MLB pushing for international draft in new CBA

[Oz27]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/10/mlb-pushing-for-international-draft-in-cba-negotiations.html

This is interesting and a good idea, I think. Firstly it would hopefully go some way to stopping the exploitation of youngsters from Latin America we see now. Less importantly, and rather selfishly, it would probably be good for the Angels as we have been really bad in the international space for a long time now and it's seemingly harder to be that bad when a draft system is in place.

[ELEVEN]

Seemingly.

[ScruffytheJanitor]

Not really a fan of this at all-- though if it were up to me, the current draft would go away (each team would be given a draft cap and allowed to sign whomever they could afford).

It would force teams to invest heavily in international scouting, though, so it might be a benefit in the long run. I just hope that it isn't longer than 3 rounds. 

[eaterfan]

Nope. It will just reduce signing bonuses and save billionaire owners a little scratch at the expense of mostly poor Latin American kids.

Beyond that it will probably drive the best athletes to soccer and away from baseball in the long term. One of the biggest reasons for the reduction in Puerto Rican players in MLB was that they made them draft eligible. 

Most of the writers familiar with the process of signing international players hate this idea.

[arch stanton]

Now we'll have kids lying about their age but claiming to be older than they really are so they can be draft eligible.

[fanfromday1]

If it's called an 'international draft', does that mean it will also include Japanese players as well?

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 hours ago, fanfromday1 said:

If it's called an 'international draft', does that mean it will also include Japanese players as well?

Unlikely, since the teams owning rights to said players would have no incentive to let them out of their contracts. Younger players would have limited incentive to enter the MLB Int draft than to sign with a Japanese club. 

[Oz27]

8 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Nope. It will just reduce signing bonuses and save billionaire owners a little scratch at the expense of mostly poor Latin American kids.

Beyond that it will probably drive the best athletes to soccer and away from baseball in the long term. One of the biggest reasons for the reduction in Puerto Rican players in MLB was that they made them draft eligible. 

Most of the writers familiar with the process of signing international players hate this idea.

Okay, but what is the alternative? The current situation is untenable.

[nando714]

International presence!

[arch stanton]

10 hours ago, fanfromday1 said:

If it's called an 'international draft', does that mean it will also include Japanese players as well?

The article talks about age 18 being the draft eligible age. Anyone not drafted then is basically a free agent so Japanese and Korean pros are not in the draft window. I assume you could draft a Japanese kid out of high school but I doubt slot money gets the deal done.

[totdprods]

One day, far, far into the future, could there be a potential expansion of MLB to include the Japanese/Latin teams?

Perhaps contraction of a couple American teams (and of course contraction of a few Japanese teams and consolidating of Latin teams) and a new, global MLB? 

Insane idea, I know.

[WeatherWonk]

It's not so insane, with respect to Mexico. Similar time zones, not unrealistic length of flights.

But outside of Mexico City or Guadalajara, many of Mexico's biggest cities are too hot for anything but an enclosed stadium from April through October. And those cities are at altitude; the game would resemble Coors Field.

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

It's not so insane, with respect to Mexico. Similar time zones, not unrealistic length of flights.

But outside of Mexico City or Guadalajara, many of Mexico's biggest cities are too hot for anything but an enclosed stadium from April through October. And those cities are at altitude; the game would resemble Coors Field.

I'm thinking something like a handful of Japanese teams, maybe one in Korean, and then a team in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. This would be probably a couple decades away at the earliest. 

But, it could sort of address a lot of long-term problems - could reignite some national interest in the sport (which would help bring more talent into the pipeline, allow international teams the opportunity to get in on the money that American MLB makes which could help streamline efforts to eradicate the issues with posting systems, international drafts, Latin scout scandals and improve development programs globally. Would be interesting to see if that is what MLB looks like in 2050. 

[Angel Oracle]

And how offense friendly are the Mexican stadiums' fences?

Anyone not remember that 2003 San Juan series with the Expos?  Where DaVanon hit like Henry Aaron?

Different country, but possibly similar dimensions?

[totdprods]

Just now, Angel Oracle said:

And how offense friendly are the Mexican stadium's fences?

Anyone not remember that 2003 San Juan series with the Expos?  Where DaVanon hit like Henry Aaron?

That shit was awesome. He hit like 5 or 6 home runs in three games? 

If this ever came to fruition, it'd be so far down the line that it would be hard to compare it to any other country's current situation. Obviously there would be tremendous political, financial, and logistical obstacles for anything like this to happen.

[ukyah]

maybe we could do it like the little league world series, where we stack the deck in our favor by having 8 of the 16 participants be american teams. or we could just do what we do anyway and have all the participants be american teams, but still call ourselves the world champs. whatever works.

[Lou]

1 hour ago, ukyah said:

maybe we could do it like the little league world series, where we stack the deck in our favor by having 8 of the 16 participants be american teams. or we could just do what we do anyway and have all the participants be american teams, but still call ourselves the world champs. whatever works.

do you think there's one team in the rest of the world that could beat the WS winner in a series? 

[Pujols4MVP]

I hope they do it. If the NHL can draft players out of Europe then MLB teams should be allowed to draft players out of Latin America & Asia.

[AngelsLakersFan]

58 minutes ago, Lou said:

do you think there's one team in the rest of the world that could beat the WS winner in a series? 

In a 5 game series.... probably. The US hasn't won a WBC yet.

[Lou]

7 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

In a 5 game series.... probably. The US hasn't won a WBC yet.

that's an all-star team. all-star teams don't play in the World Series 

[Lou]

also, our best players don't play in the WBC 

[Oz27]

10 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

In a 5 game series.... probably. The US hasn't won a WBC yet.

If you played it 10 times, and motivation wasn't a factor (as in it was taken seriously), I'm thinking the WS team would lose at least one of them (but probably not much more than that).

[Lou]

lol our SP in 2013 WBC

Dickey

Vogelsong 

Holland

Gonzales

( Vinnie Pestano was on the team) 

 

[ukyah]

lou's prepared to go to the mattresses on this. tongue in cheek, buddy. i'm joking about the little league world series.

on a serious note, maybe there is. it would be fun to give them the opportunity and know for sure.

[Lou]

oh, I know. I just thought it was funny when I looked up to see who was actually on our roster.

now I remember why I have no interest in the WBC