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Draft Rumors Thread: The Final 4 Hours

4:30 PM: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports seems to think the Astros are trying to hammer out an agreement with Mark Appel, the implication being, unless they can hammer out a deal under the $7.2m slot, then the club will move onto someone else.

2:32 PM: Marc Hulet at FanGraphs posted his mock draft with the Astros taking Mark Appel. After reading this post I'm starting to wonder if everyone is just following the crowd. If there's a chance wrong might as well be wrong with everyone else.

2:27 PM:

2:15 PM: David's interview on ESPN 97.5 FM, The Blitz with Fred Faour and AJ Hoffman.

1:31 PM (Link times corrected to CST)

From Jonathan Mayo's blog we get this tidbit about Houston:

It’s very, very quiet in Houston these days, with other teams not even hearing from the team picking No. 1 overall.

Dave Perkin of cnnsi.com has the Astros selectiong Mark Appel.

12:27 PM: Jonathan Mayo also has the Astros selecting Mark Appel.

12:26 PM: Keith Law has posted his latest mock draft (insider) and has the Astros taking Mark Appel, but with the possibility of a Byron Buxton or even Carlos Correa pick.

11:51 AM: Mark Anderson from Baseball Prospect Nation, has the Astros taking Mark Appel with Byron Buxton possibly being if not, then selection.

From yesterday, Matt Garrioch, of Minor League Ball, has the Astros taking Mark Appel with the first selection.

10:21 AM: Jim Callis, of Baseball America, updated his mock draft and still has the Astros taking Mark Appel.

From yesterday, John Sickels had the Astros taking Mark Appel with the first selection.

8:37 AM: In his latest mock draft Kevin Goldstein, of Baseball Prospectus, has the Astros selecting Byron Buxton with the first pick.

6:59 AM: Front page added and updated -Tim

  • Keith Law, of ESPN, has the Astros selecting Appel in his latest mock.
  • Jim Callis, of Baseball America, has the Astros selecting Appel.
  • Jim Bowden tweeted this on Sunday afternoon:

And, for all you read-between-the-lines folks, Jeff Luhnow mentioned the words 'Cy Young' not 'MVP' on Sunday's TV broadcast.

We're 20ish hours from the official announcement of the first pick, and for all intents and purposes, it looks like it's going to be Mark Appel. I think Appel will be a fine major league player, but I still think it's a mistake to pass on potential MVP-caliber talents like Buxton and Correa, but I digress.

I thought we ought to have a fresh rumors thread. Post all the latest news and rumors below. I've turned my attention and excitement to the 41st pick, if Appel is indeed the selection at 1.1.