Defending Champs Get Top Pick In Draft
There have been lots of reports done on MLB and whether the lack of a salary cap is fair to lower and mid market teams. I'm not going to rehash that argument. What I will point out, however, is one debate that is not getting enough attention. The MLB Draft.
Since it has never been televised (until this year) many fans, media do not talk about it much. Furthermore, a good percentage of the players are high schoolers that 99% of the fans don't know about. Hell, very few fans can name more than five college players in any draft (especially if you eliminate their alma mater).
But the real ugly cloud hanging over the draft is how it shafts the poorer teams. You see, just because a player is graded as the best doesn't mean he will be drafted 1st. Or 2nd. Or 3rd. Or even top 10. Many of the best players go middle to late round because they want huge money. And since there is no rookie slotting/salary cap like the other sports drafts, teams now look at signability just as much as talent.
So say you are the Kansas City Royals. You suck every year. Your guaranteed one of the top picks year in and out. But you many times are getting one of the best players because he wants to much and you don't have money to pay the big signing bonuses the New York Yankees would pay. So you take the next best player. No big deal you say?
Well, pretend for a second this was the NBA Draft of a few years ago. You knew Lebron James was the man. And you'd love to pick him but he wanted too much money. So did Carmelo, and D-Wade, and even Chris Bosh. So who do you pick? The 5th highest rated player. And he turned out to be Chris Kaman. I think you get my point now.
Don't get me wrong. MLB has done some good things with its sport. They have penalized teams that sign marguee free agents by taking away draft choices from them (like the Astros losing their first 2 picks this year). And they do reward teams with extra picks b/w the 1st and 2nd round when they lose marguee free agents. But if they wanted to really reward teams, they'd institute a rookie salary cap. This way teams could select the player they wanted just like the NFL and NBA teams do. Baseball has never had a salary cap but this is much different. It's for minor leaguers, not major leaguers. You could still pay out a million or two for top talent. Just not multiple millions of dollars for players that may never hit one ball for your team. What other sport wastes so much money like the MLB?
Baseball has done a lot of good things the last few years. It's time for them to finally give the worst teams a real chance at competing. And until they change their way of drafting players, some teams won't have that chance.
Since it has never been televised (until this year) many fans, media do not talk about it much. Furthermore, a good percentage of the players are high schoolers that 99% of the fans don't know about. Hell, very few fans can name more than five college players in any draft (especially if you eliminate their alma mater).
But the real ugly cloud hanging over the draft is how it shafts the poorer teams. You see, just because a player is graded as the best doesn't mean he will be drafted 1st. Or 2nd. Or 3rd. Or even top 10. Many of the best players go middle to late round because they want huge money. And since there is no rookie slotting/salary cap like the other sports drafts, teams now look at signability just as much as talent.
So say you are the Kansas City Royals. You suck every year. Your guaranteed one of the top picks year in and out. But you many times are getting one of the best players because he wants to much and you don't have money to pay the big signing bonuses the New York Yankees would pay. So you take the next best player. No big deal you say?
Well, pretend for a second this was the NBA Draft of a few years ago. You knew Lebron James was the man. And you'd love to pick him but he wanted too much money. So did Carmelo, and D-Wade, and even Chris Bosh. So who do you pick? The 5th highest rated player. And he turned out to be Chris Kaman. I think you get my point now.
Don't get me wrong. MLB has done some good things with its sport. They have penalized teams that sign marguee free agents by taking away draft choices from them (like the Astros losing their first 2 picks this year). And they do reward teams with extra picks b/w the 1st and 2nd round when they lose marguee free agents. But if they wanted to really reward teams, they'd institute a rookie salary cap. This way teams could select the player they wanted just like the NFL and NBA teams do. Baseball has never had a salary cap but this is much different. It's for minor leaguers, not major leaguers. You could still pay out a million or two for top talent. Just not multiple millions of dollars for players that may never hit one ball for your team. What other sport wastes so much money like the MLB?
Baseball has done a lot of good things the last few years. It's time for them to finally give the worst teams a real chance at competing. And until they change their way of drafting players, some teams won't have that chance.
posted by christopher at 12:52 PM
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