MLB Draft Signing Deadline

All first rounders were signed.

Obviously a lot is expected to happen between and midnight tomorrow. There have been rumors about Porcello and Dominguez agreeing to deals, but they aren’t confirmed yet. What happens if a deal isn’t reached? The unsigned player either goes to college or goes to a JUCO for a year then re-enters. As a result result, drafted players have a good deal of bargaining power. They can demand a large bonus and if the team that drafts them won’t pay it, then they just go to college or wait another year. Players that announce their high bonus desires prior to the draft slide as a result. Porcello was a top 3 talent in the draft, but wanted a large signing bonus, and as a result, fell to the Tigers at 27. Falling down to #27 wasn’t a bad thing at all – he can still get more money than players drafted before him. If that happened in the NFL Draft, a la Brady Quinn, its entirely different.Further complicating things are the slot bonuses that MLB recommends. These slot bonuses are suggestions and suggestions only. However, MLB does not like it at all when teams pay over slot. The Yankees and Tigers are two teams that pay over slot, and this gives them a big advantage in signing their drafted talent. They don’t care if MLB gets mad at them either – they’re willing to pay young talent a lot of money. Both teams have seen this pay off. In the case of the Yankees you have Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. The Tigers have Andrew Miller and Justin Verlander.

This doesn’t bode well for teams that are at the top of the draft, yet have to pass on high end talent due to signability. In the NFL and NBA, the worst teams get the best players because signability isn’t an issue. The NFL has a hard cap and the NBA has a good rookie contract system. Baseball has neither. The MLB Amateur is a weird little mess. Basically, you have agents and players demanding more money than MLB wants them to, and MLB is powerless to do anything about it. It doesn’t matter where a player gets drafted, he can still get more money than players picked before him if he finds the right team. MLB gets upset when teams pay over slot, but theres nothing they can do about it. Making this even more flawed is the ability of teams to sign international players, and give them however much money they want.

I don’t know how to fix the MLB Draft, and I’m not sure it ever will. The system right now is very beneficial to amateurs as they hold all the power. I’m always fascinated by drafts for sports, and the MLB is unique compared to that of other leagues. How I wish I was good at baseball in high school….