal post entitled, "As The Decision Nears", where he speculates about where the negotiations might be right now....Mr. Irrelevant's Jamie Mottram has an article up about MASN's Rob Dibble's opinion on the Strasburg situation...(ed. note - "I'm just gonna leave the title out unless you want to click there.")
9:50 pm EST - An open letter to Michael Wilbon:
"I forgot to include this with the PTI quotes below by Michael Wilbon, and since there's no new news right now, I though I'd clear something up for anyone who comes here looking for Strasburg updates...In the PTI segment Michael Wilbon said:
"This is a franchise that has proven to be incompetent so far, at every turn, including being unable to get the uniform, names spelled correctly on the uniform, Danny."
"For the last time, let's set the record straight. Mr. Wilbon, read THIS. The link is to an article by MLB.com's Bill Ladson, and it's entitled, "Majestic apologizes for misspelling", and in this article, Majestic Athletic apologizes for the mistake THEY MADE by leaving the "O" out of Nationals on Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn's jerseys. MAJESTIC ATHLETIC made the mistake!!!! I know it fits nicely into the mainstream media's "The Nationals are a joke" narrative, but it's just not true...you know, factually...does that matter?"
9:12 pm EST - ESPN.com's Peter Gammons is quoted in a MASN.com article by Pete McElroy entitled, "Four Hours To Go", stating that, "...all of the Top 10 picks have signed except for Strasburg, even though they haven't been announced yet," which could be a good thing, Mr. McElroy believes, since "Scott Boras, Strasburg's advisor, now can give the Nationals his undivided attention since he also represents six other first rounders."
UPDATE: Someone passes this quote on to MiLB.com's Jonathan Mayo via the Twitter. Mr. Mayo's response:
"Not that I know of and based on history of deadline deals, I'd say it's not quite true, with all due respect to Peter."
8:42 pm EST - Alright, three hours to go, what have we got? We've had a fake Stephen Strasburg on Twitter. (Jonathan Mayo says on his Twitter that it wasn't Strasburg at least...If that is the real Jonathan Mayo...)...We've had a tweet by SI.com's Jon Heyman that reported on an offer Washington apparently made to their '09 1st Round pick, but as Mr. Heyman writes, "offer to phenom stasburg is for $12.5 million, sources say. yes, it's a record. but there's still a big gap." I assume it's really Jon Heyman, at least...? Logan Kensing was DFA'D? According to Washington Post writer Chico Harlan's article entitled, "Logan Designated For Assigment"...Uh...other than that?...There's...Well a lot of people have opinions on what will happen...
• Michael Wilbon on PTI, is asked by guest co-host Dan Le Batard whose fault it will be if the Nationals and Strasburg don't come to an agreement? Scott Boras' fault?
MIchael Wilbon: "Why would I blame his agent for doing what agents are supposed to do? You engage an agent to take care of you. Not the club. Not the fans who say the ticket prices are too high, not the sponsors. Take care of me! I'm the client...
Dan Le Batard: "Not if it means sitting out a year, nobody wants to sit out a year, nobody wants to do that..."
Michael Wilbon: "Wait a minute? If he sits out a year and makes more money or enhances himself."
Dan Le Batard: "That's a giant if, Mike?"
Michael Wilbon: "But the point is, you blame the Nationals. This is a franchise that has proven to be incompetent so far, at every turn, including being unable to get the uniform, names spelled correctly on the uniform, Danny."
Dan Le Batard: "But wait, Mike, they've offered him more money than anyone in the history of the sport? $12.5 million dollars last report?"
Michael Wilbon: "Danny? Get him signed. This is not hindsight. I wrote about this before they drafted him. If you're not going to be certain you can get him signed, don't draft him."
Dan Le Batard: Mike, get him signed for what? $50 million? The $50 million dollars that he wants?
Michael Wilbon: Then don't draft him! It's real simple...
How aboot Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein on MLB on XM's On Deck? Will He Sign?
• Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein on MLB on XM's On Deck
"...sure Scott Boras can talk about how he's worth $50 million, and he might be right, but when you talked to people in the industry, even in June, or, forget that, in May before the draft even happened you know, 'What do you think Strasburg's gonna get?' Everyone talked, now forget about the bonus, just total package, $20-$25 million dollars and I think in the end that's what's going to happen..."
• MiLB.com's Jonathan Mayo on the MLB Network, Talks Strasburg:
"Obviously, Strasburg is a guy everyone is wondering about...I still say that it gets done. This is something that Boras does each and every year with his top guys, they wait til the last minute. Everyone knew we weren't going to find out about him until 12:01, 12:02, and I think that's going to happen..."
So What Have You Got? What are you hearing? I'll be here all night...