Stephen Strasburg's deal looms as extraordinary, all right

The adjective du jour is "extraordinary."

Scott Boras uses a thesaurus better than anyone in baseball. He has advertised players as special, as premium, as iconic.

For Stephen Strasburg, and for Boras' mission to get him paid as if he were a free agent rather than a draft pick, baseball's most powerful agent has chosen "extraordinary."

As in: "The equation of how an extraordinary talent fits in really has little or nothing to do with the other aspects of the draft."

The confetti had barely been cleaned up in Washington. It had not even been 24 hours since the Nationals had selected Strasburg with the No. 1 pick in the draft, a giddy moment for a sad franchise, and Boras took to a conference call Wednesday to pitch on behalf of the best pitcher in college baseball.

"By most scouts' account, he's the best draft pick in history, for a pitcher," Boras said.

Extraordinary, yes. Tony Gwynn, his coach at San Diego State, has said Strasburg could be the Nationals' ace right now.

But this time belongs to Boras, not to Strasburg. The Nationals face an Aug. 17 deadline to sign Strasburg, and rest assured Boras will make the Nationals sweat for all 67 days until then.

What does Boras want?

First, he wants to persuade the Nationals that the risk in signing Strasburg is "almost nil," even though the track record for pitchers selected with the No. 1 pick is spotty at best.

There are no Hall of Famers among the 12 pitchers selected at No. 1, only Tim Belcher and Andy Benes and Ben McDonald and Mike Moore and a bunch of regrets.

That's beside the point, Boras argues. It's all about the money. The best players, he says, are the ones who got the most money to sign -- $5 million or more.

"The risk is almost nil of them not making it to the major leagues," he said.

They all have made it, all 18 who signed for at least $5 million from 1998 to 2007. Joe Mauer and Josh Beckett starred. Joe Borchard and Eric Munson bombed. Mark Prior got hurt.

David Price and Justin Upton look terrific so far, Luke Hochevar and Andrew Miller not so much.

For that money, just getting there ought not to be enough. Mauer is the first two-time All-Star among that group of 18. Pat Burrell and Delmon Young might play out their careers without ever making the All-Star game.

Prior signed for a record $10.5 million. Burrell, Price and Mark Teixeira are the only other players to have hit $8 million.