A new Idea for the MLB draft

[calsnowskier]

I was reading the comments on MLBTR on the story about the grievances filed against the Astros for this past draft. One of the comments had an interesting idea on how to handle the Amateur draft that is quite revolutionary...

Get rid of rounds and picks. Instead, each team has an allotment to be able to spend on players. For example, the worst team gets 8M, the second worst get 7.8M, 3rd worst gets 7.6M, etc (these numbers are just examples). If one team wants to spend their entire "draft budget" on one player, so be it. This will give the incoming kids more control in their own fates and allow teams more control in forming their own team identity.

Negatives...

1) How to handle "undrafted FAs"? Maybe have a system where anyone can be signed for some minimum (20K?) that will not count towards their pool?

2) Payments could become top-heavy. I am not sure this would be any worse than the current system.

Positives

1) If someone has signability issues, it is totally on him. He can still maybe get what he wants from a team that isn't necessarily picking where he would make sense for his bonus demands.

2) Teams will not lose a pick for drafting a kid that simply does not want to sign.

3) Players do not get punished for a team drafting him with no intension of signing him.


I REALLY like this idea on the surface. Maybe teams could also trade their pool allowances. This could be revolutionary for all of the big 4 leagues, if it ever gets adopted, though I don't see it happening in the NFL or NBA since the "Show" of the draft is such a cash cow.

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[msgkings322]

I kind of like it at first glance, but like most radical changes (even if they make a lot of sense) there's very little chance of it happening.

 

[calsnowskier]

I kind of like it at first glance, but like most radical changes (even if they make a lot of sense) there's very little chance of it happening.

I LOVE it on first glance (and that is really where I am on it still).

But the whole pool idea is new, and this is essentially how they handle the international amateurs already, so I have a feeling that MLB may already have this as a long-term solution.

 

[MarcoPolo]

I was reading the comments on MLBTR on the story about the grievances filed against the Astros for this past draft. One of the comments had an interesting idea on how to handle the Amateur draft that is quite revolutionary...

Get rid of rounds and picks. Instead, each team has an allotment to be able to spend on players. For example, the worst team gets 8M, the second worst get 7.8M, 3rd worst gets 7.6M, etc (these numbers are just examples). If one team wants to spend their entire "draft budget" on one player, so be it. This will give the incoming kids more control in their own fates and allow teams more control in forming their own team identity.

Negatives...

1) How to handle "undrafted FAs"? Maybe have a system where anyone can be signed for some minimum (20K?) that will not count towards their pool?

2) Payments could become top-heavy. I am not sure this would be any worse than the current system.

Positives

1) If someone has signability issues, it is totally on him. He can still maybe get what he wants from a team that isn't necessarily picking where he would make sense for his bonus demands.

2) Teams will not lose a pick for drafting a kid that simply does not want to sign.

3) Players do not get punished for a team drafting him with no intension of signing him.


I REALLY like this idea on the surface. Maybe teams could also trade their pool allowances. This could be revolutionary for all of the big 4 leagues, if it ever gets adopted, though I don't see it happening in the NFL or NBA since the "Show" of the draft is such a cash cow.

Thoughts? Ideas?

That is the way it works now (for the first 10 rounds) so I would guess that MLB would love it.

 

[calsnowskier]

That is the way it works now (for the first 10 rounds) so I would guess that MLB would love it.

???

This idea removes the draft all together. All the amateurs would be FAs, much like the international FAs. Each team would have an allotted amount to spend on these kids, exactly as the international system works now.

 

[MarcoPolo]

???

This idea removes the draft all together. All the amateurs would be FAs, much like the international FAs. Each team would have an allotted amount to spend on these kids, exactly as the international system works now.

I skipped the ridiculous "no rounds" comment, and concentrated on the "each team has an allotment to be able to spend on players" part.

 

[calsnowskier]

I skipped the ridiculous "no rounds" comment, and concentrated on the "each team has an allotment to be able to spend on players" part.

Well, seeing as the "ridiculous" no rounds comment is the absolute crux of the idea...

I assume you don't like the idea.

Good to know.