As the No. 1 overall pick in 1990, Chipper Jones signed with the Braves for $275,000.
Even in today's dollars, that's about $450,000 -- or about 3 percent of Stephen Strasburg was guaranteed as this year's No. 1 pick.
And Jones agreed to his deal the night before the draft, while Strasburg came within two minutes of missing last Monday's deadline to sign.
"I think the only way that you're going to get kids signed and get them into the various camps is to put some kind of cap on it," Jones said. "I was always of the belief that you make your money at the big-league level."
That's how the teams want it too. When the current collective bargaining agreement is up in two years, Major League Baseball may pursue an NBA-style slotting system -- with signing bonuses locked in depending on how high a player is picked, as opposed to the current non-binding slot recommendations.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
Every Hot Stove season, each team reshapes its roster in an attempt to better themselves. After each transaction, whether a free agent acquisition, trade or something else, writers and bloggers everywhere provide knee-jerk reactions on each particular move. Though the majority of the analysis is educated, it's still just conjecture. Today, we'll take the long view and look back at some of the maneuvering this past offseason and see how it played out on the field.
The Astros dealt Ivan Rodriguez back to the Rangers Tuesday afternoon in exchange for minor league reliever Matt Nevarez and a player to be named later, a major league source has confirmed to FanHouse.
Pudge, who spent the best 12 years of his career with the Rangers between 1991 and 2002, is only hitting .251/.280/.382 but he's expected to provide depth behind Taylor Teagarden, with starter Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the disabled list. Neither player has hit much better than Rodriguez this season.
Ivan Rodriguez has had a great career. He won an MVP award with Texas in the '90s, has 13 Gold Gloves and an impeccable reputation as a defensive catcher. He's caught more games than anyone in baseball history, and his presence on the 2003 Florida Marlins was widely cited as an intangible reason for their improbable run to the World Series. There have been some loose ties to PEDs that come along with being in the Texas Rangers' clubhouse in the 1990s and that might affect Hall of Fame voting for him, but it's way too early to tell with something like that.
Pudge, however, has decided that all of this isn't enough and he'd like to stick around for a few more years until he reaches 3,000 hits. He's only about 350 hits away, but at the pace he's currently going, he might have to start and play regularly for three years after this one to reach his goal.
NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.
In the most remarkable turnaround of the season, Texas' pitching staff is actually pretty good, with a 4.46 ERA after shutouts Thursday and Friday and allowing three runs Saturday. If the Rangers can keep it there all year, it would mark the first time since 1993 the franchise had an ERA better than 4.50.
Not coincidentally, Texas leads the AL West at 35-26, the second-best record in the league.
"This is my third year here," right-hander Brandon McCarthy said, "but in two years I got sick to death of hearing, 'Texas pitchers stink. Texas pitchers stink.'
"Now we can turn those tables a little bit, be the group that maybe changes that whole mindset. It would be an awesome accomplishment."
Major League Baseball is in the early stages of investigating player agents who may be connected to the sport's steroid scandal.
"It's a whole new territory we're looking into," a person with direct knowledge of the investigation told FanHouse. "Our information has led us to believe there are some [agents] worth going after."
The 50-game suspension of Manny Ramirez last week proves MLB's intention to rid the game of performance-enhancing drugs is expansive in its scope and aggressive in its tactics.
Now that nearly 30 players have been suspended for using PEDs since the penalty phase of testing began in 2004, the natural progression, say people familiar with baseball's Department of Investigations, is to target the suppliers, as well as users.
The Astros exceeded expectations last season, but they still have some changes to make if they want the baseball world to see them as a serious contender. First, the bottom half of their tentative rotation (Brian Moehler, Russ Ortiz, the half of Mike Hampton that hasn't crumbled off) is looking pretty dicey. And second, their logo continues to look like that of an Internet service provider. Ever wonder why the cable guy never shows up on time? He's busy playing mediocre baseball in Texas.
The Houston Astros were going to enter the season with two largely unproven catchers. J.R. Towles and Humberto Quintero were in the middle of an epic "let's see who is worse at hitting" battle in Spring Training. Seriously, this was a war of futiltiy if I've ever seen one. Quintero is hitting .182 with a dismal .546 OPS through 11 games. Towles, not to be out-sucked, sports a .133 average and .521 OPS.
Now, I'm not sure if the combined lack of offensive prowess behind the plate caused Astros' GM Ed Wade to signIvan Rodriguez, because the Astros have a recent history of clinging to their veterans and going all out for the current season anyway. Regardless, Pudge (Part II) is now in the fray. Is he worth owning in fantasy baseball this season?
With Pudge Rodriguez raking the ball for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, it seemed like only a matter of time until some major league team would finally cave and give him a job. In the league right now, there are two GMs that stand out as guys that love overpriced veterans way too much. Bengie Molina is firmly entrenched in San Francisco, so Brian Sabean's hands are tied on this one. That leaves Ed Wade.
The sun came up in the east for approximately the 1,657,100,000th time this morning. Now, ESPN is reporting that Pudge is signing a one-year deal with the Astros. At this point, I want to write a phrase starting with, "The only way this could be more predictable is ..." but I can't. Ed Wade signing an over-the-hill veteran for a position he has a decent young player at could not possibly be more predictable.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
The Astros dealt 
NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.
Major League Baseball is in the early stages of investigating player agents who may be connected to the sport's steroid scandal.
The 
The Houston Astros were going to enter the season with two largely unproven catchers. 
With 
