2011 Prospects/Draft

[luvtheteam]

Here's yesterdays prospect/draft chat at BA. A number of questions in the discussion about Jays.


http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 11422.html

[luvtheteam]

Here's another BA Q&A on the upcoming draft. Also a question here about the proposed slot bonus system:

Jason (KC): Hey Jim, I was wondering if you could shine some light on the issue of slot bonus as it pertains to the next CBA. I keep hearing that a hard slot system will go in to combat the rising costs of draft bonuses. However, I can't imagine the Player's Union being okay with this and small market teams have made use of this system to get talent that has dropped due to bonus demands. So who is advocating for this idea?

Jim Callis: MLB and the owners want this. Union leadership isn't excited about the idea of hard slotting, but the thinking is that the owners will make it worth the players' while (via higher minimum salaries, reduced/eliminated free-agent compensation, increased arbitration eligibility, better benefits or something else along these lines) to make it happen. I think MLB is unprepared for the unintended consequences, mainly that it will make it impossible for small-revenue teams to compete and it will also lead to a talent drain, especially in the short term, for baseball. It won't save that much money anyway, and MLB teams will just expend the savings somewhere else.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 11479.html