| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 07-13-2012 |
The most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players union and the owners included quite a few changes. Some good, such as the free agent draft-pick compensation regulations, and for me the limits on international signing bonuses. It's a completely different topic, but I've long been skeptical of the kind of dollars being thrown to international free agents, who are inherently a bigger risk -- much bigger -- than the top players in the draft each year.
The changes made to the draft for this year and beyond -- as I wrote over the winter when the CBA was announced -- are bad for Major League Baseball.
Friday was the signing deadline, rather than mid-August as it was in the past, which is one of the few altered points of the draft that is a positive. Considering the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates, who reportedly offered their first-round pick $3.8 million -- far over slot for the pick -- lost out, is preposterous.
Sure, they will receive a compensation pick at No. 9 in next year's draft, but that doesn't make up for the fact that Mark Appel will head back to Stanford rather than joining the Bucs' revitalized farm system and organization.
The draft was designed to more evenly distribute talent through opportunity. It may not always work out, but if it doesn't it should be bad luck or the fact that other clubs did their jobs better. It should not be based on money or the choice of the player.
Appel may have turned down the offer to return to school for financial purposes -- I don't know that he didn't. It was apparent from the get-go, however, that he wasn't enamored with the idea of being drafted by the Pirates, a team 3,000 miles away from where he's spent his entire life, and not a team with recent success under their belt.
I'm not suggesting I know why Appel didn't sign, but it doesn't matter. Too much power is given to the player, and more so, too much power is handed to their advisers, in this case Scott Boras.
There is a fix, however: Make the players declare.
Like the NFL, once a player declares, he's in, and there's no going back to school. This would fix a couple of problems, including, but not limited to, refocusing the whole objective of the draft itself. It would also positively delete the agent issues the NCAA has had with the process over the past several years where Andrew Oliver and James Paxton were impacted.
There is no good reason not to implement such a rule from the league's point of view. I'd also, however, put a basement mandatory guarantee for each slot in the first 10 rounds along with the slot "values" the league assigns to each of those selections. This would eliminate the clubs' need to overdraft players and "save" some of their pool money for later picks. They would no longer need to save it because there would no longer be a need to pay player in later rounds above slot.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the bonus pool system, the slotting and all the limitations with which they comes. But unless all that is going away -- and they are not, they're here to stay for a long time -- making players declare and adding a mandatory floor offer, kind of a qualifying offer, if you will, fixes a lot of issues. (Note: the offer has to be mandatory or clubs will have the option to draft a player and not sign him, saving the money, getting a compensation pick and making the player a free agent, which defeats the purpose of a draft.)
Appel probably goes 1-1 or 1-2 last month if this were the case already, and even if all he were to get is slot for those picks he'd likely have netted, even with the qualifying offer and nothing more, more than the Pirates offered him this summer.
Such adjustments bring back the integrity of the draft and help smaller market clubs add the best talent to their organizations. It's the whole point of the draft in the first place.
The problem is, Major League Baseball and the MLBPA are both too stupid to figure it out. If they understood, these issues wouldn't be presenting themselves in 2012.
As it turns out, ESPN Insider's Keith Law has some things to say on the matter, too. This piece literally posted while I was writing this Friday from Cheney Stadium.
draft-system-still-broken
Comments
The following 39 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: bavasisabum on 07-13-2012 16:50:37 In KLaws chat the other day he said he expects the M's to sign BA's #7 IFA LHP Luiz Gohara. Have you herd anything about that or what kind of stuff hes got? Thanks |
| 2. By: ripperlv on 07-13-2012 16:51:48 What about high school players? A high school senior has the option of accepting but a college freshman declaring for the draft can no longer go back to school and play baseball? They lose their scholarship after, say being drafted in the 25th round. I'm not sure that is in the best interest of baseball in the long run. Perhaps allowing the team to have exclusive bargaining rights for say 3 years. Then if the player doesn't sign, the following year the team is allowed to increase the bid by 25% or something of that nature. I don't have the answers, but I'd hate to see the Mariners in the Pirates position. |
| 3. By: Jason A. Churchill on 07-13-2012 17:11:20 ripper, If they declare, yes. If he's a 25th round pick, he's going to school most likely anyway, or he's only worth 25th round money or so and should take the best offer and sign. bavasisabum, That is their guy, by all accounts. I'll try and dig up some more but: 87-92, been clocked as high as 94, potential 60 SL. |
| 4. By: johnbeck1000 on 07-13-2012 19:22:02 I agree with most of what you say Jason but maybe this was a big "F" you to Boras, who says it wasn't. The guy has been holding teams over the burner with altimatums of past draft picks, using independent leagues or a senior year in College to get more money for unproven talent. I just wish there was a set amount for the pick, no more and no less and it gets changed by the same percentage of the average annual salary increase or decrease. I'm no scout or professional journalist like you Jason but I knew Appel wasn't signing as soon as he fell to Pitt at #8 |
| 5. By: sexymarinersfan on 07-13-2012 19:27:33 All these IFA's. Have we ever had one come through our system and be successful? Who's come the closest to a decent career? |
| 6. By: Ungnome on 07-13-2012 19:36:02 That guy Felix still has a chance at a decent career |
| 7. By: Jason A. Churchill on 07-13-2012 19:49:46 john, No. Appel didn't want to play for Pitt and/or wanted a lot more money. Plain and simple. Pitt had limits, none of it matched up. |
| 8. By: johnbeck1000 on 07-13-2012 20:06:51 I can except "didn't want to play for Pitt and/or wanted a lot more money" but haven't we seen "unsignable" guys drop in past drafts? It isn't going to stop unless you do what you say which is declare for the draft. Why is it that a college baseball player can sign with an agent but still play in college? Isn't that against NCAA rules in football and basketball? |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 07-13-2012 20:24:31 The rules are different, john. Players aren't ever going to be as unsignable and at the rate they were in the past. Teams have limits, player doesn't have as much leverage there anymore. Players cannot sign with agents in baseball, either. They can get advice from them, but no official deals to represent are allowed. Ask James Paxton. |
| 10. By: dawgncarolina on 07-13-2012 20:56:00 "Have we ever had one come through our system and be successful? Who's come the closest to a decent career?" Felix is the most obvious one, but far from the only one. Michael Pineda, Jose Campos, Shin Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera and Rafael Soriano were all players the M's signed as IFAs whom they eventually traded. Jose Lopez was a solid player for a few seasons. Going back a ways Omar Vizquel had a borderline HOF caliber career. There have been plenty of others. |
| 11. By: Juan Valdez on 07-13-2012 22:17:02 Some thoughts: 1) The Pittsburgh Pirates are an utter failure as an organization. Over the last ten years, they've had high draft picks almost exclusively, and almost none of those players have succeeded. Andrew McCutcheon is good. Gerrit Cole probably will be. Where are the rest? 2) I don't understand why it's a given that the worst thing possible is for players to have any choice. Sure, we want a fair playing field and we want teams that haven't done well to have a leg up in getting better, but I kind of like the idea that when a player is drafted by a team like Pittsburgh, that he can tell that organization to shove it. It may cost him, but it's good feedback to the organization and if they are such a joke that a guy would turn down $3.8 million, they damn well deserve it. 3) Appel is an arrogant ass, and there is every chance he will regret this decision. 4) Pittsburgh needs to figure some shit out. |
| 12. By: sexymarinersfan on 07-13-2012 22:20:38 I didn't know. However I really only started diving into minor league stats just about 4-5 years ago. That makes sense. Boy do I feel dumb. I kinda figured there might be some obvious ones, I guess I just never associated them for some weird reason. |
| 13. By: Juan Valdez on 07-13-2012 22:24:37 Other than the obvious Felix oversight, sexymarinersfan has a point, not a whole lot has come from the Mariners's IFA efforts. Off the top of my head, it doesn't seem like too many of these guys make it at all, in any of the organizations. I'm with Jason that the IFA market is inflated. |
| 14. By: Juan Valdez on 07-13-2012 22:27:21 Uh, okay, I forgot about Shin Soo Choo, Adrubal Cabrera, and Rafael Soriano. Honestly, I prefer not to think about them at all. It makes my head hurt. |
| 15. By: dewey on 07-14-2012 01:19:28 Bavasi was awful trading away the future but what is worse that our the Crap Jack is selling us? Bavasi went for it and sucked Jack is selling us on crap i dont know what is worse tell me? Everyone says our farm is better but all that come up havent done nothing i guess im wondering if it is me our not? Flavor Flav once said DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE! I think he might be right how aboutr you Jason? Talk to me! |
| 16. By: Edman on 07-14-2012 01:43:25 Please Jason, answer dewey honestly, and don't pull any punches. |
| 17. By: docsmith on 07-14-2012 04:35:23 @ 10....should we consider Ichiro a IFA? He went through the posting process so I am not sure if he was officially an IFA. And if Ichiro counts so would Sasaki. Other potential "talents" would be Yuni Betancourt, Jose Lopez, Julio Mateo, etc....I know Yuni and Lopez may not be well regarded by Mariner fans, but to go from scouting a 16 yr old kid to a major league career is impressive. As for the draft, I guess it doesn't bother me too much. I would like to see a minimum offer, but that is more to protect the draftee. I love what Houston did. Overall, I could see doing away with the "slot" and simply give each team a budget based on their record last year, but that essentially happened. I am very happy that the sandwich round is changing, although I wish the "lottery" was for teams with the worst records and not "small market/revenue." |
| 18. By: maqman on 07-14-2012 11:19:47 Freddy Garcia came from Venezuela before Felix. Latinos are spread all over The Show. I don't get why the M's have not been signing IFAs this year, they have boots on the ground and market knowledge there. Is their budget that strained? I hope not. I like that the teams that win the draft lottery picks can sell or trade them. Since the M's won't get a lottery pick they can still buy or trade for one if they really like somebody. Appel turned down a $6MM offer from the Astros so they went with Correa for $4.8MM. Evidently the Pirates didn't hear that. Boras gave the kid bad advice so he now has to go back to Stanford and have his arm over-used some more. Boras is squealing about the new deal being unfair. Kind of warms my heart. |
| 19. By: Juan Valdez on 07-14-2012 12:38:06 If Appel turned down $6 million from the Astros, he really is a complete tool. I hope he gets injured next year and falls to the tenth round. That level of arrogance just pisses me off. It's too hard out there in the real world for someone to do that. |
| 20. By: Edman on 07-14-2012 12:46:40 Regarding Appel, personally, I hope it backfires on him in a big way. Personally, I wouldn't want someone with his attitude, regardless of his talent level. So yes, I hope it hurts him financially and professionally. magman, Seattle is very good at International scouting. So, I wouldn't worry because they haven't announced any signings yet. If the rumors are true, they can't sign Gohara until the 31st. Nothing to be worried about yet. I would really like to know the return on investment for International signees. They basically draft kids that would just be starting high school here. That's a lot of projection. I would bet players have been signed, but just not announced. |
| 21. By: valencia on 07-14-2012 13:01:15 Wow, what's up with all these people wanting him to get injured? From a Pirates fan, I could understand, but anyone else, who cares? I'll never understand why fans always want more power given to the team than the players. Players get the shaft as it is, if he thinks it's a better decision to stay in college for a year than get $3.8M that's up to him. |
| 22. By: griggs on 07-14-2012 13:27:16 The thing that annoys me with Appel is that he never seemed to have a positive attitude from day one getting drafted. His draft statement to me was a slap in the face to a team that was willing to give him millions. I got the vibe that he never truly wanted to sign with the Pirates. That being said I certainly don't wish him harm or wish ill on his future. |
| 23. By: Juan Valdez on 07-14-2012 15:26:06 Valencia - I'm with you regarding the balance of power between teams and players. I don't support a system where players have zero leverage. At the same time, Appel is just an ass, especially if he turned down $6 million from Houston. $6 million is enough to set him and his family up for life, even if he never gets so much so much as a cup of coffee in the major leagues. |
| 24. By: skyway park on 07-14-2012 15:55:27 I'm not sure how people get the impression that players get the shaft. Players get paid plenty in my opinion, I really can't think of any player picked in the first round who didn't sign and went back into the draft the following year who didn't get worse Appel should ask Matt Harrison how holding out for more money because Boras told him to worked out for him. |
| 25. By: valencia on 07-14-2012 19:40:53 Players get the shaft because of the way the FA system is set up. Carlos Correa gets $4M to go 1-1, and you think he's paid "plenty" but then you look at Derrick Rose go 1-1 and he's paid more than that his first year, along with an extra $5M his second, third, and fourth year. He's essentially guaranteed $10M, and if her performs decently, a guaranteed $20M. Then he's a FA, where he can start making up to 70%+ of the max, unlike in the MLB where IF you make the MLB team, and somehow manage to keep a job, you likely have to stay on the same team for 7 years making $400K the first 3-4 years, before getting 40%/60%/80% of what you should be getting paid for the next 3 years. Sorry but there is no way MLB players don't get the shaft during the draft. There's a reason people always wanted small market teams to spend a bunch of money on the draft, it's because it's extremely cheap talent, and the reason it's cheap is because the players are getting the shaft. It's ridiculous to force them to accept NBA/NFL type drafting without the NBA/NFL type contract and FA terms. I could care less why Appel turned down $6M from the Astros or $3.8M from the Pirates, but if you take out taxes + Boras fees we're talking closer to $3M or $1.9M take home pay, a far cry from "set him and his family up for life." I wouldn't quit my day job if I won $2M in the lotto, and looks like Appel decided he wouldn't quit college for $2M either. And being drafted by the Pirates probably didn't make the decision any harder. |
| 26. By: Edman on 07-14-2012 21:34:03 Yeah, what a crappy system, when you get paid millions, be it 1 or or more, while you go through a minor league training program, of which you may not graduate to MLB. Poor babies. Rose goes right into the NBA, only a hand full of draftees reach MLB within a year. Add to it, that the NBA draft is only a couple rounds, where as MLB teams draft 40 players. Of those forty, only a few will ever become MLB players. If you were drafting guys that ready, like they do in the NBA, and if you didn't need a minor league system, it would be dramatically different. It's a VERY BAD comparison to use an NBA player, as compared to an MLB player. And don't expect that you'll find the average person feeling slighted for only getting $2 million dollars to play a game. As much as I love the game, that's really what it boils down to. |
| 27. By: Juan Valdez on 07-14-2012 21:48:43 Valencia, you have a legitimate point about taxes and agent fees, but even after those deductions, we're talking about more money than most people will ever see at one time in their entire lives. If the money isn't quite enough to guarantee financial security for life, it sure as hell is one big ass head start on the rest of us. Even though I think Appel is an ass, I like the fact that he gave Pittsburgh the finger. When you are such an utter and complete failure of an organization that a guy will turn down millions of dollars to risk injury and play for free for one more year, that's a powerful feedback signal. Heads should roll, and rightly so. |
| 28. By: slamcactus on 07-14-2012 22:18:13 18: Freddy Garcia signed with the Astros originally, not the Ms. They were the dominant scouting force in Venezuela in the mid-late 90s. |
| 29. By: ripperlv on 07-15-2012 01:19:01 I would never wish an injury on a player, I want to see them at their best. I just think Appel is listening to advise from professionals (Boras) and is taking a gamble, but he's young and doing what he is told is right. Like Bryce Harper, he's from here (Vegas) and is a really nice kid from a nice family, but he get's booed everywhere (amazing). He's just trying to play ball. Maybe Appel just doesn't like Pittsburg that much, those Stanford boys are wierd (John Elway of Port Angeles refusing to play for Baltimore). Has Andrew Luck signed? Just kidding. Hope they all stay heathly. |
| 30. By: DKulich44 on 07-15-2012 05:16:32 The complete disgrace and failure of a franchise Pittsburgh Pirates happen to be in first place and also happen to have a pretty decent farm system. I guess you think Zunino should have packed his bags for a trip to the Independent Leagues, because the Mariners are looking to be way more of a failure than Pittsburgh right now. |
| 31. By: vertigoman on 07-15-2012 10:05:31 I'm on the fence with the declaration idea as a general requirement. Bad for the college and prep players obviously but it could back fire for teams as well by shrinking the draftable pool of players. Maybe it's only mandatory for college players? Or maybe only delcared players can be drafted in the first round (or first 2 rounds)? This leaves some crap shoot opportunities for teams in later rounds. I know there's a problem and if it doesn't get addressed players like Appel may eventually just go undrafted. If the Pirates couldn't sign him at 8th round slot+ then why would any lower team take a shot with even less money? |
| 32. By: vertigoman on 07-15-2012 10:07:43 I'm on the fence with the declaration idea as a general requirement. Bad for the college and prep players obviously but it could back fire for teams as well by shrinking the draftable pool of players. Maybe it's only mandatory for college players? Or maybe only delcared players can be drafted in the first round (or first 2 rounds)? This leaves some crap shoot opportunities for teams in later rounds. I know there's a problem and if it doesn't get addressed players like Appel may eventually just go undrafted. If the Pirates couldn't sign him at 8th round slot+ then why would any lower team take a shot with even less money? |
| 33. By: maqman on 07-15-2012 11:19:49 Slot for 1-1 was $7.2MM so I can see Boras telling Appel that $6MM was chump change, he just didn't mention who the chump was. Going back to Stanford isn't going to help the kid, their head coach has a rep for wearing out pitchers arms. He had Appel go well over 100 pitches in one game in the past season. He will also have one less year to spend in The Show which lowers his value. Boras was trying to max out the signing bonus to attract more draftee clients next year. Bad play. I agree with the proposal to have players formally declare for the draft and I'm for upping the signing age minimum for IFAs to 18 years old. Won't happen until the next CBA though. |
| 34. By: Edman on 07-15-2012 13:11:19 Where Appel's logic fails, is that he doesn't seem to understand that the system isn't going to change next year. He won't have any choice about who picks him, or for how much money. Add to that, he'll have to wait another year longer to become a free agent, if his goal is to make more money. IMO, it really doesn't have as much to do with Pittsburgh drafting him, as it does letting someone like Boras in his ear, telling him how much money he should be making and to me the most important aspect, that he wasn't selected, #1 as Boras and all of the media said he would be. So, he's double insulted. Maybe graduating from Stanford is more important, but I really doubt it. It's not going to be any better for him next season. So Juan Valdez, if Seattle drafts Appel next year, you'd be happy if he gave them the finger, for some of the problems that Gillick, and in particular Bavasi created in Seattle? We all see that they're making some strides to resolve that, but from the outside, it's not likely that others do. As pointed out in #30, you'd be okay if Zunino gave Seattle the finger? Appel turn his nose up at a chance in a lifetime. And I wouldn't at all be unhappy if he lost even more money next year, and that he would have to wait an extra year to be a free agent. He got offered a lot more money than than most draftees got, even if not over $8 million. Hard for me to cry for him. |
| 35. By: dewey on 07-15-2012 13:46:31 Edman have you ever looked at the Major leaguers that Gillick left here? Some pretty good players and pitchers all over the majors i think you should really go back and Look its pretty scary. |
| 36. By: dewey on 07-15-2012 14:01:19 Im talking about guys who where in monors along with Felix international signs and Indy signs and draft picks pretty good crop alot of guys who have played in allstar games |
| 37. By: Juan Valdez on 07-15-2012 16:55:03 I wouldn't be terribly happy about a high level draft pick not signing with the team I happen to be a fan of, but I still see the value of that feedback signal in the overall system. Of course, you have to understand context and what the decision process was in drafting a player like Appel to begin with. If the Pittsburgh front office was united on the pick and everyone felt like Appel was such a great talent that they had to take the chance of not being able to sign him and taking a compensation pick the next year instead, and ownership was on board with that strategy, then okay maybe that's just the way things go. But, it seems to me that there were some major red flags in this case, starting with the fact that the player had expectations that were completely out of line with what Pittsburgh could realistically offer, even if they went over slot, which I understand they were willing to do. Another red flag was the talent level itself. Appel is a talent, but he's no Strasburgh. My understanding is that scouts were split on him and he was never considered a consensus number one overall pick. It's hard for me to believe that his talent was so overwhelming that everyone felt like they just had to take that chance. What seems far more likely to me is that they didn't do their homework. But, I could be wrong about that. Obviously, I don't know exactly what happened. As others have noted, Pittsburgh is doing well this year, so maybe they're turning it around as an organization. We'll see if 1) they sustain in the second half of the season and 2) if they do well again next year. I should add that from an outside perspective, the Mariners may appear to be just as horrible of an organization. Those of us that tune in to websites like this one see the progress, but it isn't as obvious how the rest of the baseball world sees us. |
| 38. By: Timberwolf on 07-15-2012 18:02:30 I don't ever wish for a player to be injured, but it would sure be delicious to see Appel have a bad year and get drafted even later. I suspect that fans of opposing college teams are going to get on him pretty good. Guys who opt to start college are obligated for several years, so I don't think it is the same thing as the draft eligible juniors. They should be forced to commit. If they don't want to play for Pittsburgh, they are free to go to Japan or the Independent league. If the guy really is the real deal, he'll make his money when he goes free agent. Remain when A-Hole & Boras took the Mariners to the last minute. If Rodriguez' sister hadn't stepped in, he would have gone to Miami U and lost at least one and possibly two major league years and not been eligible for free agency when he was. Unfortunately it looks like we are going to have another real high pick next year. I really hope we don't take Appel. |
| 39. By: dewey on 07-17-2012 00:02:12 Edman you have never had a problem with lack of words i guess you went back and looked at was left here that Bavasi screwed up? Im a fan like you but cmon all those guys left from the Gillick era and your ripping that era? I truly Believe Bavasi wrecked this club would never let young guys play could you imagine if Choo,Cabrera ,MORSE,JONES ETC GOT THE SAME CHANCES ACKLEY SEAGER,SMOAK OUR GETTING? jUST SAYING WE HAVE NEVER LET YOUNG GUYS DEVEKOP OTHER THEN NOW AND JACK HAS PICKED A FEW OF THE WRONG ONES THAT ON HIM |
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