"After more than two months of on-and-mostly-off negotiating, angst from the fans and long periods of inaction in one of baseball's most inefficient processes, it's finally "green Monday."

The day the real dollars flow for those draft picks who have not signed and finally will put their name on the line by the deadline of 11 p.m. today.

The Astros have signed 33 picks, not signed 17 others and remain in negotiations with three of those 17 — first-rounder George Springer (UConn outfielder), third-rounder Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt pitcher) and 14th-rounder Gandy Stubblefield (Lufkin High School pitcher committed to Texas A&M if he does not sign).

Most of the first-rounders are unsigned as negotiations often expand to fill the space because the commissioner's office frowns on revelations of over-slot deals in advance of Aug. 15 for fear they adjust the market upward."