Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball is set to open its regular season June 19. Initially, games will be played without fans in attendance, but that may not be the case the entire summer. Former MLB reliever Frank Herrmann, now a member of NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines, tells David Laurila of Fangraphs the league has discussed allowing some number of fans into ballparks as soon as July 10, with hopes of incrementally increasing attendance moving forward if safety permits. The NPB plans to run a 120-game condensed season, down from its typical 143-game schedule.
Turning our attention to the United States…
- As we approach the ten-year anniversary of the 2010 MLB entry draft, Ken Davidoff and Dan Martin of the New York Post look back at the Mets’ selection of Matt Harvey. Then-GM Omar Minaya credits former scouting director Rudy Terrasas for staying on the right-hander even as he slumped through a difficult sophomore season at the University of North Carolina. Minaya says the club had scouts in attendance for every one of Harvey’s starts as a junior, allowing them to feel comfortable enough to select him seventh overall when his performance rebounded that season. The story of Harvey’s meteoric rise to stardom and his equally rapid fall from that peak has been told many times. Nevertheless, Mets’ fans in particular will want to check out the full piece for an entertaining look back at the caliber of player Harvey was in his prime.
- Astros GM James Click tells Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that this year’s shortened, five-round draft forces teams more than ever to draft the best prospects on their board, rather than worrying about balancing out their minor-league systems. That’s particularly true for Houston, who lost their first and second round picks this season (and next) as punishment for their sign-stealing violations. “Even if you end up drafting four very similar players, you should be able to find playing time for them at some place and at some point,” Click tells McTaggart. Even in a typical season, MLB teams almost always select the player whom they believe to be the best available talent (subject to signability) in the early rounds of the draft. Drafting for need doesn’t make the same impact in baseball, where prospects are often years away from the majors and face high rates of attrition along the way, as it might in sports like football or basketball.
with the stupid number of comp picks the league gives out some teams will probably have 3× as many picks as the Stros have this year
Care to make an argument why you believe the comp picks are stupid?
the better question is why they aren’t, and a year like this its especially dumb.
Oh yeah the Astros deserve everyone’s sympathy
its not sympathy as much as ire towards the comp system.
what exactly is wrong with it?
teams that make less money dont need to be given extra picks, nor should teams that sign players lose picks.
The money part can be debatable but losing players to free agency makes a ton of sense still – It loosely gives teams a franchise tag in an attempt to keep teams together longer (good imo) or at least some form of compensation. NFL does the same thing basically and it works well
Baseball is already facing a problem with Big vs small market teams- Although the system is not perfect its better than nothing imo to try and keep the gap closer moving forward. You start taking out all restrictions for big market teams and the gap will become larger year after year…
I think there can be better solutions, but just taking everything away right now is not the answer- Its something that will surely be addressed at the CBA and probably tweaked in some fashion
im fine with teams getting picks when they lose players, but id rather them be sandwhich picks instead of taking the pick from one team and giving it to the other. you can give the team a comp pick, but taking it from the team that spends on the player annoys me.
I agree but the loss of pick probably helps the small market team more to keep said player than the actual affect of netting the pick. Small market needs to be able to go for the now sometimes not always just kick the can down the road
In a regular world where MLb gets its act together and imposes a cap/floor your 1st post would be correct in doing away with all comp picks. Sadly we dont live in this world
It seems MLB is trying really really hard at NOT doing the easiest thing possible to circumvent the disparities between Large/small market teams by not imposing a standard floor/ cap… Even if its loose as in a 100-200 mill hard cap
My example would be Jake Ordoozi- Sure the Twins would welcome the pick but they are the defending Central champs, they probably want Jake for this year more.
If NYY LAD BOS doesnt get penalized ,there’s no incentive to Not just Go Pay More and get Ordoozi and the cycle repeats
Why? Red Sox cubs, la, Orange County Angels, Texas, bmore etc can all flex their wallets and get who ever they want
BOYCOTT BASEBALL AND THESE OVERPAYED BABIES
yeah, boycott baseball owners!
Boycott overreacting commenters
Best comment on this thread
So I’m guessing you don’t go to the movies?
BOYCOTT BOYCOTTING!!!
if only there was some way the Asterisks could have avoided this
If only they held the Red Sox to the same standard as the Astros, and ostracized them, for doing the exact same thing.
Totally unfair to have the comp picks in any year. Moreover, international system is off the charts unfair. But guessing any system that favors NYC is fair for MLB.
Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly?
lol
Backatit better watch out before DDIM leaves a garrison here. That would be unfortunate.
Neither the international signing system nor the draft is really “good” for NYC. You seem to be a baby with some misplaced anger. Your mother will be in with your bottle shortly!
The comp system and the international caps are designed to work AGAINST big market rich teams like the NY teams, I.E. signing Cole cost the Yankees some picks and gave one to the Astros. If there were no international caps the Yankees could just throw a bank at everyone internationally and smaller teams wouldn’t be able to sign any of them.
UMMMMM……. nvm ………You’ll figure it out someday
I suspect that the signing process might be more difficult this year ( especially with Boras clients), maybe the “Signability” factor plays a larger role then usual?
I disagree. I think players will have a harder time justifying their value being greater than slot with less (recent anyway) film/stats to back themselves up. Then again, if teams use that to try and go under on every pick, it will even out.
Aside from the players who passed away way too early, the fall of the Dark Knight of Flushing is one of the great tragedies in baseball in the last 10 years
I loved watching it go down
Found it rather amusing tbh
Well, click is right, under the old MiLB system. If they’re scrapping SS-A & non-complex Rookie ball, finding PT for a bunch of draftees at the same position becomes difficult, unless one or more are ready for High-A right out of the box. Not common.
We might see a complete paradigm shift in the minors. I’ve often said that if an SEC lineman can undertsand Josh McDaniels’ (Pats) offensive scheme right away, it’s hard to convince me that an SEC 2B can’t figure out how to field a ground ball unless he’s in Peoria. for a year, high A for a year, AA for a year, etc.
Alex Andropoulus (whose name I surely mangled) said the current draft/development system is the biggest money drain on any MLB ledger, and it comes with minute rewards. I mean, does the O’s Kid Catcher REALLY need all that development time? He looks pretty good to me right now, better than MOST MLB catchers.
Or is it a way to artificially surpress his earnings?
How long have you been watching baseball? There are countless examples of players who were rushed to the majors and that stunted their development. Being defensively gifted at a young age does not mean a player should be rushed to the majors at a detriment to their offensive development. Similarly a player maybe crushing pitching at A and AA levels but that is not necessarily representative of their true ability. Hitting fastballs and junk off speed pitches in the low minors may not have prepared them to hit more advanced pitching in the upper minors or majors. If they are rushed, it may delay their development or completely ruin it.
I used to work for a MiLB team and can tell you that development time is definitely needed. Mike Zunino is probably the best current example. Every level has a distinct level of play, but that being said you could probably lose one maybe two levels. Some teams kinda do this already. The team I worked for jumped players +A to AAA quite a bit because they were both really close to the big club and AA was across the country. So AA was basically the abyss.
I agree. Players like Albies, Acuña, Soto and Vlad Jr. who can play at a high level in their late teens/very early twenties are the exception, not the norm. The Mets were criticized for not pushing McNeil and Alonso fast enough. Now both are in their mid-20s and can be perennial all-stars.
But that’s as specious an argument as the others above. Who knows how many Acuna-s, Albies-s, Soto-s, et al, are currently wasting their time in Bowling Green instead of learning about major league realities in Tampa? Until we can create alternative universes (and we will; just give Bezos and Tesla time), the point can’t be established with any type of accuracy.
And “rushed to the majors?” I can’t figure out what that means, because, well, it doesn’t mean anything.
No one suggest that Kid Catcher, raised in a baseball environment, attending the right school, in the right conferance, is the same as some hot-shot CF from East Podunk High. Their respective development curves will be differant. But that’s more because of psycho-social factors than any percieved level of performance.
The best argument anyone can really come up with, as Andropoulus points out, is that “we’ve always done it that way”. There really is nothing else there.
“Rushed to the major” is a simple concept. A player who still has aspects of their game to work on is sent to compete against a level of competition they are not ready to face.
If you can’t figure out exactly what “rushed to the majors” means, I worry about your comprehension abilities. Not like there aren’t numerous examples out there.
your 1st mistake was comparing college football o-linemen, who are apparently competent enough in your eyes to all digest the pats playbook out of college and then comparing that to fielding ground balls at 2nd base in the majors. Really?
I’m sure it isn’t free for the mlb clubs but that’s good right? in your world “looks pretty good to me right now” means free up cash to spend on the major league club right now and to hell with development. just like the rays do every year(I’m a season ticketholder in California no less) or like Ricketts just said that extra profit goes to the GM(sure it does just ask pirate fans about that).
Development is good or bad? I like how you throw in the “artificially suppress their earnings” at the end as if that clarifies anything. They do that all the time doesn’t matter who it is or really what team. There are more Kris Bryant’s out there than tatis jrs…
Delicious smoked meat log!
A lot of the complaints about the draft (most years) might be settled if teams could include draft picks in trades. Seems as if MLB and the PA could go for that.
Or if they could start including wives in trades.
I think the authorities might have some issues with that, though the authorities have more pressing issues right now…
Kekich-Peterson?
After the Astros debacle, put stain on the game, now this rhetoric between billionares and millionaires during a pandemic. Lack of leadership not only troubles the country, but baseball as well. What a shame.