The Pirates inability to sign right-hander Mark Appel is a sign of a larger problem with the new draft system, opines Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd). The previous system with no real penalties for exceeding slot would have allowed Pittsburgh to sign the Stanford standout and in turn allow them to feel more comfortable in parting with Gerrit Cole or Jameson Taillon in a trade. Even though the Bucs will have the ninth pick in next year's draft as compensation, Law writes that the 2013 crop appears to be weaker than this year's. Here's the latest draft news..
- The Pirates offered Appel $3.8MM, the most they could give without losing a first-round pick, a source tells Jim Callis of Baseball America (via Twitter).
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said that the club was "dangerously close" to the 4pm CDT deadline before signing Lucas Giolito. The 16th overall pick received a $2.925MM bonus from Washington.
- Andre Martinez signed with the Twins for $80K after originally agreeing to a $260K, bonus, tweets Callis. A physical exam raised questions about the left-hander's shoulder, leading to a renegotiation.
So because one of the draftees is an — that means the entire system is broken?
I don’t think so.
yes actually it does. now there is no way they can trade either of those 2. beyond that, the fact that there is a stupid cap on spending in draft but not for free agents who make 10-15 million a year is ridiculous
It’s not ridiculous, it’s correct. The money in the game should go to the players who have performed at a high level in the major leagues, not to amateurs who have never played an inning of professional baseball.
yeah because jayson werth is worth 126 million dollars and strasburg is only worth 15.4 million dollars right?
plus, that doesn’t even hit my point of teams can spend that money however they want.
take a look right here in DC, it worked for us in the later rounds.
You’re trying to justify your argument by comparing one of the worst free agent overpays in the history of free agency and arguably the best amateur pitching prospect in the draft era. Let’s instead ask whether the Padres should have spent $7MM on Donovan Tate or Mat Latos.
you still dont get my point. what i am saying is that the upside of paying an extra million or so for a high upside draft pick WAY outways the risk.
and even if not, like i’ve always been saying, who cares how they spend it if your not gonna have a cap on spending for free agency, foreign players (darvish, cespedes, etc) than they shouldn’t pick just this to have a cap
This slotting system is a good step forward, but there needs to be some changes before it becomes effective.
But I do agree with you on the larger issue that MLB needs a way to limit free agent spending.
I was thinking of an inverse-payroll scheme. Simply, lower payroll teams can spend freely on the FA market, while high payroll teams are limited to spending restrictions.
And the spending restrictions will vary on a case-by-case basis, where higher payroll teams are given increasingly strict restrictions.
The luxury tax system isn’t bad, but the ‘punishments’ are too soft, and the threshold is too high.
Repeat offenders like the Yankees should lose their 1st round draft pick, and no international free agent signings that year, on top of the tax.
I get your point, I just don’t agree with it. I think that amateur players (and their agents) should not be allowed to hold teams hostage for ridiculous signing bonuses, and I’m glad that the new draft rules have by and large prevented this.
” not to amateurs who have never played an inning of professional baseball”
That is so wrong on so many levels not even sure which way to take it apart and am a big fan of both a large market (Boston) and a small market (Marlins) team.
with that philosophy, the big teams will always just buy any player they want and the small teams will basically just barely exist.
Absolutely not. If there were no draft, then I would agree that it would lead right back to the 50s when the Yankees had more talent on their AA roster then the Senators had on their major league roster. That is not the case.
I don’t even really have a problem with amateur players getting signing bonuses, nor do I have a problem with draftees using the leverage of going to (or returning to) college. What I have a problem with is players and their agents holding teams hostage with ridiculous signing bonus requests. As long as it is allowable for teams to contact potential draft picks ahead of draft day and say “hey, we’re interested in taking you with the 4th pick, and that has a slot recommendation of $4.2MM which we are willing to offer you, would you be willing to sign for that amount?” Appel reportedly turned down a $6.5MM pre-draft offer from the Astros. Because of the draft rules, no other team was going to offer that much and both he and his agent knew that. The Astros were right to move on rather than take the chance they could not reach an equitable number. The Pirates took a calculated risk, hoping that when push came to shove that Appel would take $3+ million rather than return to school. It didn’t work for them, but that’s why they call it risk.
In the end, this “philosophy” of mine has nothing to do with big market vs small market. That’s a free agency argument, and I’m not talking free agency at all. I’m talking about amateur players and the amateur draft, and teams having some cost certainty. I like the limits on international signing bonuses too. Does that make me an anti-small market person as well?
I understand your points a little better now..
My main gripes with the CBA were that they are penalizing teams that were spending anyway.. Pittsburgh, KC, TB and some teams that were not spending were just getting a bump in amounts they could theoretically spend if they wanted to.. Oakland, Houston..
The draft cap sliced Pittsburgh’s 2011 to 2012 allotment by 10m for instance.
I made a chart on this a few days ago and posted it here.
Many large market teams actually got an increase, except for Boston and Toronto, which were cut.
One thing I have heard nothing about is how exactly MLB came to the conclusion that the #1 overall pick should get $7.2MM (or whatever it was), and so on. Where did these numbers come from?
thats right, pay your dues, then sign your big contracts.
I’m really surprised Appel rejected $3.8m offer.
The sooner Appel signs with the Pirates, the sooner he reaches the big leagues, the sooner he reaches arbitration and the sooner he reaches free agency.
And he delays his own free agency because he wants to take a small chance to boost his signing bonus, yet there is also a chance he might blow his arm and get nothing.
Just a really ill-advised move to forgo this golden opportunity.
exactly…and don’t forget he turned down a pre-draft agreement of $6.5 mil
Wrong. Boras just refused to negociate before the draft.
I kinda hope Appel drops to a lower round next year and has to suck it up and accept like 300K or simply choose an independent league.
Why would you want that? He didn’t want what they had so he chose to return to school. If the Pirates cared enough to sign him, they should have offered more.
They offered all they could without sacrificing their 2013 draft pick. He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt as everyone else complied with the rules but he’d rather be stubborn. I hope he gets less money next year as well to teach him a lesson.
They could have offered more, it’s just that they care about next year picks more. If he was important enough to sign, they needed to give him more. Simple as that.
Well that’s one way to look at it. Rebuilding teams should never sacrifice a draft pick. No one player is worth 2 number one picks. Probably not even Strasburg or Harper.
Harper and Strasburg would be worth far more than 2 #1s. There were as sure of a thing in recent memory.
Anyway, Wes is being very short-sighted or maybe he simply doesn’t understand what happened here. Appel isn’t worth close to 2 #1s.
It depends on the other available options and if they’ll sign. Would Strasburg be that much more valuable than, say, Trout (a much easier sign) and Harper? Because Strasburg would have cost them Harper had these rules been in place then. Likewise would Harper be that much more valuable than Machado/Taillon AND Rendon?
I agree with what you are saying but if Washington had to sacrifice next years first rounder to get Stras wouldn’t that pick have turned out to be Harper? I’m just pointing out the issue that would have occurred had Washington had to make that decision with Strasburg at the time.
Edit: Didn’t read xthetouristx post. He came to a similar conclusion before my post.
Strasburg and Harper are both easily worth a future first
Strasburg would have precluded the Nationals getting Harper under the new rules. That would not ever be worth it.
not to worry, same thing happened last year with the jays and beede. stroman is a great trade off as far as im concerned if he stays a starter. the pirates will pick up a great prospect next year and hopefully appel turns into jake eliopolous
And neither do the Pirates, they drafted him at 8 and knew the risk, chances of him signing lower than 4.5 mill were really low. Pirates gambled and lost, simply put.
Offering massively over slot is a thing of the past. Appel needs to understand the climate of the draft is forever changed. He now has a reputation; this is why he fell in the first place. Someone might waste a 4th round pick on him and then he can sit around making next to nothing in the independent league.
Much more likely he gets drafted 1-1 than in the 4th round
Unless between now and then he gets hurt!
IMHO, much more likely he gets drafted later than #8 than earlier.
Didn’t realize the Pirates also missed out on Brandon Thomas and Walker Buehler as well, wow that really destroys their draft, youd never guess they picked 8th – its almost as bad as the Angels draft and they didn’t pick till like the third round.
I’m not going to cry about it and they shouldn’t either. They knew the risk with the pick, and usually got all these guys in this situation, but this is when the risk ultimately outweighed the reward.
Every team in the draft now has an even playing field, so less players will try this and the picks will fall into place over time. Not a big deal.
plus 9th in 2013 have to include that as well
ok im a nats fan and we got our guy signed so clearly i have no biased, with that said here i go…
I said from day 1 this new draft system was absurd. Its basically from a few teams too cheap to spend extra money in the draft and thus were afraid to pay a few extra thousands/millions for the upside of rebuilding via the draft.
The draft is basically the only way for team like the nats did, pirates, etc , etc to rebuild, and now that has been taken away. As far as i see it, there should be a salary cap on free agents and other players if you have one on draft picks. If a team wants to spend a lot on a player then who freakin cares, they have to right to do that.
Being able to draft guys in rounds beyond the first is as much a reason why we are where we are (actually more) than our luck of getting SS & Bryce. Its amazing how stupid this slotting system is.
End of rant 🙂
The teams don’t want to spend a lot on a player. That is why they put the new system in place…and it is working. Crappy teams still get to rebuild with better draft position and higher spend – but the days of overpaying Boras clients is over.
well its more of drafting a high upside guy and persuading him to go from high school to pros after being drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round. it was often also used to dissuade guys from a football scholarship.
those days are over.
80% of guys drafted out of high school were being paid big bucks due to agents like Boras and never see the bigs. That money was all but wasted. In turn that blown cash had to be brought back into the team by rice hikes etc etc. If anything this levels the playing field and maybe some of these kids can actually get a decent education so they can do something in life after fizzling in the minors and blowing the mega signing bonus and being broke. Responsibility goes a long way and this new system ends the greed of Boras types to the kids. Now the only way an agent will really get paid is the proven vet who actually earned his raise.
why are you assuming every player is a boras client? many good ones are, yes, but many good ones aren’t too.
plus, many of the ones im talking about just go to college for football, not baseball.
Just look at our drafts the past few years beyond SS and Harper and you will understand how we effectively used the draft to create what was ranked the #1 farm system in baseball by BA (before the Gio trade)
also boras provides top notch medical care, sports psychology, nutrition aides and financial services… he’s the best in the business because he takes good care of his clients
Well said, all this stuff how the slot hurts everyone is silly. No one get’s hurt except for boras clients. Small market teams are now on the same playing field as big market teams. The red sox can no longer sign a guy in the eighth round for ridiculous money because everyone shyed away from that player because they were sure he would forgo MLB for college or another year in college. The draft produced as many millionaires this year as last and although I have not done the research I would guess an equal number of draftees in the first few rounds who did not sign is par from the last few years. Again, so who got hurt? The pirates now get two first round picks in a better draft.
next years draft is extremely weak
KLaw only said that next year’s draft would be weaker than this year, and I think most of what Law says is designed to be controversial and antagonistic first and informative second.
The draft system was all Bud Selig’s idea, and it hurts big market teams as much as small market teams. Firstly big market teams are allocated a smaller draft budget so signability is a much bigger concern. Secondly big market strategy was to go over slot on bigger talent that slipped through because of college commitments, etc, which has all but been eliminated.
I actually like the old system better personally, but this whole small market oppression myth needs to die.
hows it need to die? small markets simply cannot go out and buy many players like the large markets. as a result, they can spend a few million extra on young talent that they can control for years. the myth/truth makes perfect sense.
Big market teams are not allocated a smaller draft budget. Draft budgets are set based on the total amount of money the MLB recommends for slot signings for each team based on where they draft. The Astros had the highest draft budget because they drafted first overall. Aren’t they a big market team? Houston is the fourth largest city in America.
yea i agree… pretty much every rule is designed to help the small revenue teams, the media plays it up as if they are oppressed but the whole system is designed to give them more of a chance than they can pay for, from the 6 year minor league reserve clause ( which allows a team to keep a player drafted out of college in the minors until they are 26ish which is prime years ) to the arbitration process ( which keeps players off the free market and drives their salaries down and combined with the 6 year reserve clause that allows low revenue clubs to keep their players costs down through their 30 year old season… all the way through their primes pretty much… its not the large revenue teams faults if some small revenue clubs don’t utilize those abilities
The *ONLY* way we will ever see that happen is if the teams have a salary floor that is well above what some teams currently pay as a minimum and I have been over this numerous times before here..
The MLBPA is not about to negotiate away any salary cap on teams without a legitimate salary floor that has meaning.. Like in the 100-110m range, far above what some of these teams are in the habit of paying. How these poor mouthing teams go about getting that money? Good question, maybe it comes from increased profit sharing, holding up ticket holders for more revenue, or whatever, but the MLBPA is the strongest union in all of sports and has been for years and they are not, for one second going to agree to any hard cap without that workable floor that has serious increases.
IMO, they would vote to decrease jobs(less a couple teams) 1st.
Appel believed that he would go first overall and told the Astros that he wanted to sign overslot, when the first pick was budgeted for 7.8. Boras was at fault for being greedy. What happened, Appel fell lower and lower, because teams weren’t going to jeopardize their draft pick in 2013, because Boras figured he would still get him a 10M signing bonus. He is then offered 3.8 and turns it down. Pittsburgh now get the ninth pick in 2013, regardless where they finish, Appel goes back to school, hoping he doesn’t get injured. Chances improve that he goes even lower in the draft in 2013, because teams aren’t going to be held hostage by outrageous demands. That is the purpose of the new CBA. Teams have greater control over whom they draft. Players and agents don’t like it, but that is the new game in town.
Appel has screwed himself more than he’s screwed the Pirates.
Sure the Pirates are ‘only’ getting the #9 pick next year, but now Appel has risked $3.8m just in hopes of getting a little bit more. But seriously, now Appel has delayed himself from entering the bigs, he’s delayed himself of reaching arbitration, he’s delayed himself of free agency.
So really, who got screwed from not signing the Pirates?
Yeah, it’s not like going back to school is going to completely ruin him and make him go undrafted. If anything, he’ll stay the same, if not get better. College pitchers usually are in high demand and someone like him will probably still go in the top 10.
Or he could get hurt and kick himself for his whole life for not taking 3.8 million dollars!
Except that Appel got rocked at the end of the season. Scouts reported that he is a completely different pitcher out of the stretch, and were worried that as he transitioned to pro ball and had to pitch out of the stretch more often that he would not be an effective pitcher. So, there is a chance that he figures that out. There is also a chance that he doesn’t, and other teams start to do things (bunt more often, take more pitches) to get on base and force him into the stretch, making him look bad. There is also the chance that he gets hurt.
It is just as likely that he will go lower than #8 rather than higher than #8, just based on the randomness of collegiate baseball and the past history of first round picks who didn’t sign.
Okay. Let’s say in 2013 he goes #1.
Let’s say I offer him $3m in signing bonus. Appel doesn’t like it. He wants more, but the team says, ‘$3m or no deal’; otherwise, we’ll take the #2 overall pick next year in a stronger draft class.
Then what for Appel?
– Can’t go back to school.
– Can’t sign as an international free agent as he is from America.
– he could play in an independent league for $50,000 a year
– he could play in another country like Japan
– he could try pulling off a James Paxton move
But seriously, if the next team to draft him plays hardball, Appel has little leverage.
You claim, “college pitchers usually are in high demand”, but that applies more to college juniors rather than college seniors… … …
In addition, how long would that team retain his signing rights? How long before he would be declared a free agent? I’m not sure of the answers to that, especially when mention has been made that the July 13 deadline didn’t apply to college seniors.
I do enjoy how some writers and agents think that fans are suppose to feel sorry for draftees that turn down more money then most of us will see in our lifetimes. I don’t care that they’ll spend their first few years being a bargain for their respective teams if they are even a average player they’ll end up making around 20-30 million by the time their career is over.
Personally I think if a top 10 pick that was a college player doesn’t sign, the team that drafted him should be allowed to retain their rights to him by giving up their first round pick regardless of where they are drafting and only be slotted for a max of 1 million less then the slot that he was drafted at.
Its not like they are being offered a couple grand and a roster slot with the class A team. This is likely change your life money.
Just sickens me when draftees that have done nothing in the sport professionally think they are worth more then solid major league talent.
Appel chose poorly. He would never have picked the right cup unlike Indy. Boras as an agent was the worst mistake a kid could make these days with the new system. This kids stock will drop and deservedly so. Shows immaturity and greed along with being not to intelligent (see Boras again), surprising for a Stanford guy.
What are the chances this guy gets picked higher than 8!?!? Not very good i would say. 3.8 mil and no thanks? incredible
Consider that Appel has risked a guarantee of $3.8m.
But what about the consequences:
– Appel has delayed himself from entering the bigs,
– he has delayed himself of reaching arbitration,
– he’s delayed himself of free agency
Yet Appel is exposed to risk of injury, which could
potentially damage his stock. Not only to mention, players are still PAID a
salary while developing in the minor leagues.
Conversely, the Pirates are ‘only’ getting the #9 pick
next year.
So really, who got screwed for not signing the Pirates?
Just a side note:
I think this slotting system is a ‘good’ step but needs some refining in its process before it is effective.
Appel is just acting absurdly. Rejecting a $3.8m deal? K’mon, he just
delayed himself from reaching the bigs, and ultimately delayed himself
from free-agency. That’s the real money. Even free agent middle-relief
pitchers are paid $5m! Slowing himself from the bigs was just really
foolish, especially considering the risk involved.
So one suggestion I would make is to have less spread within the slow values.
#1 slot value – $7.2m
#2 slot value – $6.2m
#3 slot value – $5.2m
#4 slot value – $4.2m
…
#9 slot value – $2.8m
…
#30 slot value – $1.6m
The spread is just too great. Lower the value of the first few
selections. That will make the slot values were closer together, and
there would be less incentive for guys like Appel to snub the Pirates in
hopes of getting draft higher.
However, I think MLB needs a much tougher spending limit on the free
agent market. That will do wayyy more to help small market teams. One
method I have thought of before is to limit the amount by which a
payroll can increase.
In other words:
– the lower payroll teams will be given much freedom to increase their payroll.
– the higher payroll teams will be given strict limits on how much they can increase their payroll for the next year
And high payroll teams would be defined as $100m or more.
that wouldn’t get approved by the players, would limit their ability to get long term deals because the teams couldn’t back load it ( it would violate your suggested payroll escalation rules ) i think the true solution to this is for the small revenue teams to either learn to win with less money ( which they have ) or be disbanded… hand cuffing a team just because it has more money and a larger market would hurt the financial health of the league as a whole
The simplest solution is to evenly disperse the money of tv/radio contracts. You don’t really hear about this in the NFL because they have a national contract that pays every team insane amounts of money, along with the cap of course. If the Yankees had the Pirates TV deal and vise versa the Pirates would have a great team and the Yankees would be filled with bargain free agents and draft picks.
The MLBPA is not going to allow contraction of teams any more then its going to allow limits to be placed on salary.
Put the teams closer to even ground, and put restrictions on how the money is dispersed (IE if you have a 20 million payroll you don’t get much if anything) What isn’t used put into player pensions for those that came before the salary boom.
Not a simple solution when YES network and NESN is part of the ownership group of both the NYY and Boston, they figure those profits into what the teams are worth, as well into any future sale price and not into splitting TV revenue with say the..Astros, A’s, even larger market teams that do not have lucrative deals like those 2 teams, as in the Mets.
Not going to work.. NFL doesn’t have individual teams with huge ownership stakes tied in, as well as viewership.
Can’t compare to the NFL model because in that model, every team is part of the national TV contract and teams don’t really have a local contract. In MLB, the national contract is generally secondary to the local contract. The only way that you can do that model is:
1) For MLB to claim the broadcast rights to all games,
2) Have local broadcast networks would negotiate with MLB for broadcast rights and pay rights fees to MLB,
3) Have MLB then distribute *all* of those collected broadcast rights fees equally to all teams.
This, of course, is so unlikely to happen you can almost say never. The Yankees, who make billions of dollars from their local broadcast rights, would never agree to this and would probably sue MLB if they tried to annex those rights unilateraly.
I remember back in the day that the tv broadcasters would say that this broadcast cannot be rebroadcast without the express permission of Major League Baseball. Now, they say that it cannot be rebroadcast without the express permission of the Baltimore Orioles (insert your team as appropriate here).
Wonderful. Major league baseball with only 16 teams, just like 1958.
Every major professional sport played in the United States has a salary cap of some sort except for MLB. The “true solution” is to implement a salary cap and floor ($150MM/$60MM) and force teams not willing to pay the minimum payroll to give up some of their national TV money.
Try getting the MLBPA to settle for a salary floor of just 60m and a ceiling of 150m.
soft ceiling before penalties kick in now is 189m. Why would the union allow the cap to go lower and some teams continue to pay paltry sums, as they already are at only 60m? League would be stronger with 2-4 teams less, paying a minimum 100m floor with less jobs and pretty sure even the MLBPA realizes that.
MLBPA would never go for contraction of 2-4 teams, as that’s 50-100 MLB jobs plus the corresponding loss of jobs for 5-7 minor league affiliates per team. The $60MM and $150MM figures were just sort of thrown out there. I know that a few teams are under $60MM (teams like San Diego and Miami before the spending spree come to mind), and a few teams are above the $150MM mark. I don’t mind squeezing from either end, but I wonder if the Padres or A’s could survive with a $100MM minimum payroll. Maybe $75 or $80 million might even be a stretch. I just don’t want to force owners to have to sell because they can’t afford to have a $100 million payroll. I also don’t want to force a team like the Rays to move from Tampa just because the local area will not buy enough tickets to support that payroll either. It’s a complicated question, for sure, and I totally agree that the league needs a cap and a floor, they need to do something about equitable distribution of television revenue, and they need to do something about the lack of a DH in the NL.
I honestly think the Union would settle for less jobs overall at higher wages and also? The DH is here to stay, even though the DH isn’t as highly paid as they once were, they still are veterans making more money than rookies, or utility people. look around the AL and see who the DH’s are, if anything and if a floor/ceiling cap was somehow brought into place? I could easily the DH mandated into the NL as part of the bargain by the MLBPA also.
At least 2 teams gone, probably 4.
I understand 1st hand about the Tampa franchise woes also and they are all self inflicted. i live near Tampa (Lakeland) the stadium is in a bad location to draw from anywhere, difficult to get from, poor for baseball and one of the worst playing fields in the game to boot.
making matters worse? The Rays signed this horrid lease with St. pete through like the year 2025 and the city will not let them break it, except on their terms.. New plans have been limited to barely better locales than where the old stadium sits because of that.. A huge waste of tax payer money that will do no good, just like that boon doggle that sits in Miami freshly built.
Unless Tampa builds that new stadium (should they) on the eastern side of the city.. Where they can actually draw from more than the city of Tampa and St. pete.. Like central FL and orlando.. They are doomed.
People just look at miles and think it is “only 60 miles” from Tampa to orlando, but they ignore how bad downtown tampa traffic is and especially that 2 and a half mile bridge to St.Pete that must be crossed to get there to a game.
The Rays have a choice.. Build a new stadium in a workable locale or eventually move. They know it.. Until then? They will never draw more than 15k for non NYY and Boston games.
I disagree. I think the union would rather have the jobs. Oh, and not sure if I was clear, but I want the DH in both leagues. I also believe in a 156-game schedule where every Monday is an off day and every other Sunday is a doubleheader, and the elimination of the save as an official statistic.
I am honestly surprised that the MLBPA ever agreed to any penalty at all on teams that spent, without agreeing to have teams spend more.
there are just flat out some teams that are never, ever going to spend. The league can promise until their collective faces turn blue about a new stadium fixing their ills, but the fact that Oakland and San Diego have have not drawn, even when they win is proof enough for me. Each promise a new rainbow just over the horizon and neither deliver anything, except empty promises and blame someone else.
Harsh words? Perhaps. San Jose technically belongs to SFG now.. Maybe it didn’t at one time, but that is history and San Diego has drawn 2m what?? 2 times in 40 years?
TBH I really don’t get the whole point of this new MLB draft. With allotments, etc. The same problem still resides in that many teams are drafting for best available SIGN-ABLE player instead of BPA. Only way to fix the MLB draft is to have prospects declare for the draft. Similar to how the NBA/NFL do it. Then have the current slotting be home much they will earn. Meaning if one is drafted 1st he will get 7.2 mill and if drafted second 6.2 and so on. This way if they declare then they will be locked into the draft and could not get out of it. Of course there would be something in place that would protect players who may have made a mistake. This could be something along the lines if they are drafted outside of the top 10 rounds they have the opportunity to return to college or go to college depending if the drafted player was a HS/College prospect. This to me is the only logical choice to give the worst teams the opportunity to draft BPA and hopefully this will give a much more even playing field.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I just had to rant for a little bit.
In business, you don’t put a cap on R&D investment. In effect, that’s what this new system is doing.
As I understand it, the rationale for this move was to prevent large market teams from offering huge bonuses to “unsignable” lower round picks with college commitments, thus getting them to sign.
What that has to do with putting caps on 1st rounders is beyond my pay grade apparently.