The majority of the problem is that most of the overseas players you’re referring to (the Daisukes and some of the other Japanese players, as well as some of the Cubans [Aroldis Chapman on the mind?]) have been guys that have been playing professionally in other leagues for years themselves. To subject a player such as Matsuzaka or a Yu Darvish type to a draft and slotting system would make them a lot less likely to come over to MLB and more likely to stay in Japan (at least for the Japanese league players) because they’re going to be able to demand a higher salary in Japan.

There wouldn’t be nearly as much of an incentive for Japanese players to head to the U.S. There wouldn’t be any incentive for a Japanese club to let their players out of their contracts (to come to America) without the posting fees as well. For example, when the Red Sox signed Matsuzaka, you have to remember that they paid the Sebu Lions $52 million to win the exclusive negotiating rights. Even in smaller cases (Rays won the bidding to negotiate with Akinori Iwamura for $4.55 million) that’s a lot of money that you’re asking the Japanese teams to give up if a guy like Iwamura or Matsuzaka were made available for the MLB draft.

As for Dominicans/Venezuelans/etc., I simply don’t think that it’s quite as logistically feasible scouting-wise as it sounds. Pretty much every club has at least some type of scouting department (and baseball academies) in the Carribean and South America, though we’re generally not talking about players who have graduated from high school (often signed at 16), nor are we talking about figures nearly as exorbitant as the Japanese/Cuban players (players who have been playing professionally for years). In fact, most of the Latin American players that are signed are signed for less than a first round draft pick would sign for.

Mainly, though, what I got out of your post was that you were referring to players who have played professionally in other leagues. Again, my concern would just be that I wouldn’t possibly see how a player would want to leave Japan (where he was making the equivalent of $5+ million American or more) to come to the U.S. and be subjected to the slotting system.