Draft Picks as part of Trades

by BleacherGuy on Mar 23, 2008 6:20 PM PDT

The question of the day is if the A's get a draft pick from the Jays for Shannon Stewart.

This raises a question I have had for a number of years now:

Does anyone know why Draft Picks are not part of Trades in Baseball. In the NFL, NBA and NHL you always hear of draft picks being packaged as part of trades/transactions.

I understand that a generation ago most drafted players were high school kids who were 4-5 years away from the Bigs.

Today it is not uncommon for a first rounder to be in the big leagues within a year.

If i were a GM (yeah, yeah, but I'm not and what do I know? ;) ), I'd ask for a first round pick as part of a deal, and i'd also try to get a 2nd and a 3rd thrown in. I believe a high round draft pick carries a lot of value with the quality of talent in College Baseball.

Anyone know the answer?

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Comments

It's against the rules

to trade draft picks in baseball, at any time, for any reason.

Is that a good thing? I dunno. It'd certainly make things more interesting if that rule were rescinded.

by HigherPie on Mar 23, 2008 6:39 PM PDT reply actions

Link

Here's more, along with something I didn't know:

Baseball draft picks cannot be traded, and picked players cannot be traded until a year after they're drafted.

by HigherPie on Mar 23, 2008 6:44 PM PDT up reply actions

picked players can be traded

as a PTBNL as soon as six months after they sign

by speedchaser9 on Mar 23, 2008 6:47 PM PDT up reply actions

Close but not completely accurate

A PTBNL has to head over to his new team within six months of getting tapped. Therefore a 2007 draft pick can be "named" the PTBNL six months after signing BUT he still can't be dealt until he's spent 1 full year with his drafting team.

So Beane could make a trade that included someone from the 2007 draft but that prospect would remain with his original team until June (at the least) and he'd be playing for that team, he'd be following their training program and going to their doctors if he wasn't feeling right. It takes a lot of trust to let someone else take care of your new player for 3-4 months.

The monster at the end of this blog.

by grover on Mar 23, 2008 7:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Its against the rules

I guess that clarifies why we never hear of it. Gee, I would love for someone to investigate 'why'. Without any reasoning (though I would imagine there is some) it doesn't seem to make sense to restrict trading a pick.

IMO, it does make sense that you cannot trade a player within a year of drafting him.

by BleacherGuy on Mar 23, 2008 8:21 PM PDT reply actions

The idea was to protect bad teams from themselves ...

eg doing what the Niners did on draft day 2007

The problem is the financial aspect -- when a team like the Padres wants to draft a crappy local SS because they can't afford a real top prospect ...

"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback

by devo on Mar 23, 2008 8:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Eh

That sequence was not a bad one for the Niners. At the time, it looked like they were moving up to get Joe Staley in exchange for 5-10 spots in the first round next year (as they downgraded from their pick to the Colts' pick).

Then the team collapsed when it actually hit the field, the Colts continued winning, and it ended up being more like a 20-slot downgrade. Which is still plausible if they think Staley will end up being a standout.

I have no problems with the 49ers' trades or draft from last year. It's not Staley's fault that Larry Allen and Jonas Jennings both decided to get old and fat and terrible at the same time.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Mar 23, 2008 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions

No, it's the 49ers front office's fault for being generally incompetent ... certainly not Staley's ...

"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback

by devo on Mar 24, 2008 12:02 AM PDT up reply actions

I just don't agree with this statement

I don't think the front office has been incompetent of late. We saw several years of genuine, Grade A incompetence during the Terry Donahue era. The difference between those years and now is like night and day.

With very few Banta-Cains, er, I mean exceptions, the new players who were brought in last year did very well. The problem was that a whole bunch of other players suddenly collapsed. As did the coaching, for that matter.

I felt at the time (and still do) that the team would have been significantly better off making Nolan the GM and hiring a new field coach than the other way around. He has a good eye for talent.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Mar 24, 2008 3:34 PM PDT up reply actions

I'll try to find the essay

but I remember Bill James writing about this back in one of the Baseball Abstracts in the 1980s. My recollection is that he claims that the rule is designed to prevent teams from trading all their picks for veterans who end up sucking, thus dooming the team to suckitude for years on end. He also discusses the rule limiting cash transactions for players (I think the limit is/was something like $400,000, which is chicken feed to a GM) -- IIRC, this was a rule to prevent sell-offs like what Finley tried with Blue and Rudi, but James argues that it would really help small-market teams to be able to sell players (as well as trade them) for lots of cash that they could use for signing bonuses for draft picks or prospects who don't participate in the draft.

"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s

by Nick on Mar 23, 2008 8:32 PM PDT up reply actions

Draft pick trading is the payday advance loan of sports GMs.

Chiba Lotte lost simultaneously in the fighter plane of the Japanese ham.

by JediLeroy on Mar 24, 2008 9:45 AM PDT up reply actions

it may have something to do with

keeping the farm system stocked, dunno, just a guess, and like devo said, to protect bad teams from themselves.

by sf drift king on Mar 24, 2008 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions

Ahhhh, this is starting to make a lot of sense

I can see how a team could trade their picks and mess up their future...or simply relieve themselves of paying top dollar on a first round pick.

Bill James is good...if you could find that essay I am sure many in the AN would enjoy the read.

by BleacherGuy on Mar 23, 2008 9:40 PM PDT reply actions

i think it's because

"Marlins utility player Alfredo Amezaga was traded to the Giants in exchange for a 26th round pick," is a phrase that never should be uttered.

Scratch that...The Giants would probably give up at least a 3rd rounder.

by sourstuff on Mar 23, 2008 9:55 PM PDT reply actions

When you think about it...

...teams kinda "trade" their top draft picks for players when they sign type A and B free agents. It's not a literal "trade," but draft picks are exchanged for players nearly straight up.

Juan Pierre: 44 Million Dollars, Juan Pierre's 3.2 WARP3: Priceless

by Travis Buck Nuckin on Mar 25, 2008 12:12 AM PDT reply actions