2014 MLB Draft

[p_rushing]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

They could have taken a college senior who actually loves playing baseball, and would be happy to continue his career at the next level at some capacity. The draft has to be long. Each MLB club has to support a Low A, High A, AA, AAA, and a major league club. Plus, so many high schoolers are drafted, not all of them will sign. I don't think it's too long at all. Too long to pay close attention to? Yeah, but too long in general, no.

It was a publicity stunt, and it worked.

There is FA. Let them sign guys who aren't drafted, no reason to spread it out so long that teams purposely waste draft picks for publicity, drafting players kids who can't play, etc.

[k_mac]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

There is FA. Let them sign guys who aren't drafted, no reason to spread it out so long that teams purposely waste draft picks for publicity, drafting players kids who can't play, etc.

Yeah, but if you do a free agency period for undrafted players, you'd have to regulate it if the draft was also shortened. Some teams actually find good talent in the later rounds. If one team just went nuts and threw money at all the best players available, it wouldn't be fair for small market teams (and this is why some people in baseball don't like the way the international FA signings work). If you just keep the draft as is, it's fair for everyone.

I don't have a problem with the length of the MLB draft. I think it was silly for the Padres to pick Manziel from a baseball standpoint when they could have got an actual player, but I've already made my point about that. From a publicity standpoint though, it makes all the sense in the world for a few reasons..

1.) if they hadn't done something stupid, who in the world (outside of SD) would really be talking about the Padres or their draft right now?

2.) it didn't cost them any money, because it was later than the 10th round, so no draft pool money was lost.

It's not the end of the world that he got drafted, and teams usually don't waste picks like that. But there are plenty of kids out there who have dreamed of playing professional baseball their whole lives, and worked their ***es of in college to get there. But, the Padres went out and drafted a kid who hasn't played organized baseball for at least three years.

[N51_rob]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

So excited. One of the kids I used to coach in little league was taken by the Padres in the 22nd round! He leaves for Eugene for short season on Monday.

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[BatsareBugs]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

Not sure why people are getting so worked up over the Padres picking Johnny Manziel with their 28th Round Pick. Sure, they could've picked a different college player for minor league depth, but it's not like they didn't already select 23 college players before their 28th round pick. It's not like there weren't 12 other rounds afterwards and at that point most players don't sign.

[k_mac]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

Not sure why people are getting so worked up over the Padres picking Johnny Manziel with their 28th Round Pick. Sure, they could've picked a different college player for minor league depth, but it's not like they didn't already select 23 college players before their 28th round pick. It's not like there weren't 12 other rounds afterwards and at that point most players don't sign.

I definitely understand where you're coming from. Maybe the Padres were in a position where they didn't want to reach for a player, or a high school guy they were interested in probably wasn't going to sign anyways, so they just went ahead and took Manziel for the heck of it. If publicity was what they were looking for, then they succeeded. It's kind of like the Rangers taking Russ Wilson in the Rule 5 draft, harmless.

I was just trying to state my opinion that the fact Manziel was drafted doesn't really mean the draft needs to be shortened.

[p_rushing]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

Most of the players drafted in the 20+ rounds don't sign because they have better options in college. MLB could easily just put a cap on the total $ amount allowed for all FAs. They already do that with the draft. The mid to end of the draft is just drawing straws to see who can get lucky and get a player to sign instead of going to college.

What I'm saying is they should just stop that and let them try to sign players. The players could pick their team or money and decide if they want to go to college or pro. By this time in the draft, teams usually don't even have money left to spend on players if the higher pick guys sign. You're being drafted, but then basically don't even get a real offer.

[Majingir]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

I think the draft does need to be shortened, sure,not all players sign, but maybe they could have less rounds, and more compensation?

25 rounds or something(since teams have 25 man roster) and if any round a team doesn't sign a player,the following draft they get compensation pick at the end of that round. So if one team doesn't sign their 20th and 25th round picks,the following year at the end of the 20th and 25th rounds,that team gets an extra pick.

In the early 90s NHL had 11-12 rounds. Late 90s they had 9 rounds,and didn't even use their current 7 round format until 2005. NBA until 89 had 7 rounds until they changed it to the current 2 round format. NFL in early 90s had 12 and now it's down to 7. So surely the MLB can shorten their drafts too. I get that MLB not everyone signs and all,but like I said,maybe just reduce the amount of rounds they have to 25 or something and add compensatory picks at the end of each round,regardless of which round it is.

Just from looking at past few drafts,seems like the number of players who go unsigned per team is in the double digit range, meaning there's at least 10 rounds that could be cut out because teams either aren't bothering to sign those late picks,or those late picks have no intention of signing anyways.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

A nice read about Aiken-Gate.

[Jr.]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

A nice read about Aiken-Gate.

Very detailed and a lot more in there than I ever thought. Though it seems it's a very small possibility.. this could turn out very bad for the Astros.

[Godgers12]

Re: 2014 MLB Draft

MLB has already shortened the draft, it use to be 50 rounds, now it's 40...Progress!