Current draft system is no good for baseball

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The kid has never thrown a pitch in professional baseball, and yet he's guaranteed to make enough money that he could never throw one at all and be financially stable for the rest of his life.

It's not Stephen Strasburg's fault, even though he put his pen on the dotted line of a record-breaking $15.1 million contract. It's not Scott Boras' fault for negotiating the best contract he could for his client. All he's doing is using what the current system is giving him.

And it's certainly not the Washington Nationals' fault. The Nationals were put in a terrible position. Sure, it's a position they put themselves in by being the worst team in baseball. But they shouldn't be held captive by that fact. Some say that if Washington had doubts about their ability to sign Strasburg, they shouldn't have drafted him. But if they did not draft him, they would be criticized for not choosing the best player and not being committed to winning. And in drafting him, they were pretty much forced to sign him or suffer the exact same reaction as if they never drafted him at all.

They had to sign a ridiculous contract for a pitcher- granted, with loads of potential - who may or may not ever see their major league facility. They did what they had to do with the pick because they couldn't do anything else with it. Major League Baseball does not allow draft picks to be traded. If you're the first pick, you have to be ready to give a boatload of money to a player who statistically speaking doesn't have much of a shot of ever living up to its potential and hype.

This isn't like football or basketball where draft picks make immediate impact in the league. It takes years sometimes for these guys to develop into the players we see on Major League diamonds, if they do at all. How valuable Strasburg really is to the Nationals will not be decided this year and maybe not even next year. Even if he does reach the majors, the return on his club's investment could be obscenely limited, as his best years could come after his four-year contract has expired and he's left Washington for bigger dollars he'd be able to get elsewhere.

Baseball needs to allow teams to do with picks what they wish. If the Nationals can sacrifice a gamble on a very good prospect to get someone closer to major league ready or a couple of lower picks to save money that they can use on the free agent market, then why should they not be able to if that's what they think the team needs?

Until this happens, small market teams will continue to be forced into this perilous situation. And how much better are they getting by it?