Ian Desmond was the last of the 20 free agents issued a qualifying offer to sign a contract, so with the compensation picks all settled, the selection order for first round of the 2016 amateur draft has now been finalized. Eleven of those QO free agents joined new teams, leading to quite a bit of shuffling from the original draft order set at the end of the regular season. MLB.com has the full order of all 40 rounds, and here is how the first round shakes out:
1. Phillies
2. Reds
3. Braves
4. Rockies
5. Brewers
6. Athletics
7. Marlins
8. Padres
9. Tigers
10. White Sox
11. Mariners
12. Red Sox
13. Rays
14. Indians
15. Twins
16. Angels
17. Astros
18. Yankees
19. Mets
20. Dodgers
21. Blue Jays
22. Pirates
23. Cardinals
COMPENSATION ROUND (bonus picks given to teams who issued qualifying offers to players who signed elsewhere; picks are allotted in inverse order of 2015 record)
24. Padres (for Justin Upton signing with the Tigers)
25. Padres (for Ian Kennedy signing with the Royals)
26. White Sox (for Jeff Samardzija signing with the Giants)
27. Orioles (for Wei-Yin Chen signing with the Marlins)
28. Nationals (for Jordan Zimmermann signing with the Tigers)
29. Nationals (for Ian Desmond signing with the Rangers)
30. Rangers (for Yovani Gallardo signing with the Orioles)
31. Mets (for Daniel Murphy signing with the Nationals)
32. Dodgers (for Zack Greinke signing with the Diamondbacks)
33. Cardinals (for John Lackey signing with the Cubs)
34. Cardinals (for Jason Heyward signing with the Cubs)
The compensation round is followed by the Competitive Balance A-Round, which isn’t yet set in stone since these picks can be traded. The Dodgers weren’t part of the competitive balance lottery but they’re guaranteed the 36th overall pick for failing to sign Kyle Funkhouser with the 35th pick of last year’s draft. Right now, the 35-41 picks are respectively owned by the Reds, Dodgers, A’s, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Braves and Pirates.
From the original draft order, the Diamondbacks (13th overall pick), Orioles (15), Nationals (18), Giants (19), Rangers (23), Royals (27) and Cubs (28) all surrendered their first-rounders to sign a free agent, though some of these teams recouped picks when their own QO free agents signed elsewhere. The Rangers, for instance, were undoubtedly more open to signing Desmond and giving up what was at the time the 19th overall pick since they already knew they had pick from Gallardo coming 11 slots later down the draft board.
Baltimore gave up the 14th overall pick for Gallardo, though the O’s also had an extra pick coming their way for Chen. They also could’ve been emboldened by their deep draft class overall — the Orioles have five picks in the #27-91 range of the draft, thanks to the Chen pick, their two regular selections, a Competitive Balance B-Round pick and the 69th overall pick as compensation for failing to sign Jonathan Hughes last year. The Orioles could’ve potentially had two more picks to add to this bounty via the QO, though they re-signed Chris Davis and Matt Wieters actually accepted his qualifying offer.
The Padres stand out as the most obvious beneficiaries of this year’s qualifying offer class. San Diego now owns three of the top 25 selections and (counting its top pick in the Competitive Balance B class), five of the top 71 picks. It represents a great opportunity for the Padres to reload their farm system after dealing so many prospects in the 2014-15 offseason. The Pads top pick was protected, so an argument could be made that the club surrendered a lower selection to land a QO player of their own, though it’s maybe not a surprise that San Diego showed caution after last winter’s buying spree didn’t result in much success on the field.
Of the teams with protected top-10 picks, only Detroit and Miami signed qualifying offer free agents. They had to give up second-rounders for signing Zimmermann and Chen, while the Tigers also had to surrender their third-round pick for signing Upton.
Signing a STUD like Price and keeping our first round pick, AMAZING!
Dombrowski is a genius.
Only kept it cuz they sucked.
Literally has nothing to do with it.
genius? i mean its a really a simple move. price couldnt get a qualifying offer because he was traded mid season. very stupid system.
Dombrowski is a genius because Price wasn’t eligible for a QO, or Dombrowski is a genius because, before he was hired, the Red Sox tanked a little?
I think this entire system is absurd. I get the upside=down picks, but the protected pick idea is ludicrous, the QO system needs work, the competitive balance picks are just freebees.
Dombrowski is a genius because he traded Porcello before he did something stupid, like sign him to a 4/$80.5MM contract.
Genius for giving a pitcher $217 million, cool story.
How many World Series has he won? Spent 14 years with the deep pockets of the Tigers. Yes, he won one in 1997 with the Marlins after a flurry of trades, but had to blow it up the following season and came in last. Remember, he traded 3 pitchers to Seattle in 1989 for Mark Langston (one of whom was Randy Johnson).
We will see when prices elbow starts barking.
First and foremost, you’re an idiot. Price could not have gotten a QO. That’s not the only reason you’re an idiot but it’ll do for now. Second, they paid $217M for one guy who might possibly get them 3 or 4 extra wins. A better plan might have been to replace two or three of the losers in that rotation for that money and get 10 or 15 extra wins. Third, you’re still an idiot.
Tell that to llitch
The QO system is broken. Just look at the case of Justin Upton. The Tigers only lost a 3rd round pick for signing him, but if the Mariners signed him they would have lost the #11 overall pick. That basically rewards teams for signing multiple free agents and serves almost as a hindrance to competitive balance. Teams should be compensated for losing a big free agent, of that I have no doubt, but do teams need to be punished for signing them? I am not going to claim I have all the answers by any means, but it seems to me that the system would work so much better if teams got compensatory picks without anyone losing picks. Sort of like the NFL Draft. Or at least not losing a pick for a team’s first QO signing, but losing your first pick after you sign your second QO free agent. They could also reward players by making the QO about 10% higher to avoid teams diluting the market with mid-range guys that shouldn’t have the tag attached like Dexter Fowler. Like I said, I’m not claiming to have all the right answers, but I do recognize that this system is not that good.
Well, the player’s union seems to fed up with the draft pick attached to their players. The next collective bargaining agreement is coming up, so I can see the system being changed again. We’ll see changed after the 2017 season. Hopefully, MLB fixes it.
totally agree – like with the giants it is a huge gamble now that they signed samardzija because even though they have been successful in bringing guys along – it seems like it is a constant struggle to build from the farm system that is always rated near last and more often than not guys need to be traded away to fill holes to keep the team afloat. this year they get to stay home and watch quite a bit of the draft before there are any phone calls made.. what ought to be is that you either get moved to the competitive balance round – or guys that get picks get moved up in the ranks rather than some teams just not getting picks at all.
Let’s hope prices arm falls off!!
The Padres have a really good opportunity to restock their farm this year. Hopefully Preller will make some smart choices.
White sox better not blow this!!!! They better find a hitter.