Draft Deadline Not Really a Deadline for College Juniors?

by aCone419 on Aug 6, 2009 1:21 PM EDT Comment 32 comments

MLB and the MLB Players Association reached an agreement that the deadline won’t apply to any player who is: 1) drafted after his junior year of college; 2) doesn’t sign with the team that selected him before the deadline; 3) signs a professional contact with a non-MLB-affiliated team after he has been drafted; and 4) doesn’t play college baseball again between the two drafts.

The chances of Strasburg signing by Aug. 17th just went down significantly (EDIT: Or maybe not; he may be considered in, not after, his junior year at the time of the draft. If so, ignore my comments).

Frankly, I find this obnoxious. I was annoyed that draft-and-follows were done away with, but I understood the rationale the desire to get rid of all the protracted holdouts. But now, we are liable to see the return of Hochevar/Weaver/Scherzer-style antics, but draft-and-follows are still prohibited.

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I don't see the significance?

For the following reasons:

-I assume this agreement was recently made because of Crow and Scheppers.

-The deadline is meaningless and only delays negotiations.

- College juniors are drafted before during their junior year of college, not after.

- Holding out and re-entering simply so the player can negotiate without the deadline is pointless.

- The only way Strasburg doesn’t sign is if Boras thinks that he can get him declared a Free Agent. There’s no way he advises him to re-enter next year. It simply wouldn’t benefit Strasburg at all. He’d be a year older; he’d have less leverage; he cannot improve his draft position; and he’d have missed out on a year’s worth of salary.

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 1:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How on earth would Strasburg be declared a free agent?

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Somewhere out on the highway tonight, the drunken engines roar
It's just one of those things, one of those things
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In memory of Nick Adenhart and all victims of drunk driving

by PaulThomas on Aug 6, 2009 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

It’s incredibly unlikely, but that will be what Boras is after. He nearly got Alvarez awarded Free Agency, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a new chip to play this year. I think that that is why the Japanese offer has been pushed so heavily (it won’t happen, but the theory would be for him to establish residence, get citizenship and be declared an IFA).

I am very confident that Strasburg signs with the Nationals.

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

As far as I know

Japan doesn’t just hand out citizenship.

I’m sure there’s somewhere that’ll sell him a passport though.

by Fanon on Aug 6, 2009 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

MLB

Even if Strasburg does try the international route I am pretty sure MLB has to declare him a FA due to his circumstance (currently an American citizen.) Selig would never allow this to happen. If Stras does not sign with Washington he will be in the 2010 June draft.

by bl on Aug 6, 2009 7:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

I completely agree that it won’t happen, but that is the only reason why, at least to me, that there is any talk about him signing with Japan. I know that its difficult to be awarded citizenship and that Selig would willingly use his clause to block him. My guess is that if it ever went that far, Boras would take Selig to court.

This is all speculation that is incredibly remote and I’m not trying to say that this is a likely scenario. I think he signs with Washington.

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If he could get citizenship elsewhere, my guess is they wouldn't have much legal leeway

But it’s extremely unlikely. It seems kind of risky to give up your American passport to become a citizen of Vanuatu.

by Fanon on Aug 6, 2009 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Belize is easy as hell, and you can keep your citizenship

You just need to put $50,000 in a Belizian bank account and purchase property (which is very cheap). It was supposed to be an enticement for people to retire in Belize, but instead it’s mostly ended up being a way for people to quickly and easily re-establish citizenship or get second citizenship.

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by Brickhaus on Aug 7, 2009 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

See, problem solved

$60,000 loan from Boras, problem solved.

by Fanon on Aug 7, 2009 6:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thing is

I don’t think the US lets you naturalize into a duel citizen.

by Fanon on Aug 7, 2009 6:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If he wants to be a Japanese citizen, he's gotta live there for 5 years beforehand...

Plus it takes up to a year for the application for citizenship to be approved. So he’d be a IFA in 2014/2015 at the earliest.

The criteria for naturalization are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:

Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more
At least 20 years old and otherwise legally competent
History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior
Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself
Stateless or willing to renounce foreign citizenship

by slickterp on Aug 6, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

College juniors are drafted before during their junior year of college, not after.

Really? I know my school year ended in May, thus a June draft was after my junior year

Regardless, you may be right.

by aCone419 on Aug 6, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m pretty sure that they are still considered juniors despite technically finishing junior year, and the CWS is still being played at the time of the draft.

If this were actually saying college juniors weren’t subject to a deadline, there’d be much more news on the story.

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, you may be right and I have misinterpreted it. Callis could have worded that more clearly, though, if that’s the case.

by aCone419 on Aug 6, 2009 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mis-read

I mis-read it at first as well. The key in his paragraph is the “and” right before the number 4. The player has to have already met the four criteria to not require the deadline. Meaning, they were drafted as juniors, didn’t sign, didn’t go back to school, and instead played indy ball

by ofsticksandbats on Aug 7, 2009 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So in theory

If this rule were in effect last year, then both Crow and Scheppers would have been allowed to be signed up until the this year’s draft?

The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.

by mckeeno on Aug 6, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No

The deadline would still apply to them as they would have been juniors when they were drafted. All this ruling does is say that players who go the Indy route are treated like college seniors (unless I’m misinterpreting it).

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Indy route

Didn’t both Crow & Scheppers play indy ball? They seem to fit all of the qulifications.

The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.

by mckeeno on Aug 6, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They did this Year

Your hypothetical was what impact would this have had if it was in place last year. Last year, Crow and Scheppers were college juniors. This rule does affects Crow and Scheppers this year.

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gotcha

So if you’re drafted as a junior, don’t sign and play indy ball, you’re just treated as a college senior.

The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.

by mckeeno on Aug 6, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes

by jar75 on Aug 6, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Clarifications seem to indicate

that the rule does not apply to the main class of players drafted this year, but rather to players who chose to sign indy professional contracts rather than playing their senior seasons in college.

Alex White, Grant Green, etc etc still have to sign by August 17 or they will go back into the draft pool (and give their teams a compensatory pick next year).

by PaulThomas on Aug 6, 2009 4:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

well this sucks

crow is being a dumbass at this point. he needs to sign and get into playing. kc apparently wanted him to get 50 innings + AFL innings this year so he’d be ready for a 120-140 IP workload next year…or about a full season of minor leagues.

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Aug 6, 2009 4:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah

It would be a shame if he lost essentially 2 years of development time.

by jibs on Aug 6, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

and even worse

He’s cost himself SOOOOOOO much money. If he had signed with the Nationals last year, he’d probably already be in the major leagues and the way to making the REALLY big money. As it is the Royals will probably make him spend at least one full year in the minors . . .so basically he’s not just cost himself some money with the signing bonus, but he’s cost himself at least two seasons of major league money. Whoops.

You’d think he would have learned from Jered Weaver’s experience. The particulars of signing bonuses mean very, very little compared to the accumulation of major league service time.

by mrkupe on Aug 6, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

However

the bonus is the one thing that’s guaranteed, theirs no matter what. Yes, all of these guys would like to think they’re going to make the major leagues, but what happens if the guy blows out his arm in AA? Or, alternatively, he makes it to the majors but turns into a AAAA player, never makes much more than the league minimum? That’s why these players want the big signing bonus — yeah, accumulating MLB service time is nice, but you have to make it to the majors first, and that’s no guarantee even for the best draft prospects.

by Tom (RFTN) on Aug 7, 2009 3:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds like this:

You play 3 years in college (or attend college for 3 years), don’t sign by deadline, play Indy instead of returning to school for you senior season.

Pretty straightforward. Basically it extends the deadline for bigtime front of the draft picks so you avoid re-entries in general. This way teams have up to the next draft to sign these type of players. I don’t think it will end up applying to too many guys, b/c someone is going to try and push it using this rule, and it will backfire.

by slickterp on Aug 6, 2009 8:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Gonna explain this as I read it for the folks who seem still confused.

This applies to players FOUR years after they start college. If drafted your Junior year the deadline still applies, but if you choose to play indy ball rather then return to college then you will not have a deadline for what would be your senior season.

This applies to 2-3 players at most each year, and in reality, those players have already given up a year of major league money, so we would expect them to be highly motivated to get signed fast.

by ADLC on Aug 6, 2009 9:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm trying to understand what are the benift(s) to the teams vrs. what are the benifits for the players

team- has less chance of NOT signing a hi pick.

The team now has a “year” of “I can sit back and wait out your hi-bonus demands” leverage where before they had 2 months, thus the player signs for less.

What was the soonest the player could play if he didn’t sign before this change and what was his best options for leverage to gain more money? now what are the players other options for leverage if he doesn’t want to sign?

Was it’ also in the best interest of the players to sign a contract asap and start playing?
otherwise why give up the deadline if you were the players?

"Gratuitous gesticulating together sounds even better"

by OmahaHi on Aug 7, 2009 7:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

see, this is why it's confusing...

“This applies to players FOUR years after they start college”

as written at the top of the post, it states “drafted after his junior year of college”. This means after you are in school for 3 years, not 4. After your third season you might be in school for 4 years (not sure how often basbeall players get red-shirted, if at all), but would thatbe your junior year? No, it would be your third season. You can be a Junior and only have 2 years of ball played. That’s where it is confusing I suppose.

by slickterp on Aug 7, 2009 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry you don't understand

It applies to players drafted originally after thier junior year, but not until the FOLLOWING year. The second time they are drafted, assuming they don’t go back to college, they won’t have a deadline.

If they do return to school then its moot.

by ADLC on Aug 7, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs