Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Yankees Had Pre-Lockout Interest In Michael Conforto

By Mark Polishuk | March 10, 2022 at 4:54pm CDT

Prior to the lockout, the Yankees had interest in outfielder Michael Conforto, according to The New York Post’s Mike Puma (Twitter link). The Bronx Bombers join the Rockies and Marlins as the only teams publicly linked to Conforto’s market, though over a dozen teams reportedly checked in on the former All-Star around the start of the free agent period.

The possibility of Conforto jumping from the Mets to the Yankees creates some natural Big Apple intrigue, plus Conforto would seem like a good fit in the Yankees’ lineup. The Bombers are short on left-handed bats, and though Conforto slots in most naturally as the new everyday left fielder, he can also play right field (in the event of an injury or just a DH day for Aaron Judge) or even center field in a pinch, should Aaron Hicks run into more injury woes.

The short porch at Yankee Stadium has been a boon to many a left-handed hitter, and it could help Conforto bounce back from an ill-timed down year just as he was on the verge of free agency. Conforto hit .232/.344/.384 with 14 homers over 479 PA — still above average (101 OPS+, 106 wRC+) production, though well behind the numbers he posted from 2015-20.

Conforto may have been hampered by a hamstring strain that cost him five weeks on the injured list, and teams will surely also note that Conforto’s 2021 Statcast numbers were largely unchanged from his career norms, apart from a drop in barrels and barrel rate. Still, the Yankees or any other interested clubs surely have some concern over guaranteeing a big multi-year contract (and giving up a draft pick, since Conforto rejected the Mets’ qualifying offer) to player coming off a rather underwhelming season.

With that platform year in mind, there was speculation that Conforto could be open to a shorter-term contract with an opt-out clause, or perhaps just a straight one-year deal. Such an arrangement would allow Conforto to quickly re-enter free agency next winter on what he certainly hopes will be on the heels of a stronger 2022 season, not to mention a normal offseason that won’t be interrupted by a lockout. Conforto is represented by the Boras Corporation, and Scott Boras is no stranger to unique contracts (such as the swell-opt) that allow his clients both some flexibility and the possibility of locking in more longer-term money.

The Yankees have done plenty of business with Boras in the past, and in fact another Boras client in Gerrit Cole represents the last QO-rejecting free agent the Yankees signed without regard to the draft pick compensation. Naturally, there is a vast difference between Cole and Conforto’s situations, and thus the Yankees likely have some wariness about surrendering their second-highest 2022 draft pick and $500K in international bonus pool money in exchange for signing Conforto.

That said, if Conforto was open to a shorter-term deal, he could fit into the Yankees’ reported preference for such contracts. New York offered a one-year, $25MM pact to another QO free agent in Justin Verlander before Verlander re-signed with the Astros, and the Yankees’ reported post-lockout plan is to monitor the shortstop market to see if any major names (i.e. the still-unsigned Carlos Correa or Trevor Story) could be amendable to a shorter-term arrangement. It stands to reason that the Yankees could expand this strategy beyond just shortstops, and to any prominent free agents like Conforto who can address other areas of need on the Bombers’ roster, while still not tying the club to a lengthy commitment.

March 22 Set As New Date For Teams, Players To Exchange Arbitration Figures

By Mark Polishuk | March 10, 2022 at 4:42pm CDT

Dozens of arbitration-eligible players still have to get their salaries figured out for the 2022 season, and now that the lockout is over, March 22 is the new deadline for teams and players to submit numbers, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). Since a good number of these arbitration cases won’t be settled by March 22, this means arb hearings will stretch into the actual regular season, which is now set to begin on April 7.

As usual, teams will reduce their list of arbitration-eligibles via contract agreements prior to March 22, or perhaps even by trading or releasing some eligible players. Though the official non-tender deadline still took place just prior to the lockout, it could be that some clubs have simply changed their minds on some players, or have new priorities in terms of cutting or adding to payroll. With this in mind, the likelihood of even more players becoming available will only add to what already be an absolute frenzy of a free agent and trade market in the aftermath of the lockout.

The sheer amount of front office business could see a shift in how teams or players address these arbitration cases. While obviously both sides have a specific price in mind and aren’t going to agree to a major discount, there could be a little bit more sway on one side or the other just in the same of getting a deal done. The sooner an agreement is reached, the sooner the player can fully concentrate on getting ready for the season, and the team can check one item off a lengthy to-do list.

In recent years, clubs have been more apt to deploy the “file and trial” strategy of not negotiating (apart from discussing multi-year extensions) after the figure-exchange deadline for arb-eligible players. The strategy is to exert a bit of pressure on players to accept an arb-avoiding contract in advance of the deadline, so both sides can sidestep the uncertainty that often goes into an arbitration hearing. It remains to be seen if teams may be more willing to bend on talks post-deadline just in the name of getting a one-year settled pre-hearing, or if teams may perhaps be even more prone to “file and trial” tactics if they feel they have added leverage on particular players.

However, since hearings won’t take place until after Opening Day, some players will begin the season not knowing that they’ll exactly be earning, thus creating a very unusual situation and adding another wrinkle to a process that already lends itself to awkwardness. It isn’t uncommon for some hard feelings to develop from these hearings, and now a situation has been created where a team can openly criticize a player during a morning arbitration hearing, and then rely on that same player to be in the starting lineup of that evening’s game. While an arbiter will only be considering 2021 statistics in determining a 2022 salary, it is possible that some on-field events early in 2022 (a particularly hot or cold start by the player, or an injury) could impact how either side approaches presenting their case to the arbiter.

Of note, the 2021-22 arbitration-eligible players are all still subject to the rules of the previous collective bargaining agreement. That said, there also weren’t many big changes made to the arb process under the new CBA, as the league refused to even discuss the standards relating to the amount of service time required to gain salary arbitration, or even to the player’s desire for a large increase in the number of Super Two-eligible players. However, pre-arbitration players will now enter their arb years on higher base salaries, thanks to the new bonus pool system for pre-arbitration players and the increase in the minimum salary.

One interesting detail does exist, as MLBTR has learned that for players who will be arbitration-eligible for the first time next winter, their statistics from the shortened 2020 season will be extrapolated to fit what the player “would have” done had the season been a standard 162 games. A player who hit 10 home runs in 2020, for instance, would be treated as if he had hit 27 homers. This formula involving 2020’s statistics will be used for all future arbitration hearings going forward. However, no such formula exists regarding the 2020 season for this year’s arb class, so teams and players can make whatever arguments they wish in hearings given the lack of a uniform standard for how 2020 statistics should be addressed.

MLB Trade Rumors has used Matt Swartz’s model for projecting arbitration salaries for the last 11 years, and here are the projections for both the remaining arb-eligible players, as well as the numbers for the players who agreed to deals prior to the non-tender deadline.

2021 Rule 5 Draft Officially Canceled

By Mark Polishuk | March 10, 2022 at 2:57pm CDT

The 2021 edition of the Rule 5 Draft has been officially canceled, according to The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (via Twitter). Originally set to take place in December at the end of the Winter Meetings, the R5 was one of the many staples of the baseball calendar postponed by the lockout, and reports surfaced last week that just about all front office personnel around baseball were in favor of simply canceling this year’s draft.

A rescheduled Rule 5 draft would’ve added yet another notable event to a four-week stretch that will be busier than any other in baseball history from a transactional standpoint. Between free agents, trades, arbitration hearings, and the countless other pieces of business that front offices need to address by the new April 7 Opening Day (and likely beyond), the Rule 5 Draft was deemed expendable.

The MLB Players Association would’ve had to agree to the R5’s cancellation, and while the union surely wasn’t pleased about even a one-year break in a mechanism that provides more big league opportunity and big league paychecks to players, it could be that the Rule 5 was seen as a relatively minor point within the many larger items of debate between the union and the owners. Also, since minor league players aren’t officially part of the MLBPA, it could be that the union was simply more focused on the priorities of its actual members.

As it stands, 2021 will mark the first season since 1891 that the Rule 5 Draft (in one form or another) didn’t take place, interrupting one of baseball’s more quietly longstanding traditions. It will be good news for teams like the Guardians, Pirates, Rays, and other clubs who had a surplus of eligible minor league talent that couldn’t all be fit onto the 40-man roster, since now those prospect-heavy teams will get to keep those players rather than risk losing any in a Rule 5 Draft.

However, it could lead to a loaded field of eligible prospects for the 2022 R5, which is presumably still set to take place in December on the last day of the Winter Meetings. A new group of minor leaguers will gain eligibility and join any leftover prospects from this year’s class that still might be left off a 40-man roster, giving teams with more options than usual to choose from come December.

As a refresher, a player selected in a Rule 5 Draft must remain on his new team’s 26-man active roster for an entire season in order for the new team to gain full rights to the player’s services. If the player doesn’t spend the entire season on the active roster or the new team simply decides to part ways with the player, he must be first offered back to his original team for a $50K price. (A team selecting a R5 player must pay a $100K fee.)

Details On MLBPA’s Latest Offer To League

By Mark Polishuk | March 6, 2022 at 10:45pm CDT

9:25 pm: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the league is willing to increase the first CBT threshold if the union makes concessions in other areas. The most recent negotiations have had the owners unwilling to raise the threshold beyond $220MM with the players trying to push it to $238MM. Even that $220MM has been difficult for the owners, as four of them voted against that offer.

In order to bridge that gap, Rosenthal says the owners would want “a variety of adjustments,” which would include the players lowering their ask on the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. The players did indeed drop their ask on the pool in their proposal today, from $85MM to $80MM, but a further reduction would apparently be necessary in order to get the league to budge on the CBT issue. Furthermore, Rosenthal adds that the league “would want the union to accept a streamlined process for implementing rules changes beyond the 2023 season.” This would apparently go beyond what the union already agreed to earlier today, as Rosenthal writes that “The league wants the ability to make other changes for subsequent years within 45 days of the end of a season. Such changes would be implemented upon the recommendations of a competition committee composed of more league than union representatives, effectively giving commissioner Rob Manfred the power to act as he chooses.”

3:59 pm: Bob Nightengale tweets that the union disputes MLB’s characterization of the situation, listing several concessions they have made.

3:40 pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the sides could meet again as soon as Monday, with the league expected to announce further game cancellations.

3:28 pm: MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin responded to today’s meeting, with James Wagner of the New York Times providing the full quote on Twitter:

“We were hoping to see movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly. The Players Association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards. Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how to respond, but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”

The use of the word “backwards” is a bit confusing on its face, given that the union made notable concessions on some of the issues detailed below. However, Wagner elaborates in another tweet that “MLB felt that things were suggested verbally in Florida on Monday, such as the size of the pre-arbitration bonus pool being smaller than $80M, that weren’t reflected in today’s offer,” and that is why they characterized today’s written proposal as going “backwards.” The MLBPA denies moving backward from any verbal offer.

1:20 pm: Representatives from the league and the MLB Players Association met today in New York, with the union bringing both some written responses and counter-proposals to the owner’s most recent collective bargaining agreement offer. Today’s negotiating session lasted around an hour and 40 minutes, and details have begun to emerge (from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and The Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes) about the union’s latest proposal.

Perhaps the most notable difference is that the players agreed to give the league the authority to make on-field changes within a 45-day window of initial proposal, in regards to three specific rules — a pitch clock, restrictions on the use of defensive shifts, and the size of the bases. The last CBA gave the league the ability to implement rule changes a full year after an initial proposal to the union, and reports recently emerged that the owners were looking to drastically shorten that period of time in this latest agreement.

Any of the proposed rule changes would be explored via a committee that would have player representation. The three proposed rule changes would begin in the 2023 season. One other rule change that the MLBPA did decline was in regards to the “robo-ump,” or an automated system for calling balls and strikes.

The players had been seeking an $85MM bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, though that number has now been dropped slightly to $80MM. It should be noted that this would be the starting price for a pool that would be expected to gradually increase over the five-year span of the CBA, and presumably those increases are still part of the latest proposal. The drop to $80MM probably isn’t too likely to get the league’s attention, as the owners have been open to the idea of a bonus pool, though at the much lower price of a flat $30MM pool for each of the next five seasons.

Should teams surpass the various tiered thresholds of the luxury tax, the league had been proposing methods of punishment beyond just a financial penalty, such as the last CBA’s penalties of moving a team’s top draft pick back 10 slots if they exceeded the tax threshold by more than $40MM. The MLBPA had been resistant to such “non-monetary penalties” as Drellich called them, but the union has now okayed some similar type of punishment in exchange for the elimination of the qualifying offer. The league had previously floated the idea of eliminating the QO, so teams who sign particular free agents would no longer have to give up draft picks as compensation, though the teams that lost said free agents would still get a pick.

In regards to the larger and more thorny issues of the luxury tax thresholds themselves, the union made no changes to their past proposal. As well, the MLBPA stood by their previous demands for an increased minimum salary. The concept of an expanded postseason continues to factor into negotiations, yet while the union had been open to a 14-team playoff with a particular format, the players today opted to just stick with a 12-team format. The MLBPA also continued to decline the league’s overtures for an amateur draft for international players, and in regards to the domestic draft, the union still wants a proposed draft lottery to cover the top six picks in the draft (while the league wants only the top five picks impacted).

While the owners are sure to reject this proposal on the whole, some small positives could be taken from today’s news, even if the bigger obstacles holding up a new CBA remain in place. The union’s previous issue with the league’s rule-change proposals had more to do with the introduction of the topic at what seemed to be a pretty late stage in CBA talks, rather than an objection to the content of the rule changes themselves. Given how the three rules in question have already been being tested at the minor league level, it was no surprise that the league was seeking implementation eventually, though commissioner Rob Manfred said back in December that the owners would likely hold off discussion of any alteration of on-field rules in order to focus on the big-picture financial concerns.

Limiting the 45-day implementation to just these three rules represents a seemingly acceptable compromise for both sides, and such, it now seems like a fairly safe bet that for the 2023 season, fans will see a pitch clock, larger bases, and some changes to how teams deploy defensive shifting. Any of all of these concepts can be argued as ways to improve the on-field product, with the larger bases and the limited shifts in particular intended to promote more offense and action on balls hit into play.

A clock could also potentially lead to more action, should a pitcher (perhaps feeling the pressure of a ticking countdown) rushes a mistake pitch that the batter knocks for a hit. But in general, the pitch clock is intended to address the longstanding concern over the time and pace of games. The exact mechanics of the rules are still to be worked out and quite possibly determined by committee, and The Score’s Travis Sawchik also notes that the clock could be a way of enforcing rules already on the books about keeping batters in the box during plate appearances.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported earlier today that the league was aiming for a 14-second pitch clock with the bases empty, and a 19-second clock with runners on base. This represents a change from the times tested in low-A ball last season, as pitchers had 15 seconds to throw with the bases empty and 17 seconds when a runner was on base. Looking at the numbers from 2021, the clock seemed to indeed result in shorter games, as the low-A games saw a reduction of about 21 minutes in the average game time.

East Notes: Casas, Armstrong, Harris

By Mark Polishuk and Darragh McDonald | March 6, 2022 at 8:10pm CDT

Triston Casas had a busy year in 2021, bouncing between Double-A, the Team USA Olympic squad and Triple-A. “I was bouncing all over the place,” Casas said to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. “I did my best to take it one day at a time and I’m happy with the way I handled it. But hopefully I’ll be a little more settled this year.” All of that bouncing around did nothing to slow Casas down, as the Red Sox first base prospect hit .279/.394/.484 for a wRC+ of 141 in 86 games, between Double-A and Triple-A. That showing has him on the cusp of making his major league debut, though he doesn’t yet have a spot on the roster. That means he’ll have the extra challenge of having to earn that roster spot before getting called up, but also comes with the positive of Casas not being locked out and thus eligible to participate in Spring Training. “I absolutely appreciate what they’re doing,” Casas said of the MLBPA’s efforts in the lockout. “I know they’re working diligently to make sure baseball is a fair game. I don’t know all the information, but they’re making a sacrifice to help younger players.” As for what comes next for the 22-year-old, “My goal is to make the major league team.” The Sox currently project to have Bobby Dalbec at first base and J.D. Martinez in the DH slot most of the time. However, Martinez is a free agent after 2022, meaning that, even if Casas struggles to force his way into the lineup this year, his chances of doing so will be much greater one year from now.

Elsewhere in the East…

Though Shawn Armstrong is a minor league free agent, the rules specifying which players are locked out have kept the right-hander on the open market and unable to sign even a minor league deal, according to The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin. It’s a tough blow for the 31-year-old, especially since Armstrong said he heard from over 20 teams in November prior to the lockout, with the Rays (Armstrong’s former club) and roughly a dozen other teams offering minor league or split contracts. Armstrong opted to wait for a guaranteed offer, but now finds himself stuck waiting to determine the next step in his career. “I know, it’s going to be very, very quick when the lockout ends versus being able to talk and communicate and counteroffer and those types of things,” Armstrong said. “But it is what it is. Nothing I can do about it. Just got to stay ready.”
Braves outfield prospect Michael Harris II had a solid year in 2021, playing 101 High-A games and hitting .294/.362/.436, wRC+ of 114. But he might just be scratching the surface of what he’s capable of, at least according to fellow Braves prospect Braden Shewmake. “I think (Harris) could help (the big club). I definitely do,” Shewmake tells Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When he gets his chance, I think he’s going to stick. I don’t think he’s going to be a guy that bounces back and forth.” Despite his promise, Harris is aware that he still has to make strides, telling Toscano that “There’s always somewhere to improve, so I don’t really focus on one specific area.” Harris doesn’t yet have a roster spot, meaning other outfielders like Drew Waters and Cristian Pache have a clearer path to playing time than he does. But unlike them, Harris has the advantage of not being locked out, and thus able to participate in team activities and access team facilities.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Mark Polishuk | March 6, 2022 at 11:58am CDT

Click right here to read the transcript of today’s live baseball chat

Red Sox Sign Silvino Bracho, Darin Gillies To Minor League Deals

By Mark Polishuk | March 6, 2022 at 8:36am CDT

The Red Sox announced that right-handers Silvino Bracho and Darin Gillies have been signed to minor league deals and received invitations to the team’s big league Spring Training camp (when it opens). Boston also officially announced the signing of Tyler Danish — MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported two weeks ago that Danish had inked a minors contract with the Sox. All three players were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed despite the lockout.

Bracho is a veteran of five Major League seasons, all with the Diamondbacks from 2015-20. However, he has tossed only a single inning in The Show since the start of the 2019 season, as Bracho underwent a Tommy John surgery and then had a setback in his recovery. As well, Bracho missed a good chunk of the 2020 campaign while covering from a case of COVID-19.

The 29-year-old righty signed a minors deal with the Giants last winter and reset himself to some extent with Triple-A Sacramento, posting a 4.14 ERA over 50 relief innings. Bracho ran into some home run problems and he had the misfortune of a .383 BABIP, though his 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate were promising. Missing bats has never been an issue for Bracho at the minor league level, though he has a more modest 24.1% strikeout rate over his 89 2/3 career innings in the bigs. Bracho posted a 4.82 ERA during his time in Arizona, allowing 17 homers in that relatively small sample size.

Gillies was a 10th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2015 draft, and apart from a cameo in independent ball in 2020 when the minor league season was canceled, Gillies has spent his entire career in Seattle’s farm system. The right-hander has a 3.96 ERA and 24.63% strikeout rate over 338 1/3 frames in the minors, working as a reliever in all but eight of his 215 career games. After struggling at the Triple-A level in both 2018 and 2019, Gillies had a more solid showing in Tacoma this past season, with a 3.74 ERA over his 21 2/3 innings for the Mariners’ top affiliate.

Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon Healthy For Start Of Spring Training

By Mark Polishuk | March 5, 2022 at 2:38pm CDT

After injury-shortened 2021 seasons, two of the Angels’ biggest stars are healthy. Mike Trout’s agent Craig Landis tells Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times that Trout is “100 percent” ready to fully participate in Spring Training activities whenever the lockout ends, while a source familiar with Anthony Rendon’s recovery says the third baseman is also a “full-go” in the wake of surgery to correct a hip impingement.

Trout and Rendon combined for 84 games in 2021, and were in the same starting lineup together only 19 times. Trout was at least still his superstar-level self before suffering a season-ending right calf strain on May 17, hitting .333/.466/.624 with eight home runs over what ended up being his only 146 plate appearances. For Rendon, a series of nagging problems sent him to the injured list on multiple occasions and limited his production to only a .240/.329/.382 slash line over 249 PA.

The majority of Rendon’s injuries related to his left leg, though it was actually a right hip problem stemming from his rehab for a left hamstring injury that finally ended his season in August. Rendon said during a radio interview in November that the timing of the surgery was intended so he could head into Spring Training with a clean bill of health, and that now appears to be the case, even if the lockout has delayed the entirety of the normal baseball calendar.

Trout’s calf strain was a source of constant frustration for the former MVP, the Angels, and baseball fans as a whole, as the outfielder was seemingly close to a return on multiple occasions except his calf never stopped feeling sore after Trout took part in baseball-related activities. Trout and the team held out hope until September before officially shutting things down, again with an eye towards an early start on getting Trout fully healthy for the 2022 season.

Needless to say, the returns of Trout and Rendon in full health and with their usual levels of production could give the Angels one of the league’s most dangerous lineups. Of course, pitching has long been the Angels’ biggest obstacle, but the team has re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias and also added Noah Syndergaard and Michael Lorenzen to the rotation mix, not to mention what other moves could be in store once the transactions freeze is lifted.

Details On MLB’s International Draft Proposal

By Mark Polishuk | March 5, 2022 at 11:49am CDT

The concept of a draft for amateur international talent has long been on Major League Baseball’s agenda, as the league has seen a draft as a way of further overhauling the way teams acquire (and how much they spend on) international talent. The owners proposed an international draft to the players as part of CBA negotiations, and MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince has the details about the specifics of what the league wants.

The proposed int’l draft would be 20 rounds long (including extra Competitive Balance Rounds for smaller-revenue teams) and have a hard-slotting system with assigned prices to every pick. The June amateur draft, by comparison, has recommended slot prices for every selection but teams are permitted to sign players for any amount, as long as teams don’t exceed their overall draft bonus pool. This flexibility wouldn’t exist in the international draft, though the top picks would still bring home a significant amount — Castrovince writes that the top pick in the int’l draft would receive $5.25MM.

That $5.25MM figure is larger than any bonus given to a player in the 2021-22 international signing period. However, that number only represents what the top pick would receive, thus limiting the amount of money any other top prospects in the int’l class would land under a draft system. Also, $5.25MM is still less than any of the recommended slot prices for any of the top seven picks in the 2021 amateur draft.

While international prospects aren’t officially union members, the MLBPA is likely to take umbrage at the idea of a hard-slot bonus system, given the strict limitations it puts on an individual player’s earning potential. From the league’s perspective, less money would go to the blue-chip prospects at the top of a draft class, but more money would go into the class as a whole. Castrovince writes that under the draft proposal, the top 600 players would receive $172.5MM in total bonuses, up from the $163.9MM for the top 600 bonuses given to players during the 2019-20 international signing period.

The league also sees the draft framework as a way to get more money into the hands of the actual international prospects themselves, rather than the buscones who often act as unofficial agents, handlers, and trainers for these players. As recently illustrated by Maria Torres and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, there is no small amount of corruption in the current int’l signing system, and MLB’s argument is that a draft would end the practice of teams reaching unofficial agreements with buscones on prospects years before they’re old enough to be actually be signed. On the other hand, the counter-argument could be made that a draft simply restricts a prospect’s decision-making in another form, and that the issues with the buscone system could be solved if the league took a harder crackdown on enforcing existing rules on scouting international players.

In the draft proposal, teams would still not be permitted to select players under the age of 16. All prospects are subject to mandatory drug testing. The league also isn’t changing the list of countries that qualify as sources for international prospects in a draft, though Castrovince writes that “in an effort to grow the game, clubs would receive supplemental selections for drafting and signing players from non-traditional international baseball countries.”

Beyond the players selected over the 20 rounds, teams could also sign any eligible int’l prospects that weren’t selected, similar to how a flurry of signings of non-drafted players routinely follows the conclusion of the June amateur draft. Notably, teams would also be required to make all 20 of their picks rather than pass on any selection, though teams are allowed to trade any of their picks.

The signing deadline would take place three weeks after the end of the draft. The exact timing of said draft isn’t specified, whether it would take place around July 2 (the traditional opening of the international signing period), in January (when the last two int’l signing periods have opened due to the pandemic) or perhaps another spot on the calendar entirely.

In another interesting wrinkle, the order of the draft wouldn’t be tied to a team’s finish in the previous regular season. Instead, the 30 teams would be broken up into random groups of six, and then each group of six would be rotated through the draft order over a five-year period. For example, the Phillies, Blue Jays, Mariners, Dodgers, Brewers and Tigers could be all drawn together in one group and assigned the first six picks in a hypothetical 2023 international draft. For the 2024 draft, those same six teams would then be shuffled down to the 7-12 spots, while another group of six clubs got their turn at the top of the board.

The idea is, as Castrovince writes, to give all 30 teams “equal access to international talent over the life of the CBA.” It is fair to speculate whether the MLBPA could use this same logic in their other negotiations with the league over changes to the June amateur draft, since decoupling the draft order from regular-season record whatsoever would certainly seem to solve the union’s concerns about teams tanking. However, the two sides seem to have agreed in principle on the idea of a lottery for at least some of the top picks of the amateur draft, even if the owners and players have yet to settle on the exact number teams involved in the lottery.

NL Central Notes: Hinds, Crow-Armstrong, Mathias

By Mark Polishuk | March 5, 2022 at 9:21am CDT

The Reds are moving power-hitting prospect Rece Hinds from third base to the outfield, The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith writes. The club first considered a position change for Hinds earlier this spring — as detailed by MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon — and a more official decision has now been made, in an effort to help keep the 21-year-old healthy. Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and a pair of serious leg injuries in both 2019 and 2021, Hinds has barely played (57 games, 236 plate appearances) since the Reds selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. Changing positions will theoretically help Hinds “concentrate on his legs, his agility and his leg health,” Reds VP of player development Shawn Pender said. “As big as he is, third base is not easy for a big man to play, no matter how athletic he is. Let’s put him someplace where that bursting stop and start isn’t impacting him.”

The 6’4, 215-pound Hinds is ranked amongst the Reds’ top ten prospects by both MLB Pipeline (7th) and Baseball America (8th). Both outlets’ scouting reports cited the possibility of Hinds eventually moving to the outfield, and between Hinds’ athleticism and a very strong throwing arm, the transition could be relatively smooth. Beyond his glovework, Hinds’ power and bat speed are his true calling cards, and he has hit a respectable .249/.326/.522 with 12 homers over those 236 PA, amidst all his injuries. Hinds played in A-ball last season, and it isn’t yet known if Cincinnati will start Hinds at Double-A, or perhaps at least start him back at A-ball just to get a few more games under his belt and some more seasoning at this new position.

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