The New MLB Draft

We are mere moments into the MLB Amateur draft and the Houston Astros with the first overall pick have already made headlines with their surprise first pick in Puerto Rico Baseball Academy's SS Carlos Corea. Is due to the new CBA?  Most reporters had pegged the Astros choice coming down to Byron Buxton and Mark Appel.   This is an interesting draft as it will be the first time that the draft pool bonus cap is utilized.  WEEI's Alex Speier wrote a great primer on the new draft rules. Let's take a look at those rules below the fold. 


The new Collective Bargaining Agreement wanted to correct the market inequality that was occurring in the draft.  Many times,  big market teams were able to flex their financial muscle with spending way over slot recommendations.  This was evident in the Dodgers' Zack Lee signing, among others (Alex Speier writes about the Red Sox using their fat purse to pay over-slot).  Here are the rules:

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement defines a bonus pool for a team’s selections in the first 10 rounds. Beyond the 10th round, teams can give players bonuses of up to $100,000; however, any bonus figure that exceeds $100,000 will count against a team’s bonus pool from the first 10 rounds.

The penalties for exceeding the bonus pool from the first 10 rounds are severe:

Exceed pool by 0-5 percent: 75 percent tax on the overage

Exceed pool by 5-10 percent: 75 percent tax on the overage and loss of subsequent season’s first-round pick

Exceed pool by 10-15 percent: 100 percent tax on the overage and loss of 1st and 2nd round pick in next year’s draft

Exceed pool by more than 15 percent: 100 percent tax on the overage and loss of a team’s next two first-round picks

 Scouting, determining "signability", and managing resources is the name of the game to be successful in the draft.  So what do you all think?  Did the veterans sell out the amateur talent?  Will we be seeing more high school players committing and attending college?  This will all play out tonight and in the coming months.