The Rays made an “early” strike in deadline season yesterday, shipping off their Competitive Balance Round A selection (No. 37 overall) in Sunday’s draft to acquire righty Bryan Baker from the division-rival Orioles. Baker, 30, has had his two worst outings of the season in his final Orioles appearance and last night’s Rays debut — which came just hours after he was “shocked” to learn he was traded and boarded a last-minute flight to meet his new team in Boston — but carried a 2.58 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate through July 5. He comes to the Rays with three additional seasons of club control, as well.
Following the trade, O’s general manager Mike Elias acknowledged that Thursday’s trade was “earlier than my comfort level” but that the timing of the draft and strength of the return pushed him to make a deal sooner than he’d have preferred (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). It’s feasible that other general managers/president of baseball operations feel similar pressure if presented with opportunities to add an extra pick over the next two-plus days.
As a refresher, Competitive Balance picks are the only picks in the annual amateur draft that are eligible to be traded. They can only be traded one time, meaning the pick the Orioles received for Baker — and the picks the Dodgers, Guardians and Red Sox received in trades of Gavin Lux, Josh Naylor and Quinn Priester, respectively — are now locked in place for those clubs. There are still a handful of selections that could be traded, however.
Here’s a rundown of the picks in Competitive Balance Rounds A and B. MLBTR has confirmed via industry sources that the picks held by the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets in Round A are ineligible to be traded, as they’re technically first-round picks that were dropped down into Competitive Balance Round A as penalty for exceeding the luxury tax by more than $40MM. Similarly, the picks held by the Rays and Brewers in Round B are ineligible to be traded due to the fact that they are compensation for failing to sign last year’s picks in Competitive Balance Round B. Picks that are eligible to be traded are in bold; those ineligible to be moved are in strikethrough font. The deadline to trade any of these eligible picks is 4pm ET on Sunday — two hours prior to the start of this year’s amateur draft.
Round A
No. 33 overall: Red Sox (acquired from Brewers in exchange for RHP Quinn Priester)- No. 34: Tigers
- No. 35: Mariners
- No. 36: Twins
No. 37: Orioles (acquired from Rays in exchange for RHP Bryan Baker)No. 38: MetsNo. 39: YankeesNo. 40: DodgersNo. 41: Dodgers (acquired from Reds in exchange for INF/OF Gavin Lux)No. 42: Rays (acquired from A’s in exchange for LHPs Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez)- No. 43: Marlins
Round B
- No. 66 overall: Guardians
No. 67: Rays (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)No. 68: Brewers (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)- No. 69: Orioles
No. 70: Guardians (acquired from D-backs in exchange for 1B Josh Naylor)- No. 71: Royals
- No. 72: Cardinals
- No. 73: Pirates
- No. 74: Rockies
The Tigers are the only clear buyer with a pick that can be traded, and it’s a prominent one. The Mariners and Cardinals are only one game out of a Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. Seattle is expected to act as a buyer and has been on the hunt for corner infield bats and late-inning bullpen help. The Royals (3.5 games), Twins (4) and Guardians (5) are all within five games of a Wild Card spot.
Fans would largely welcome the advent of additional selections becoming eligible to be traded, but that’s not in the cards for now. MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer joined Foul Territory earlier this week and told hosts Scott Braun, Erik Kratz and A.J. Pierzynski that the union is in favor of trading draft picks and has unsuccessfully raised the issue in past waves of collective bargaining (video link, draft pick talk coming around the one hour, 12-minute mark).
“This union has consistently been in favor of teams being able to trade draft picks,” said Meyer. “It would help competition. We think it would help small-market teams that have those valuable draft picks. They should have the flexibility to trade them if it’s in the best interest of the team. I think many teams would agree, but the league for whatever reason has, to date, been against allowing clubs the ability to trade Rule 4 [amateur] draft picks. We proposed it last time. It was rejected. I don’t want to commit to much for the next round of bargaining, but I feel pretty confident we’ll propose that again, because we think it’s actually beneficial to competitive balance.”
It should be noted that virtually any proposal in collective bargaining comes with some give and take. Meyer’s comments only portray one side of the discussion, and it’s not clear whether anything else was attached to that proposal. Regardless, it’s notable that the union’s lead negotiator has signaled a desire to again broach the subject of draft pick trades when the two sides return to the table to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.
If this happens the rays will need some alone time in the bathroom
Since draft picks themselves can’t be traded, can a team draft someone and then immediately trade the person to another team like how the NBA works? Or is there a rule saying they have to wait for a while?
No. They use to as a PTBNL but think mlb closed that loop hole.
Unless the rule has changed (who can keep up?) you can’t trade newly drafted players until after the World Series ends.
That sounds about right. It used to be one calendar year (see: Trea Turner).
I think this is correct
What others have said in response is true, sad. Players drafted in “X” year cannot be traded in that same season. You have to wait until the MLB calendar flips to the following “Y” season.
Should just make all draft picks eligible
Should also allow right to swap draft pick slots in any given round
Should make it so teams can’t trade picks back to back years
Teams also can’t trade picks anything over 5 years into the future.
Only rounds 1-5 can be traded.
Why shouldn’t a team be able, if trades of picks are expended, to trade (for instance) a 9th Rounder for a slightly above average reliever
You don’t want a situation where bad teams are making bad business decisions by trading away all their picks. Limiting which rounds teams can trade from is to protect teams from themselves.
Oh sure I can trade a 9th rounder for a middling reliever 10th 12th rounder for a utility guy wait we need catching depth let’s trade 13th 15th 20th picks.
Got cut off. By that same token you don’t want teams to start hoarding too many draft picks that come with draft pool money. Can you imagine say Dodgers had 20 million in draft pool money available? Every prospect would refuse to sign and want to sign with the dodgers cause they can offer most money.
It’s insane that BB is the only sport that cannot trade picks. A team will make bad decisions on prospects just as easily as draft picks. Allowing trades will let smarter GMs take advantage of weaker GMs. That’s capitalism at its best.
It’s ridiculous nba teams can’t trade away all their 1st round picks! Crippling the franchise for years!
So if your team was on the cusp, and loved the #12, you wouldn’t allow them to trade next year’s #1 for this year’s #12?
How about in FB? Let’s say Buffalo trading its #1 for Diggs? Not allowed?
Historically, only 20% of 6-10 rounders make the majors. So for an average ballplayer you would need 5 such picks to even up the odds of just one making the majors.
It is more complex than we make it out to be, as the MLB draft is very different than the NFL or NBA drafts. For the most part, both of them are drafting a product that is far closer to being ready to play (for the developmental guys) or ready to contribute right away (for a good percentage of the higher picks) and therefore easier to value
Baseball takes longer…in many cases much longer. It leaves far more room for error, and requires a longer brewing time for prospects. Success rates are much lower overall and it just didn’t develop as a tradeable product until recently.
There is no reason why they should not explore making more trades, but they will probably be looking for protections to be built into the process and then refine things down the road. Protect teams from trading all of their draft stock and then suffering for years afterwards and so on. Plus, valuing picks is far more difficult under the circumstances. Also, a team like the Dodgers might just decide to throw an additional $50m into the competitive advantage from a front office and talent development level that other teams cannot afford and further warp the playing field as a result.
Then of course there is the MLBPA vs the owners. Players want FA more quickly and given their druthers don’t like to be controlled as to where they play via a draft anyway. So finding common ground will take time and compromise and some experimentation.
Someone needs to do what’s right for Baseball and take out Tony Clark and Rob Manfred. Both are horrible at their jobs and bad for the sport. They can’t even find middle ground on issues that would benefit both sides. Robbie boy is too busy messing with balls and game outcomes to ever care about the integrity of the sport or actual fan experience
Inb4
>hE wOrKs FoR tHe OwNeRs AnD dOeSnT cArE aBoUt WhAt FaNs wAnT!
What’s wrong with BB right now?
The sport is honestly fine the way it is, it’s MLB not BB that is being run improperly.
The reason why the nba put the rule in is a team that mortgages the future constantly eventually has to pay but owner gm players might be long gone and ruins the franchise long term value they had it happen years ago.
If anyone is reading this and says who cares please please run and fantasy league keeper league and let me in. I’ll win for a couple years by trading away useless future assets and then when I can no longer win I’ll just stop paying and leave the league. Now is this a perfect example no. But you can’t have a franchise that completely runs themselves into the ground and has zero future draft picks to potentially save them.
I don’t get why everyone wants draft picks to be traded. Yes, it happens in the NFL and NBA, but they don’t have 4-5 levels of minor league players to choose from in deals. Why would anyone want a completely unknown quantity versus a minor league player that has been thoroughly scouted? It just seems like scratch off lottery ticket fever to me, imagining what the prize is being much better than the actual results of the prize.
I agree with this. I think if all Rule 4 picks were available to be drafted, it would surprise people how rarely it would happen, and how low the value of those picks would be outside of the first half of the first round. I hate how in the NFL basically ALL trades are just picks for a guy. It’s stupid. But that’s a result of the fact that picks play right away and can be stars right away.
No need to change what we have.
There are no reason to not trade picks. It will reward the smarter GMs at the expense of weaker GMs. It will allow teams to enhance their competitive windows.
But most important, imo, it will help grease some trades. If you reach an impasse on a Alcantara for a #100 prospect trade, maybe adding a 2nd rounder might seal it.
But basically, I see no downside.
The issue there is trading picks can make a team bad long after a bad GM has left. We’re already seeing back to back years where teams are competing for the loss record. We probably don’t need more predation.
We also have situations where teams (RS-Crochet) trade away big prospects. It’s really the same thing.
And imo, was good for both sets of Sox.
Teams trade away big prospects but that’s generally because they are winners and want to make a playoff push. I agree that usually works for both sides as one team needs prospects to rebuild and the other needs talent that can produce today.
But let’s say, hypothetically, an owner gets locked in a room with only magic mushrooms to eat for a week and hires Dave Stewart as GM. Dave thinks this team can make a solid playoff run so he cashes in the next couple years’ first and third round picks for a couple number 2 starters. Then it all blows up in his face because he’s Dave Stewart. So he gets canned. The team tanks and fans are faces with the prospect of a losing team with no real way to start a rebuild for at least a couple years. Now, granted, this is worst case scenario, but if it happens it’s not good for baseball.
Yeah, I think draft pick trading in a league with a 20 round draft, pool space, etc just doesn’t work. That, and I really don’t know why people care all that much about it. Would it really make baseball more fun if your team trades a roster player for a 13th round pick?
Would it really make baseball more fun if your team trades a roster player for a 13th round pick?
======================
Sure, and a lot more fun.
If you were a Rox fan, doomed to finish #30, would you not find it much better to load up on the upcoming draft than to keep everyone?
Or conversely, if you were a long-suffering Tigers fan, would you turn down a trade for a 3B, because that 3rd round pick you gave up has a 20% chance of helping you out in 2029?
Your not seeing the seeing the effects of the reduction of inflation minors league affiliates and the change in college baseball. The colleges have better facilities and better training than most minor league clubs do.
The amount of information potential draftees. makes it much far less of a lottery ticket than it used to be. It’s newer to the past 3-4 years. A lot of the college first roundes are making their MLb debuts. The only long term development now is with the prep kids drafts and the international kid signings. The process to get to the MLB after drafted is much closer to the NFL and NBA than you think. The kids you are used to waiting on are still in college now and you just haven’t heard of them yet and when you, they will be very close to ready to go if they are a high round pick. I predict by 2030 75% or more of the first rounders will be from college and most of them will be in the MLB within 18 months of being drafted.
It’s still a lottery ticket because if you trade for the 42nd pick in order to draft a certain guy that you like, what do you do if he gets picked at #39? THAT is what I am talking about with the unknown quantity. You have ZERO idea who is going to be on the board when your pick comes around unless you trade for the #1 overall selection.
You might be correct in that college players will be rushed to the majors for many teams. But how long will teams put up with the like of Andrew Vaughn who never had time to develop into a pro player? Or Spencer Torkelson? Everyone coming out of college is not going to be Skenes.
It makes no difference. Drafting is largely a game of weights. Overall, the more picks you have, the better you’ll do. It’s just like the NFL draft. Sometimes the player you love get picked ahead of you. And sometimes someone like Bowers falls into your lap.
I heard that part of the reason the Rays made this trade was not having to pay the 37th overall pick ~$2.6m