Comments on: More Draft Details From The CBA

By: John

John — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:37:35 +0000

Jim … Perhaps it's simply too early on a Saturday morning … but is the $185mm per team or the total for all 30 teams?
Although there are exceptions, the rather draconian changes by Seligdorf to the draft appear to hurt the smaller market teams most. The Rays, KC, Bucs, Nats (for instance) have been big players … drafting wisely and often allows them a "competitive edge" given their inability to compete with bigger markets for FAs. (Werth exception noted). It seems odd to me that MLB is being so punitive in "punishing" clubs with good scouting resources and the willingness to allocate dollars over slot for players both in the MLB and Intl Draft.
What appears to be the "unintended consequence" is ML teams being "forced" to overpay for mediocre (Capuano – $10/2yrs or "aging" talent Bell, age 34 – $27/3yrs). The other obvious consequence is losing prospects (Szczur, Harper, Maples) to college and/or other sports, reducing the pool of talent … both MLB and Intl.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:35:08 +0000

Jim-
The competitive balance lottery picks can be traded, but what about the draft cap penalizations picks which are reallocated in a lottery starting in 2013? In other words, in the unlikely event that someone exceeds their draft budget by more than 5% and loses a 2013 first round pick, and that pick is now awarded in a lottery, wouold that pick tradeable as well?

By: Jim Callis

Jim Callis — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:06:55 +0000

Gary: I’ve been told the $100,000 limit (anything over that counts against a team’s draft cap) after the 10th round also applies to nondrafted free agents. But so many players in the draft don’t sign (555 of 1,530 picks in 2011), reducing the draft by 40 rounds isn’t going to have any significant repercussions.

By: Jim Callis

Jim Callis — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:04:24 +0000

Ric: No . . . that rule hasn’t changed. An unsigned pick in the first two rounds yields a compensation choice following the same pick in the next year’s draft. A unsigned third-rounder yields a compensation choice following the third round.

By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:31:43 +0000

What about undrafted college and high school players? With 40 rounds instead of 50 there's 300 more than usual. Will they be capped as well?

By: Ric

Ric — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:14:03 +0000

If a team doesn't sign a pick in rounds 1-10 does it get the same pick the following year?

By: Jim Callis

Jim Callis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:12:59 +0000

Dave: A team could, but whether all the teams that will want extra cap space will punt that many picks remains to be seen. But that’s not the reason I bolded that rule. It’s main significance is that a team can’t create millions of dollars in cap space by not signing an early pick, because you lose the cap space for anyone who doesn’t sign. There’s no easy loophole to create extra cap room.

By: dave

dave — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:28:48 +0000

Jim-

do you see the bolded above really having much of an impact? Couldn't a team just take a roster-filler college senior type in rounds 5-10, give him a 10K bonus, and use the difference between the 10K and the pick's value to give to other players?

By: Walter

Walter — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:44:15 +0000

Ah i see now, thanks for the clarification Jim. It will be interesting to see how frequently these picks are actually traded.

By: Jim Callis

Jim Callis — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:53:47 +0000

Walter: No. Only the newly created competitive-balance lottery picks, six in the supplemental first round and six in the supplemental second round, can be traded. Compensation picks for the loss of free agents or failure to sign previous draftees can’t be traded. The lottery picks won’t come into play until 2013.

By: Walter

Walter — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:21:35 +0000

"Competitive-balance lottery picks (and only those picks) can be traded. They can only be dealt by the original team that held the choice, and they can't be exchanged for cash (unless it's cash to offset the salary of players included in the trade, subject to MLB approval). Lottery-pick deals can occur only during a regular season and not during an offseason."

Am i interpreting this correctly? The top 15 picks in the draft can now be traded?