Stephen Strasburg may be the hottest baseball prospect to hit the draft in a long time — possibly ever. Now add Scott Boras to the equation and Strasburg is likely to be the richest prospect to ever hit the draft.

The amazing San Diego State right-hander is putting up ridiculous numbers in college this year and he is a Boras client. According to ESPN’s Peter Gammons, Boras will be seeking money on a par with Daisuke Matsuzaka, meaning in the neighborhood of $50 million to get the kid into the show this year. If he doesn’t get that kind of money, Boras may be willing to send Strasburg to Japan for a year.

The main point of the argument that Boras will make is that Strasburg is not your typical number one pick, and therefore shouldn’t be subject to Major League Baseball’s slotting rules.

In short, “slot money” refers to:

To help the teams determine signing bonuses, Major League Baseball has provided “slot money” guidelines. Slot money is the amount recommended by the Commissioner’s Office/MLB for draft picks based on when they were selected. Clubs must offer the draftee a contract within 15 days of his selection or lose his signing rights.

From the Washington Post:

Boras’s argument would be that, in terms of ability and immediate impact, Strasburg has more in common with Matsuzaka than, say, David Price, who was the last pitcher to be picked No. 1 overall (he got $8.8 million from Tampa Bay in 2007). Would the argument be valid? Right now, Strasburg is making a complete mockery of the college game, striking out an average of 19.4 batters per nine innings this season. His radar gun readings are consistently over 100 mph. ESPN’s Buster Olney has quoted an unnamed scout as saying Strasburg, right now, would be as good a pitcher as A.J. Burnett — who (dare we mention?) signed an $82.5 million contract with the Yankees this winter.

The moral of the story is that whoever drafts Strasburg better be prepared to pay him, or they will lose him. The idea is that he is certainly worth more money than your typical number one draft pick, and because of that Boras won’t allow him to take less than free agent market value. If that’s the case, who knows where he’ll end up.

Boras’ move may be the final straw in destroying MLB’s “slotting” system, which could open up the doors to drastically changing how rookies are drafted and signed. The rules are already complicated, and with no salary cap, the roof extends forever upward. When you take an unknown MLB quantity like Strasburg and add in the most successful agent in the game, you will get an interesting result.

The question is, will Boras once again overestimate the market for his star pitcher, as he did with Alex Rodriguez, Mark Tiexiera and Manny Ramirez. Boras can’t guarantee that Strasburg will get drafted by a major market team, and therefore be able to afford him. Is it worth having him skip a year (or more) in an MLB system to get him what Boras feels he’s worth, or should he negotiate for what he can get and start working towards his free agency down the road?

Strasburg is a fascinating prospect and this will make a fascinating negotiation and draft.

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