Feeling A Draft

We've got you MLB Draft junkies covered here at Frowns.

While nothing else about what happens at today's Draft will be interesting for at least two years (Strasburg drama aside), at least we got this excellent essay on MLB super-agent Scott Boras written by Deadspin's new heavy-hitter, Tommy Craggs.

Craggs makes the case for Boras as a hero who saved Minor leaguers/draftees from "a weird limbo where their fate is determined by two parties — Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association — who at best have only an oblique interest in their well-being." Thus, "the job of ensuring that minor leaguers got fair value for their services fell, for better or worse, to the agents . . . ."

What Boras did with this job was to ensure, through legal and negotiating strategy, that his clients were able to obtain the value for their services that they'd obtain on the free market -- free agency, essentially.

Craggs criticizes those who criticize Boras for being good at this:

"Boras will once again be turned into the face of everything wrong with baseball, a bizarro realm where the common fan more readily identifies with billionaire owners like Tom Hicks than the middle-class kids who stand to make money off their talent for the game.

"Baseball long ago won this public relations battle, and for that reason, Strasburg's record-breaking deal could wind up boomeranging on Boras. The issue of signing bonuses is sure to come up when the CBA expires in 2011. Baseball, summoning the bogeyman of Strasburg's massive bonus, will certainly fight for a strict slotting system, not unlike what the NBA has (right now, Major League Baseball only suggests how much teams pay their draft picks; more often than not, the slot recommendations are flouted). The players, susceptible to the argument that a dollar given to an unproven prospect is a dollar plucked from a veteran's pocket, will very likely bargain away large chunks of the current system. Boras, unable to bid up signing bonuses, will effectively be marginalized . . .

"The irony is that, because of Boras' unruly success in looking out for his players' interests, he may wind up screwing them in the end."

But we're not so sure that a new system like the one Craggs outlines above will end up "screwing the player in the end," because competitive balance is a big issue here that Craggs seems to overlook. To the extent that folks who argue that baseball's lack of a salary cap (or more meaningful revenue sharing) is ruining the game are correct, Boras' success has only made the problem worse. If it eventually becomes open season on the kids like it is on the Matsuzakas and El Duques, where will the Royals find enough Sidney Ponsons to fill out their roster?

And wouldn't a rookie salary cap make more sense in baseball than in any other sport? We'd be at least as scared as we were excited if we were Nationals fans.

Anyway, we do agree with Craggs that Boras has been good for the game to the extent that he's advanced the ball in a way that exposes the impact of salaries on competitive balance as a real issue for Major League Baseball.


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As for what will be resolved in today's draft, there's a nice round-up by Dennis Manoloff in today's Plain Dealer:

"Nothing spells uncertainty like trying to project how high school seniors and collegians in a metal-bat game will fare as men in a wooden-bat game. The vast majority of those drafted will not be heard from for years as the work through the minors - and only a small percentage of each class reaches the majors. . . .

Manoloff reports that Indians Director of Amateur Scouting Brad Grant admits that the Tribe is under "pressure to deliver with a pick in the top half of the first."

Perhaps because "[f]ans must go back to 1998, when CC Sabathia still had dots after the Cs as a kid from Vallejo (Calif.) High School, to find a first-rounder who has succeeded for any length of time in Cleveland. The Indians picked Jeremy Guthrie in the first round in 2002 but lost patience with him; he is a front-line starter for Baltimore. Since the 1988 selection of Charles Nagy, only Sabathia, Manny Ramirez (1991), Paul Shuey (1992) and Jaret Wright (1994) have made a legitimate impact for the Indians. Jeremy Sowers (2004) went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA in 14 starts in 2006."

So . . . will Grant and the boys deliver for the home team today? Staaaaaaaay tuuuuuuuuned . . . for awhile.

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In other Tribe news, R.I.P. Dick Jacobs. From the ABJ's Sheldon Ocker: For most of their 109-year existence in the American League, the Indians haven't been the object of much good fortune. When they've been good, they've earned every win. But even the Tribe gets lucky now and them. That happened when Dick Jacobs bought the franchise in 1986. Jacobs was smart, rich, had a knack for hiring competent people and was not weighed down with a demanding ego that drove him to micromanage the team and seek every ounce of credit. . . . Of course, it all turned out better than anyone could have expected. Jacobs twisted arms to get his ballpark, the Tribe went on to win five division championships and two pennants, the ballpark sold out for 455 consecutive games, and Jacobs made money. . . . Jacobs epitomized the idea that successful enterprises begin with good management from the very top. ''Because of who he was and the respect he could garner, Dick had the ability to make you better than you were,'' Hart said. ''He gave us confidence. He believed in us. He never second guessed. He was very much an encourager.''

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In Cavs news . . . Is Charlie Villanueva the answer? If he's going to be, we suggest diverting that LeBron 2010 money to the Charlie Villanueva protein shake fund. (6'11, 230).

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Finally, Brownies! Rich Passan points up the contrast between the Mangini and Crennel regimes: "Difference in Coaches is Night and Day . . . Mangini comes off as a relative mental giant . . . "

Your move, Coupon.

Happy Tuesday, everyone.