Well,the system that was supposed to level the playing field for the poor Yankees and Red Sox from those bullying Pittsburgh Pirates has bitten its first victim-the Pittsburgh Pirates as the Buccos were unable to sign Stanford pitcher Mark Appel by the signing deadline.The Pirates lose the money from the Appel slot and were unable to use that money to sign other players,so the gamble on Appel means that the draft this season looks less than strong.
Pittsburgh will gain the ninth overall pick in the first round of next years draft as compensation for not signing Appel.
The new system handicapped the Pirates as they could only so pay so much money or forfeit their 2013 number one pick.
Now,to be fair without the new system,Mark Appel would have never fallen to the Pirates,so it could be looked at as apples and oranges,but Appel might have been a Pirate without this system.
I am not against a slotting system,but this system as currently comprised is not effective.
The solution to everyone's problem?
To me,it is very simple-
Once you attend a college class,you are ineligible for the draft unless the player declares himself as draft eligible and then like football and basketball,you sign or you sit,no college return.
The agents might not be thrilled with my idea,but it would prevent teams from taking a college player and watching him go back to school.
This allows the player that is truly interested in playing pro ball to do so and the player that takes his ball and goes home because of a system that only allows so much money to be paid or does not like the team that picked him,to be rewarded for returning.
Everyone wins under this idea as the teams gets cost certainty,the player that wants to be a pro can be and high schoolers can still have some leverage in the draft.
The Pirates lost Mark Appel,but they might have been the team that changed the system as I think it is pretty likely that the system will be tweaked over the next few years as it is apparent that it does not work.
Appel is taking a huge gamble as perhaps he rises a bit,but he almost has to be the top pick in next years draft to make things really worthwhile to make sitting out a year palatable.
The loss to the system is strong as landing Appel might have made a trade for a bat right now more likely and not as painful to the franchises future,.
I still think the gamble was a worthwhile one,but Scott Boras (Appel's agent) just did wanted to draw a line in the sand and had every intention of holding Appel back from signing.
Things move on and the Pirates could be the motivation for change,I just wish that someone else would been the team to prove that this does not work.....
(Photo by Matthew C. Ersted / stanfordphoto.com)
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