Brett Favre was so inspired by Strasburgs signing, he had to do it too

Facts:

-Stephen Strasburg signed a 4-year deal for $15.1 million

-Strasburg received a $7.5 million signing bonus

-Strasburg’s pay increments will be as follows”

2009: $400 K  2010: $2 Million 2011: $2.5 Million 2012: $3 Million

-The deal was signed at 11:58:43 P.M prompting Kasten to say, “People thought it would take to the last minute. We didn’t even need that last minute.”

-Other top picks who signed:

• No. 2 Dustin Ackley $7.5 million
  
• No. 3 Donovan Tate $3.25 million
  
• No. 9 Jacob Turner $5.5 million 
  
• No. 13 Grant Green $2.75 million
  

-Strasburg wont pitch until 2010.

-Aaron Crow still unsigned.

Opinion:

Jeff Passan says Strasburg needs to be Ken Griffey Jr:

“He cannot fail, Good is unacceptable. Anything short of trancendence and he’s just another mistake on the Washington Nationals’ log that, this year alone, reads like Dead Franchise Scrolls.”

Hall of Famer Peter Gammons says that Strasburg and the Nats needed each other:

“As the Stephen Strasburg negotiations wore down toward the Monday deadline (midnight ET), it started to become as political as health care. It is, after all, Washington, and so as Scott Boras stuck to his pledge to privatize the bargaining, the Nationals campaigned, in case they cannot come to an agreement.”

WaPo’s Thomas Boswell wrote that Strasburg is Washington’s redemption:

“No 21-year-old deserves such responsibility; but Strasburg has put the Nats squarely on baseball's map, on the list of can't-miss attractions in the game that must be seen. Does he really throw 100-102 mph with command? Or is that partly scouts' mythology? Is his 93-mph slider really his best pitch, so sharp it actually seems to hit something in mid-air and deflect? And is Nats interim general manager Mike Rizzo correct when he says what sets Strasburg apart is not just his stuff but ‘a fierceness?”

Dan Steinberg at D.C Sports Bog talks with Fred Smoot and the Skins about the deal:

"I think that's a great deal," Smoot said. "We actually came out on top with him."

"He finally signed?" Santana Moss asked as he slid into the tub. "Why was he sitting out so long?"

"Because they wouldn't pay him that money," Smoot explained. "He wanted No. 1 pick money…"