The MLB and MLBPA appear miles apart in terms of common ground for a new collective bargaining agreement. Pre-arbitration pay, service time manipulation and the competitive-balance-tax are sticking points for both sides; a vast chasm separating the two parties. One area where there does appear to be some likeminded thinking is using the MLB Draft as a reformation tool in anti-tanking efforts. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single soul in the game who doesn’t think some owners and front offices are purposefully running out less-than-stellar lineups to save money, and to a lesser degree, stockpile draft capital.
““We need to find ways to incentivize and pressure these owners to spend their money. We need to eliminate the perpetual positive PR spin in September and October that ‘oh but at least we have a top pick’ we’ll sell to the fans. That’s weak.””
Both the owners and players have provided their thoughts on how the draft can be changed to help repress owners from tanking. In January, MLB offered to institute a draft lottery where the three-worst teams in baseball would each have a shot at the no. 1 overall pick from a weighted, random draw. In that CBA offer, no team would be eligible to participate in the lottery for three consecutive seasons. This would guarantee no one team could pick inside the Top 3 three years in a row.
This wasn’t good enough for the MLBPA. The players argued a three-team lottery wasn’t broad enough. They believe an eight-team lottery was more fitting. The players contend the idea of keeping a team out of the Top 8 picks three years in a row may do more for spending. After all, having one of the worst records in baseball and being promised, at best, the no. 9 overall pick in the draft is a sizeable penalty, relatively speaking.
I say “at best” because the players also want to fold market size into the process. They believe large market teams that actively elect not to spend money and fail to perform should slot into the draft order after small market teams. In their ideal structure, if the Phillies, for example, had one of the eight-worst records in baseball for a third year in a row, they shouldn’t be awarded the no. 9 overall pick, but instead should slot in somewhere in the middle of the first round, eligible to make their first selection after smaller market teams have made their picks. An interesting wrinkle indeed.
Draft lotteries are nothing new on the professional sports landscape. The NBA includes a 14-team lottery every year. That lottery selection show is broadcast on ESPN in a primetime TV slot each June. MLB owners without question recognize this and surely realize the revenue that could be had with a January lottery show on MLB Network or another major network.
Now let’s be clear on one thing. Baseball isn’t basketball. The MLB Draft isn’t the NBA Draft. Players don’t come in and make an immediate impact the year they’re drafted. But there is hype surrounding some of the biggest names in the amateur game. Players like Kumar Rocker in 2021 and Elijah Green in 2022 are, in baseball circles, household names. There would be intrigue for a lottery telecast. It wouldn’t match what the NBA has created, but there would certainly be opportunity for revenue.
Going back to competitive balance and anti-tanking measures, the players and their representation believe the public relations backlash surrounding an owner and front office unwilling to spend might be motivation enough in their 8-team lottery structure.
One prominent agent, who asked to remain anonymous during this lockout, believes the lottery may force a front office to spend or face a public reckoning from their fanbase.
“Can you imagine if Baltimore was in a position last year, or even this year now for that matter, where they couldn’t pick at the top of the draft,” he said. “That fanbase wouldn’t buy into the rebuild (stuff) any longer. Not without the promise of taking a star at the top. They’d pressure those guys to go into spend-now-mode.”
He went on.
“It’s not a perfect way to force these guys to spend, but it would help, no question,” he said. “We need to find ways to incentivize and pressure these owners to spend their money. We need to eliminate the perpetual positive PR spin in September and October that ‘oh but at least we have a top pick’ we’ll sell to the fans. That’s weak.”
The draft has already seen some substantial changes in the last couple of years. The event was shortened to five rounds in 2020 with the owners arguing COVID’s lack of profits made it more difficult to justify spending so much money in the amateur draft. The 2021 draft was then shortened to 20 rounds, largely due to the contracting of Minor League Baseball and the elimination of an entire level of baseball (Low-A). Owners argued there simply wasn’t enough organizational spots to justify the infusion of 40 (or more) new players.
Outside of the lottery, there are other factors being leveraged in CBA talks that directly impact the draft. Owners offered to eliminate attaching draft pick forfeitures when teams sign a player who has declined a qualifying offer. That should, in theory, go a long ways in making high-profile, qualified free agents more appealing to mid-market and small-market teams looking to take a step up the competitive ladder. After all, those small and mid-market teams rely more heavily on acquiring talent through the draft and grooming homegrown players.
Another piece of the MLBPA’s proposal would award competitive balance bonus picks to smaller-market teams that made the playoffs or finished above .500.
The skinny of these negotiations is simple: the MLBPA wants to push smaller-market teams to compete with more frequency. Incentivizing small-market teams to compete should help raise the salary floor at the bottom of the league with more middling free agents getting more opportunities, rather than being left out in the cold in favor of cheap, pre-arbitration guys.
While the subject hasn’t been brought up with the fervor of some of the topics listed above, the trading of draft picks is likely to come to the table as well during these negotiations at some point.
The financial issues are the top priority on both sides of the table in these CBA negotiations, but the MLB Draft has been made a priority by both parties. It’s a leverageable tool, especially for the MLBPA. That said, the owners should recognize the draft has been gaining public helium in recent years and could certainly be squeezed for more profits if they handle it correctly moving forward.