New CBA Draft Changes May Affect the Nationals

If you haven't heard, MLB came to an agreement with the player's union that lasts until 2023. In that deal their was some changes to the draft, here is a detailed explanation:

For years, people in baseball—including Baseball America—had called for various ideas to tweak the draft. Such talks usually increased as the renewal of a labor deal approached, but other issues inevitably took center stage and the draft was left for later. This time around, commissioner Bud Selig made draft changes an emphasis in Major League Baseball's negotiating position, and the sport's peace in larger issues left time to tackle the issue.

In addition to the signing bonus pool, the new CBA also changes free agent compensation and seeks to award more picks to low-revenue teams.

Starting in 2012, the familiar Type A and Type B free agents, based on the Elias ranking system, will be eliminated. Now the only free agents subject to compensation will be those who are offered contracts equal to the average salary of the 125 highest-paid players in the game as they enter the free-agent process. Players also have to be with a team for an entire season to be subject to compensation, so pending free agents who are traded at midseason will not generate extra picks for the teams that acquire them.

A team that signs one of those free agents will give up its first-round pick. Unlike before, when the top 15 overall picks were protected, now only the top 10 are protected. In those cases, the team will lose its second-highest selection (not necessarily its second-round pick, as before).

There's also a lottery for six extra picks following both the first and second rounds. Teams that are in the bottom 10 in revenue and/or market size go into a pool for six picks after the first round, with odds of winning based on the prior season's winning percentage. Teams that don't get one of those picks—and any other team that receives money from revenue sharing—then goes into another lottery for six picks after the second round. The odds of winning are based on prior season winning percentage.

A couple of other notable draft changes:

• The draft will continue to be conducted in June, but the signing deadline will be moved to a date between July 12-18, depending on the date of the All-Star Game. Since 2007, the deadline has been in mid-August.

"I think that's a win-win for everyone," Savage said. "The guys that want to go out will go out. They'll be able to get out in their short seasons and play right away. I think Major League Baseball will like that. It's also a win on the college side; it gives you a little time to recover (from unexpected draft losses). It at least gives you 60 days, in some cases 90 days, to re-evaluate where you're at, roster-wise, and if you do have money available you can go out and get somebody at that time."
 
• No more major league deals, as drafted players may only sign minor league contracts. 

• Free-agent compensation picks awarded by lottery "may be assigned" by a club, which would seem to indicate they can be traded. If correct, that would be a draft first.
 
• The top 200 prospects will be subject to a predraft drug test and will participate in a predraft medical program as well. 

International Changes Coming

The changes to the amateur scene also affect things internationally, with a cap for the 2012-2013 signing period. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported that the cap will be $2.9 million for all teams in the first year, and it will be adjusted for subsequent years based on winning percentage.

The penalties are as noted above, and the agreement says the penalties will increase in 2014-15 "if a draft or drafts is not agreed to by July 2014." Several sources said an international draft is a clear goal in the next few years.

Starting with the 2013-14 signing period (July 2, 2013-June 15, 2014), teams will be allowed to trade a portion of their international cap space, subject to certain (though unspecified) restrictions.

Basically what this means is this: 

Teams like the Nationals, Pirates, Astros, etc. have been spending over 15 million dollars in the draft to get fresh talent, in fact last year we spent 17 million dollars, but with the new draft changes, we can now only spend 10 million at the most. This is a major problem, because now it will be very hard to make deals with top prospects who want far more than just 10 million. It will also be hard to intice multi-sport players with a lot of money. I hope they can revise these changes, they will have many unforseen consequences.