At this point I'd like to get something straight: If the Nationals don't sign Strasburgthis summer, his one option is to go back for his senior year of college, and the Nationals get the #2 pick in the 2010 draft, right? So nothing would prevent them (assuming they have next year's #1 pick) from drafting Harper and Strasburg again and negotiating with Strasburg when he has less leverage? Is that right?

If I were the Nationals, dealing with Boras at this point, I think I'd go for a pre-emptive strike. Boras wants a once-in-a-lifetime deal for Strasburg. So make an early offer of, say, $25 million, point out that it is more than twice as much as any other offer to a baseball draftee in history (so Boras is getting the clear pre-eminent deal he says is appropriate) and make clear that that is THE offer. Don't wiggle from that, and make it clear to Boras that if Strasburg doesn't sign, they'll draft him again next year and make a smaller offer, when he has less leverage.

I really think such an approach puts the Nationals in great shape in the court of public opinion. If Boras wants to hold out for more in the current economic climate under circumstances where the Nationals would be offering a boatload of money and giving him the pre-eminent deal that he says is a requirement for this negotiation, I'd like to see what the public thinks about that.