Morning Comment

by John Sickels on Sep 13, 2010 12:03 PM EDT

I am working on the Miller/Turner Smackdown for this afternoon, then the rookie ball thing for tomorrow or Wednesday. Some Double-A Transition Monitors will get in there too. I though the Heyward/Castro question would go down about 75% for Heyward and 25% for Castro. I voted for Heyward but I thought it might be a little closer. I guess not.

Someone also asked me about if high school kids who sign a "letter of intent" to a college are also breaking their word if they turn pro. I can understand why that would annoy college coaches and programs, but this strikes me as more of a grey area. It's a "letter of intent"...."I intend to attend Baseball State University unless a pro offer I like comes along." The coaches know that is how it is intended, although there could be some cases where the player makes a much stronger verbal commitment to the coach in person. In a case like that, it would bother me more. But I still don't think a player not following his letter of intent to college in order to go pro is quite the same as a player who says "If you draft me, I will sign for $2 million," to agree to that verbally and have the team think that is the case when they make the draft decision, but then say "oops, no I meant $4 million." Again, perhaps I am just naive.

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Have to agree with the College BB thought

If 2 people enter into an agreement and both sides completely understand that outside factors could cause the agreement to fall apart, then how is it “breaking your word” when those factors happen? The kid may not realize it as much until the $$ is on the table, buy yeah, the college coach knows it. Listen to any interview of a College Baseball coach immediately after the signings are announced. The coach knows that some of the kids in his elite class will go pro – there’s not a ? in his mind. He just hopes that he can cover the position of the clubs that do go.

by theatlfan on Sep 13, 2010 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

It It happens yes

All the time. But is right?

I'm trying a blog. It's about the Royals of course but more of a mechanical analysis type thing about players I see. Try it and let me know what you think! Scouting the Royals

by 306008 on Sep 13, 2010 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

It's fine

If you enter an agreement with someone to buy their car, but it’s repossessed before you purchase it are you still bond by your part of the contract? Both parties understand that certain circumstances will make the entire agreement null and void. These are simply terms and conditions of the original contract. One of the terms of the LOI is that the kid just can’t go to another school in the same NCAA classification, but he can do anything else with his life that he wants to.

BTW, if you don’t like the ethics from this side, the reverse side of this can be even more perilous. The LOI is only for 1 year and college baseball teams only have 13.5 (or something close to that) scholarships to award. The number of kids given a scholarship then having it revoked the next year in the sport is staggering. In no condition should you believe that the college baseball coach thinks he’ll be giving the kid a “free” degree. It’s a 1 year tryout – that is all…

by theatlfan on Sep 14, 2010 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh, Karsten

You silly boy.

by Sethy on Sep 13, 2010 2:34 PM EDT reply actions

A letter of intent is a legal contract

It’s an agreement with a school which trades exclusive control, by that school, over the player’s services as an amateur baseball player vis a vis other colleges within the NLOI system, for a scholarship for one year (renewable, but at the school’s discretion) of playing baseball. All subject to the guy getting admitted, enrolling, etc etc.

That’s all it is. It’s not a promise to play. It’s not a statement of loyalty. It’s a legally binding swap of rights. Those rights are fairly narrow and definitely do not include the right to sign a pro contract, which the player definitely retains.

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by PaulThomas on Sep 13, 2010 5:20 PM EDT reply actions

So you think that they should stay and play

and not sign? I missed it.

I'm trying a blog. It's about the Royals of course but more of a mechanical analysis type thing about players I see. Try it and let me know what you think! Scouting the Royals

by 306008 on Sep 13, 2010 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Perhaps that was overly legalese

Sorry.

Bottom line: A letter of intent is just a contract saying “I won’t play for any other college that accepts letters of intent, in return for which I get a scholarship.”

Players are free to sign pro contracts and there is no reason for them to feel ashamed or like they’re “breaking their word.” They didn’t “give their word,” at least not through the letter-of-intent process.

by PaulThomas on Sep 14, 2010 1:54 AM EDT up reply actions