bird watcher

Good.

You’re right. I wrote that while fantasizing about my follow up post where there wouldn’t be a force out at first. I can’t edit posts

Maybe not. What is the average time to first base vs. the average time to get a passed ball/wild pitch and throw it to first? What would make it really fun is to not make it a force out at first base! Imagine a run down situation with other runners on base.

This rule would certainly favor speedy, quick players quite a bit. It also makes pitchers think harder about throwing away pitches in the dirt with 2 strikes (which is probably the biggest reason MLB might want it). The electronic strike zone is a total no brainer as long as it works correctly.

True, but the Royals and Tigers seem to be competing more on the losing front this year so we REALLY need to lose. Trading Cashner will help a lot in that regard but Chris Davis doesn’t hurt.

Davis helps lock in the 1draft pick next year if nothing changes. If he does figure it out (Not likely) then you get a player return on your money. If they release him he does neither of thise two good things.

Japan seems like the only league high enough in quality to make sense but I would imagine they have an agreement with MLB not to do that since we can’t pluck their amateurs either. 8mil is plenty of money so Adley will be fine but imagine what he would get as a free agent today.

OK. I didn’t know that. Then how long would a player remain “draft eligible”? If it is forever then that answers all the questions. There would be no way to get around the draft. A lawsuit challenging that would get pretty interesting. Perhaps the fact that the rules are collectively bargained saps legal rights from these kids but the minor league players are so grossly underrepresented in the collective bargaining that it might be interesting.

What happens if a Player refuses to sign? Can he hold out and eventually be a free agent? How long would he have to do that? take two players for example: 1. Adley Rutschman. Lets say he wanted $60mil and obviously the draft won’t allow it. He holds out, not signing with the Orioles and DOESN’T go back to Oregon St and doesn’t register for the draft next year either. How long do the Orioles control his rights? 2. Sr player who has an amazing year in College and shoots up boards potentially getting drafted high but makes it known he won’t sign for less than $30 mil. He than ends up in a similar situation as example 1.

“MLB now runs their events through the Trainer Partnership Program, using uncommitted players from multiple classes. That change is fine. The MLB showcases before had value—a lot of the pitchers were still uncommitted and teams could see them face top competition” This might explain why Elias was more hitter focused than pitcher focused in the recent draft. It sounds like top international positional talent is what gets signed early but there are pitchers still uncommitted.

Yet another reason it makes zero sense for him to go to school. His future tuition payment would be inflation protected too if that is the case.

I’m having a hard time seeing how this is anything but an obvious choice assuming he is going to get north of 3mil or even 2mil. If he wants to play professional baseball then he gets his start early with a better/potentially faster path to the majors. If he wants an education to hedge against failure in professional baseball then he has millions already in the bank to own his own home and pay for college with no loans necessary and still have millions left over. Why would anyone go to college under those circumstances?

Why is that?

It seems like a sham to have a signing period minimum age but allow deals to be in place for years. It sure would be great if they would just implement an international draft.

Well that seems mildly anticlimactic