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.
At this point, who cares about a draft if the major leaguers are are too butt hurt to play?
The major leagues players are locked out, not on strike, remember? The owners did the lock out so the players can’t leverage the post season in negotiations the same way they did in the 90’s. Better, and cheaper, to lose the front half of the season than the back half of the season
Aren’t we waiting on the union to make a counter offer, though? Last I heard they turned down the owners offer several days ago but still haven’t made a counter. They need to pick up the pace if they don’t want to miss more games.
They also need to keep in mind that 4 owners already thought the last offer was too lopsided in the players favor. Once that number gets to 7 or 8 owners the owners are going to have their hands tied. The league can’t agree or even make any offer if more than 7 owners disagree with it. I think the players are trying to come up with the best offer for them that exactly 23 owners are willing to tolerate. They probably figure if only 6 owners disagree with it there is room to change it to the point 7 owners will disagree. Then they will try and push those last 23 owners as far as they will go before they sign.
I’m thinking no regular season baseball until around May. I do think the work stoppage will hurt some teams that weren’t going to compete anyway. Teams like Baltimore, Arizona, Colorado, Pittsburgh and Washington might miss some fans who were previously willing to come watch them lose. I think the winning teams will be just fine, though. I doubt enough people are going to refuse to go to Dodgers, Giants or Braves games for it to really make a difference. Most fans are casual now and don’t care so much about the lockout as long as they believe there is a good chance they are going to watch their teams legitimately push for a world championship.
You have to feel bad for the Rangers. First they build a brand new stadium to bring in fans. Then COVID hits the first year it’s open so they can’t sell tickets during it’s inaugural season. Then they spend over half a billion dollars on star free agents to bring in fans. Then there is a work stoppage so no one gets to see their new stars until after that new shine has already worn off. With how polarizing the work stoppage has been some of the Rangers fans are probably already pissed off at their new acquisitions before they even play for not accepting the owners offers.
Pittsburgh isn’t missing any fans. Nobody goes to baseball games while school is in session, during hockey season, etc. Here, i’ll insert the joke now… nobody goes to Pirate games in the summer, either. Case and point… I drove to Buffalo to watch baseball last summer.
And i have nothing but crocodile tears for the poor Rangers.
Owners are the ones who are at fault here. They are the ones who instituted the lockout, did not even negotiate for 43 days after said lockout, and have failed to bargain in good faith. Owners Can Pound Sand!!
The players are the ones at fault here. It’s like saying the dad is at fault for taking away the car because the son has too many tickets and accidents.
The players went out on strike in 1981 and perverted the season so badly the teams with the two best records in the NL didn’t make the playoffs and a team with a sub 500 record in the AL did.
The players went out on strike in 1994 and the World Series was cancelled.
You’re treating this lockout as if it takes place in a vacuum. It doesn’t. We have a lockout know because of previous actions by the players. And every fair minded person knows it.
You’re so dramatic. I think the players have recently played a season under a previously expired CBA. The owners know they have made gains the past decade.
When? Please give me the data? Was it 2002? I Remember that when the final game was players the fans got so mad at the players they covered the field with debris and the players insulted the fans.
Halo11fan…are you even familiar with the “Black Sox Scandal” under which the 1919 World Series was thrown? This was due to the low pay and horrible conditions the owners provided for the players. These conditions existed until 1975 when the reserve clause was eliminated and free agency was granted. This is what the players continue to fight for. If you’re a real fan you would know and understand this history but appears you don’t know the history of the game or even care
Of course, I read the book. I remember when the minimum salary was under 20 thousand dollars in the late 70s. When major league players had to sell insurance in the off-season. I’ve read Ball Four countless times.
So what’s the point?
Is it when the owners have power they screw the players and when players have power they screw the game?
I’m all too familiar with people who have power often make choices with only their own self interests at heart.
Right is right, wrong is wrong and I don’t blame the owners one bit for shutting down baseball now so it’s not shutdown later. That has nothing to do with who is right or wrong in these negotiations.
2001. I thought it was sooner than that but time flies
The reason I remember it being 2002 was because for the first time in 15 years the Angels were playing really good baseball and looked like they had a real chance to make the playoffs.
After the pre deadline game was over, the Angel fans went crazy, and Scott Schoenweiss, the Angels player representative, insulted the fans.
The players only care about the players. The owners only care about the owners. and because it’s in their own self-interest to care about the product, they care about the product.
There are no good guys. There are no bad guys. Just a bunch of people looking out for their own self-interest. And when there are checks and balances, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that.
Halo11guy….My point is the owners are 100% to blame for this lockout and not the players who you’re pointing the fingers at to blame. Players are tying to maintain their gains and they’ve never forced the owners to pay them the salaries they’ve been paid.
And my point is because of prior actions by the Players Union they are not responsible for this lockout.
Once the season starts, players don’t bargain in good faith, the have all the leverage and they use it.
This is as close to good faith bargaining and having a fair season as you are going to get.
I 100 percent support the work stoppage now rather than later.
@Hallo11 makes a good point. The owners have imposed the lockout because nothing would be worse for the sport than the players going on strike before the playoffs. The players have already shown they will do it because they have done it before. Someone asked one of the chat hosts on MLBTR chats why they don’t make a deal where the lockout is lifted and the players agree to not go in strike. The host said the players would never agree to that because they want the strike as leverage. They want the strike as leverage. They have used that leverage before. The strike would be the worst thing for baseball. That pretty much sums up why the lockout is necessary.
In total agreement with you tigerdoc! Plus our owner turned out to be a cheapskate so we’re doubly screwed here in Motown
Yeah why even bother at this point? Canceled season. Smh
I have complained about the uselesnes of the buscones multiple times here and how they need to be erased. Far past time to bypass them and get an IFA draft and putting them out of work by any means as the leeches they are.
The draft does not bypass them. They will still be out there scouting for the “trainers”. The trainers have backing from MLB in DR.
The websites have to be more careful because now they know that the MLB proposals they trash for MLBPA will be agreeable to MLBPA a few days later.
It’s a well thought out plan.
This only might- might work if the slots are guaranteed for the players selected.
Slots will be guaranteed.
Just so no to the ID.
As someone who hopes to see a full-year lockout, I hope the MLBPA does exactly that. But now that the players are learning that the MLBPA Clown Show has consequences I don’t think it will be too long before the International Draft is completely acceptable.
I have always favored an international draft. It always bothered me that international players were essentially free agents but our home grown talent had to go where they were taken. I would prefer it to be part of the normal amateur draft and require the international players to be at least 18, not 16. But otherwise this proposal could be worse. I like that it is not tied to record and they will rotate through the top picks. The bonuses though should be similar to the regular amateur draft, with recommended slot values and a bonus pool for each team. Not going to end buscones though, but may change their role a bit. They will still seek out talent and look to develop it and make sure MLB clubs see their players in order to get them drafted higher. And they will still do all of this for a cut of whatever the kid signs.
I would take the opposite view. Take away the draft all together. Allow the players to have the same freedom to work where they want just as the rest of the working public.
100%
A nice thought, but an unconstrained labor market would lead to two places where the league definitely does not want to go. First, it would increase the cost of drafted prospects substantially, and second it would even further expose baseball’s broken revenue model as the wealthy teams scooped up most of the top prospects.
It seems highly unlikely that a free-for-all of that kind would ever be agreed to. But if they did, you can be sure it would be attached to a payroll cap – probably along with more revenue-sharing. It would have to.
Agree with TigerDoc for the most part. Joe- the essential problem with allowing the players to sign with “anyone they want” means the Yankees and Dodgers will have unfettered ability to buy everyone. A comprehensive draft makes the most competitive balance sense. I would opine that one amateur draft would be best, offering intriguing decisions throughout the first few rounds. Does your team go with the flashy 16yo phenom or the proven NCAA starter? However constructed along these announced guidelines, a fair International Draft makes the most sense for all parties involved.
Good luck fielding a team in Milwaukee or Kansas City then. And good luck drawing fans to those places. Drafts exist for a reason and it’s not an accident that every American pro sport has one.
Don’t fool yourself, the drafts exist to restrain the cost of labor in pro sports. In baseball at least it’s also used as a cover story for competitive balance, an issue the team owners don’t much care about nearly as much as they say they do.
If done right, it can do both and still help the prospects that are actual prospects.
@blueskies bro what
How long do you think there would be 30 teams if all the best players were allowed to sign with the big market teams? That wouldn’t be good for teams Or players. That’s why you never hear the union talk about it.
Expanding on my initial short comment, I understand your view. It’s reasonable, but I still have significant issues with an international draft. What follows addresses a few of the comments below by other posters.
1) Let’s start with the premise that the international draft has nothing to do with the betterment of the lives of young men in Latin America. It’s simply about saving money for the billionaire owners who have shut down the sport at the moment.
2) The establishment of the first-year player draft, or the North American amateur draft, had a significant and damaging cultural impact on the game’s relevance. It was at that point teams began to direct resources toward Latin America (a good thing) and at that point they stopped focusing on the Black athletes in America’s inner cities. The Negro Leagues began to lose relevance with Jackie Robinson’s arrival in the Majors in 1947, although they continued on into the early 1960s. The end of the Negro Leagues in the early 60s, coupled with the establishment of the amateur draft in the mid-60s, began to slowly undercut Black participation in the game, and thus MLB’s cultural impact. Today, a high percentage of America’s best Black athletes play other sports, or in most cases never picked up a bat and ball to play the game and aren’t professional athletes in any sport. Yes, there is likely a would-be HOFer out there right now who never has played the game and is stuck in a dead-end job, or no job at all.
3) The same thing happened when MLB subsumed Puerto Rico in the MLB’ North American amateur draft. The amount of players signed out of Puerto Rico decreased, participation in the game decreased.
4) So now here we are again. MLB is going to undercut participation in baseball in Latin America by creating a new version of the draft.
5) Many people have a myopic, westernized version of the world outside of the U.S.. The idea that because kids here have to graduate high school at 18 before they can be drafted by MLB, or go on to continue playing baseball at top universities is not something transferable to places throughout Latin America. Where are these kids going to go at 16 now? Do you think the lords of MLB have figured out the social conditions of countries throughout the world? Ha! The buscones aren’t going away. Ken Kendrick and Bob Castellini won’t be solving the issues of poor kids in Latin America. They don’t care about them at all. They care about their bank accounts.
6) So what I like to see? I understand why fans don’t like that kids in Latin America seemingly have more choice in being drafted than kids in North America, although I don’t think “choice” is the correct word when looking at the existing system. What I’d rather see is a form of the international signing REPLACE the North American amateur draft. No team should be given an advantage. Every team should have a set and same amount of money to sign talent. Maybe set up two drafts, one North American and one Latin American if they don’t want to mix them. For example, this upcoming draft, some team may decide to blow it’s cash on the top prospect Druw Jones. Another team, like the Rays, might decide to spread its money around to a bunch of other prospects. Let intelligence rule. Let a smart game-plan rule. No team can buy all the stars, and by limiting the total spend, any team can outbid another team if they want. I’d rather seem competence be the determining factor.
7) So set and same money for all teams. No extra picks based on market size. All unnecessary. And let teams trade picks. Make it fun.
Apologies on the long response. I much preferred my simple: Just say no to the international draft.
A comment on Puerto Rico. First it was the only part of U.S. that wan’t included in the draft, because it had its own organized professional baseball league. But Puerto Rico pro ball has been in free-fall decline for a long time. Some argue it’s a result of being included in the draft, but the problems with the game on the island go deeper than that. The level of interest is practically nonexistent.
Thanks for the info. I know enough to be dangerous but not enough to dispute!
4. I’m not sure how it undercuts participation. I think players will be given a longer period of time to show off their skills.
1. Players lives are clearly made better since they grow up in impoverished areas. The one thing the draft will do is give every player a shot. Teams have money allocated each year and deals are agreed at ages 13,14 and 15. Late bloomers tend to get shafted.
Once a player has an agreed to signing bonus they are pretty much removed from the scouting scene. Lots of growth (positive and negative) can happen between the agreed upon date and signing date. The draft keeps all players active and in the loop for longer periods of time. I think that’s a good thing for all involved.
2. The decline of baseball can be contributed to many societal factors. The loss of jobs in cities and the decline of many inner cities could is a significant reason. I’m not sure how things were in the 60s but I can say growing up kids were more skilled at sports depending on where they lived. Hockey players were bred in the northern states. Baseball dominates the Dominican because that’s all they do. Basketball always dominated the inner cities. Things became more regionalized. There are always exceptions.
5. The education system in the DR is structured differently than the US. For some of these kids it’s baseball or bust. Many kids in our inner cities it’s basketball or bust. Unfortunately that is the way it is in some areas. That doesn’t make it right but it’s todays reality.
The same kids are going to sign with clubs. They will still play in DSL and some will eventually make it stateside. This is not going to change.
6. The Latin American kids will have less choice but they will also be guaranteed their slot money. Baseball is the only sport that kids have a choice. NFL and NBa go to the teams they are selected by. With the MLB kids have the bargaining power to go to college or sign after their JUnior season.
The new draft system doesn’t favor any one team. If a player refuses to sign with KC at pick one because he wants to play with the Yankees at pick 12 could cost him millions of dollars in signing bonus. This will not happen. The new system will prevent teams like the Yankees from signing three of the last five consensus number one international prospect. (Dominguez, Arias and Mayea). A draft that rotates each year helps to spread around this talent. That is a good thing.
Can’t wait! This has been badly needed for competitive balance.
There’s no evidence to support your statement.
Teams who want to do well with international signings do well, teams who ignore it don’t. It’s as simple as that. The Orioles for years were the worst offender, refusing to even sign international players. Why do some fans support the Orioles failure while trying to restrict the well-run teams? I’m asking this question seriously.
Teams and their fans who favor an international draft simply don’t want to compete on an even playing field but instead want to rig the system in their favor by handicapping the competition who are better run and are trying to win.
MLB shouldn’t be drafting 16 year olds. There is something seriously wrong with this system.
They’re already signing them.
Yes and no. American teams signing foreign youth should be required to provide education sufficient to allow players to pass the highest level of education customary in their country. Most international signees will never play in the Majors and it is proper that they should be trained to become proper citizens in their country.
Some guys do not come over to the states until they are 18 anyway. Most play their first year or two in the DSL before coming over. Top prospects are the exception.
Please cancel the entire season and shove it in the players’ selfish, ungrateful, greedy faces.
Calm down, Mr. Cohen.
Cohen just spent a boatload of money. i think he has interest in having a season.
Let’s have an international draft. Let the the owners significantly reduce the number of minor league teams. Drastically increase the bonus pool, so the minor league players who have a chance at a career have an excellent head start. Increase salaries.
The 20s is an incredible thing to waste and the vast majority of minor league players throw away a large part of their 20s. Doing all the above helps kids start a life and allows the players that have a chance at a career to get paid like professionals.
Maybe more of these kids will go to college and have a fallback option.
Not happening.
As corrupt as the buscone system is, an international draft WILL hurt overall talent of the international player pool.
Agreed, seems like a lot of people don’t understand that the Buscones provide a place for these kids to showcase their talents and many of them help the Kids Families too. Is the MLB going to “Spend” the Money for places for these kids to play and develop after reducing Minor League Teams?
If this is left up to the teams, how are the Small Market Teams going to be able to afford to do this?
I don’t think it’s as simple as it is made out to seem when you’re dealing with mostly poor kids from other Countries.
The MLB already has camps in the DR
Are the MLPA and MLB meeting this weekend? Haven’t been able to find their current schedule.
Charlie, which is great. The less manipulation of the press the better.
I believe I read their meeting tomorrow.
*they’re*.
Again, I don’t know how this myth got started and continues to be spread (probably because it conveniently makes the tanking problem easy to solve) but the amateur draft order has very little to do with tanking. That’s not why teams do it. A top 3 pick is not that much better than an 8 or a 10 (this isn’t the NBA), and teams know that. Tanking exists for economic reasons: If you know you’re not good and are just waiting for the next round of kids to come along, it makes no sense to pay veterans a lot of money, and you can get good prospects by trading them. The draft is almost irrelevant.
There is typically a big difference between the 8th through 10th pick than 1 through 3.
Go to baseball reference.
CUNCEL DA SEASON!!! STAY STRONG FANS! BREAK THE UNION AND DESTROY THE OWNERS!
Idiotic, 69. -1.
L + ratio + touch grass + ur probably a cubs fan
Go Cubs Go then
L + ratio + touch turf + forced out + locked out + walked off + eliminated
I would rather have a true International League.
Auckland Kiwis
Buenos Aires Vampire Bats
Greece Golden Jackals
London Werewolves
Melbourne Pythons
Mexico City Diablos
Monterrey Skull Kings
Peru Howler Monkeys
São Paulo Dart Frogs
Seoul Shadow Beasts
Siberia Space Dogs
Tokyo Red Dragons
Vancouver Sharks
Zimbabwe Zebras
Another idiotic comment.
Humor challenged much?
No, theguyneedsanew schtick.
“It’s 2059 and the São Paulo Dart Frogs will once again face the Peru Howler Monkeys in this year’s World Series. It’s the 3rd time this decade that these two powerhouses will square-off for all the marbles and South America continues to dominated the sport – as they have since the early forties.”
*Lima Howler Monkeys smh fake fan
I’m not against any international draft but I’m totally against it in the next two cycles. Teams have already spent time and money on those classes and it wouldn’t be fair to the players that have grown within a teams academy.
After the 2023 class, have at it if it’s agreed on
There probably be some warning of at least one or two years before it’s implemented. Not that I believe it should be as I noted above.
If money was already “spent” then that’s on the club. This concept of an international draft did not just pop up. Teams knew this was going to happen.
Financials are usually “agreed to” at this stage but not officially “spent”.
The international players aren’t union members, although a small percentage of them will be one day. The MLBPA has shown they are willing to “bargain away” the rights of their non-union players. They’ll do it again here, it’s simply a question of when, but they’ve been selling too cheaply in the past. The owners desperately want an international draft as a way to save money, and thus make more money. The MLBPA shouldn’t just give it to them. The price should be high. History says the price will be low.
The MLB draft was allegedly instituted not that many years ago, to allow cheapskate teams have a chance to get top players without needing to put much money into scouting, which teams like the Yankees and a few others were doing.. It may or may not have resulted in more equality among the teams, but I doubt that this was the purpose.
Boras played a big part of this with JD Drew and the Phillies. The Slotting was soon implemented.