One of the great things about covering baseball is that you wake up every morning knowing that you could be reporting on something you've never seen before.

In my years as a beat hack, I saw players felled by Ross River fever, vestibular neuritis and even elephantiasis of the testicles.

But, this is a new one.

The Brewers' top draft pick, California high school pitcher Dylan Covey, turned down the club's contract offer last night in part because he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during a team-ordered physical last week.

The 19-year-old right-hander will now attend college at the University of San Diego. The Brewers tried to sign Covey, who was expected to receive a signing bonus of about $2 million, but Covey's family decided that Dylan would have an easier time adapting his lifestyle in a college environment.

The Brewers, who had signed every first-round draft pick since Kenny Henderson chose to attend the University of Miami in 1991, will now receive a compensation pick in the first round of the 2011 draft.

When the Covey news first broke Monday night, a lot of people assumed that the team was letting the kid walk because contract negotiations left them with a gap of a couple hundred thousand dollars between their offer and Covey's demands. Many fans were screaming for scouting director Bruce Seid to be fired.

While this was definitely a bad break for everyone involved, it doesn't appear to have been Seid's fault. He ultimately will be judged on the merits of the players he's chosen in the past two drafts, but a hole at the top of the first round in 2010 could be tough to overcome.

It's also a tough break for general manager Doug Melvin, who is having trouble with pitching at the major-league level.