Sour Appel

  While it is disappointing to not sign first round pick Mark Appel, I see no reason to resort to anger and start hoping Appel blows out his arm next year. How Mark does next year is irrelevant now. I’ve seen a lot of tweets of how foolish he is for turning down 3+ million dollars and risk getting injured next year and getting nothing.  I assume that the money was the primary factor in the decision but it probably wasn’t the only factor. If it were me, I would have signed, but this isn’t just about signing a baseball contract; It is his life. His career. His decision.  We constantly criticize athletes for “only doing it for the money”. Is it possible that he considered something other than money? Maybe finishing school was something he wanted to do in his life. Its possible he thought his career path would be better with a different organization. I’m confident he thought out the decision thoroughly.  Whatever the reason, it was his choice; not the Pirates, not Scott Boras. Perhaps it was a poor choice and he will regret the decision, but I think it is shallow to judge his decision based solely on some metal matrix of what he could sign for this year compared to risk of injury and odds to make more money next year.  He doesn’t owe the Pirates anything and simply decided against signing.