re: Offseason Baseball Roster Transition - 6/29 - Matt Beck to wear #8

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That may just be a negotiating tactic on Crews' part.

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It's not. He's not the only person this year to do it. South Carolina and Virginia have recruits that have opted out. Florida State has a current player that opted out. All of them top 200 draft prospects (reasonably could have been drafted).

Virginia has had a few guys do it over the past few years.

Crews was always rumored to want top half of the first round money. But his stock kept dropping to where now he was projected to go in the 2nd round. With the decreased financial flexibility due to few picks for each team, it's unlikely that any team would be able to stack their picks in such a way to pay him what he wants. Doing so would mean he'd be the only real prospect they drafted. And no one would do that for a projected 2nd rounder.

Plus, with bonuses being split up over the next three years (100k this year, then the remainder split 50/50 over the two following years) he could play at LSU for three years and get a full bonus at the same time he would get a full bonus if he got drafted this year.