Ideas for improving the draft

[splitterpfj]

I like a lot of what he has to say......

 

sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=cnnsi-draftmakeover&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns

[WV Brew]

Don't give teams an extra pick if the player they lost was obtained as a free agent.

[Oswald Chesterfield Cobble]

easiy let teams trade their picks for players or more picks. it would make things more interesting. if i could change only 1 thing in baseball that would be it.

[clancyphile]

Four things:

1. Allow teams to trade picks for players or other picks.

 

2. Set up a special sandwich round - the ten teams that have the worst five-year records get an extra pick between the first and second rounds (before free agent compensation), the five with the worst five-year records get a second extra pick between the second and third rounds (before free agent compensation).

 

3. In cases where a team has signed more than one Type A or Type B Free Agent, a team that has its compensation bumped will get an extra sandwich pick (between the first and second rounds for a Type A free agent, between the second and third for a Type B).

 

4. Teams that lose a Type C free agent would get a sandwich pick between the third and fourth round.

[colbyjack]

I've tossed around a lot of ideas myself. The draft, at least round 1, needs to be televised. MLB is behind the game in that regard, although they do an excellent job with their web coverage.

 

The compensation picks need to be re-vamped. Right now they just don't work in it's current format, although most of the frustration I have seen towards comp picks are from fans of teams that don't have many comp picks. The best teams always seem to have the most comp picks, and that seems to be because they do a very good job recycling free agents, often those obtained at the trading deadline the June/July of the previous year.

 

I'm tempted to say get rid of compensation picks. Due to the arbitration process, most free agents don't even qualify for the draft-compensaton process.

 

The draft shouldn't be limited to 20 rounds. That would eliminate the DFE process and penalize the teams that use the process as a way to improve their system. I could see the draft rounded out to 30-35 rounds, but 20 is way too few.

 

I'm not a big fan of trading draft picks. I think it would actually deflate the importance of the draft as opposed to making it more interesting.

[clancyphile]

I think compensation picks are important in two regards:

 

1. For teams who are in smaller markets, it is a way to even the field by giving them a better shot at acquiring new talent to develop.

 

2. I see nothing wrong with rewarding teams who are able to leverage June/July acquisitions.

 

The solution might be to make the comp picks automatic - whether the team offered salary arbitration or not. Maybe make the sandwich pick dependent upon arbitration, but not the regular pick.

 

I'd like to see the draft kept at a minimum of 50 rounds, partially for the DFE process, but also because it makes scouting beyond the top players much more important. Manny Parra was a huge payoff as a late-round DFE. So is Tim Dillard (who I think is arguably the best starting pitcher prospect in the organization).

 

Mike Green, the safety the Chicago Bears recently traded, was a Mr. Irrelevant in the NFL - and he was a very good player for them for a few years. Late-round picks are another equalizer for small and mid-market teams.

[PeaveyFury]

I think compensation picks are important in two regards:

 

1. For teams who are in smaller markets, it is a way to even the field by giving them a better shot at acquiring new talent to develop.

 

That's the theory behind the picks, but that's not how it works. The comp picks aren't going to the smaller market teams. They're going to the Sox and Yankees because of them getting guys like Lee for August and beyond, then getting the picks after he leaves.

[DHonks]

I'd like to see a system more in tune with the NFL's. A panel--perhaps from outsiders like BA, PG, etc--gets together around April 1st, and begins to assess not only the players lost by a team, but the players added. They can then add extra picks to any team with a net loss of talent, and they could be anywhere from at the end of the 1st round to the end of the 5th round.

 

The only time a team loses their own picks is when they sign another team's stud player who had been offered arbitration. Or perhaps if this in this situation, any compensation picks that team gets should simply be handed to the team that lost the star.